It’s been a year of transition for a lot of teams, as is often the case in the 12 months after a World Cup, which means new stars have emerged but my team of 2024 has a very familiar look t o it.
South Africa are used to peaking for the sport’s big dance but they’ve kept their form going on this occasion and it’s hard to argue with as many as seven Springboks being included in the starting XV.
They may be back-to-back world champions but this year was just their second Rugby Championship title in the past 15 years and a record of 11 wins from 13 Tests is pretty much as well as they’ve ever done in a non-World Cup year.
Rassie Erasmus also used no fewer than 50 different players in the calendar year, which shows he’s evolving his side and they have phenomenal depth, and he is the coach of the year without a shadow of a doubt
Jesse Kriel’s consistency at outside centre has been a huge factor in their success, Aphelele Fassi has really burst onto the scene with five tries in his eight Tests this year and some would argue it hasn’t been Cheslin Kolbe best year but he’s still been beating people for fun and was outstanding against England.
Will Jordan surpassed Jonah Lomu’s number of tries in an All Blacks jersey in the autumn, despite having played 22 fewer Tests than the great man, and Sione Tuipulotu is surely going to be the starting inside centre for the British & Irish Lions this summer.
He’s taken to captaincy like a duck to water and it seems to have taken his game on to another level, so much so that it’s hard to see Andy Farrell picking anyone else in the number 12 jersey now.
If anyone quibbles with the selection of Antoine Dupont at scrum half, they need to give their head a wobble. The world’s best player might only have played three Tests in the 15-a-side game but he won the Top 14 and Champions Cup double to go with his Olympic gold medal.
He also averaged a phenomenal 2.4 tries and assists per 80 minutes in club rugby in 2024.
