The public has spoken and voted for the Springboks Dream Team of the professional era after months of voting.<\/p>\n
To celebrate 30 years since South Africa won the 1995 Rugby World Cup, South African broadcaster SuperSport started a campaign for viewers to pick their Bok Dream Team, doing so one position at a time.<\/p>\n
And the results are quite intriguing\u2026<\/p>\n
The entire XV is made up of Rugby World Cup<\/a> winners, seven of whom come from the 2019 and 2023 back-to-back champions, while the remaining eight featured in the 2007 success in France.<\/p>\n Captains\u2019 snubbed<\/p>\n Interestingly, not a single Rugby World Cup-winning Springboks<\/a> captain makes the team, with Francois Pienaar, John Smit and Siya Kolisi all missing out in their respective positions.<\/p>\n Percy Montgomery was the 15th and final addition to the team, winning the vote for the full-back position, beating the likes of Andre Joubert, Zane Kirchner, Willie Le Roux, Gio Aplon, and Damian Willemse to the role.<\/p>\n Montgomery is joined by four of his 2007 teammates in the backline, with the iconic centre pairing of Jean de Villiers and Jaque Fourie preferred in the midfield, while the Boks\u2019 all-time leading try-scorer Bryan Habana won the vote on the left wing.<\/p>\n Cheslin Kolbe beat the late James Small and 2007 World Cup winner JP Pietersen to the number 14 jersey, while Handre Pollard grabbed the number ten. The backline is completed by the peerless Fourie du Preez, a selection that will surely not end the debate of the greatest Bok, with Joost van der Westhuizen missing out.<\/p>\n Ireland great: Rassie Erasmus\u2019 unique call a \u2018red flag\u2019 as World Rugby must take action against \u2018rampaging behemoths\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n The pack<\/p>\n Into the pack and Duane Vermeulen is perhaps an unsurprising selection despite the stiff competition he had. He is joined by two-time World Rugby Player of the Year Pieter-Steph du Toit and Schalk Burger \u2013 the latter beating Kolisi, Pienaar and current Bok boss Rassie Erasmus to the team.<\/p>\n Eben Etzebeth and Victor Matfield are the two locks in the squad, while the front-row features the Boks\u2019 first double World Cup winner in Os du Randt, who is joined by hooker Malcolm Marx and tighthead prop Frans Malherbe.<\/p>\n Du Randt and Marx came out on top in hotly contested positions, with the former securing more votes than Steven Kitshoff, Tendai Mtawarira, Ox Nche, and Gurthro Steenkamp, while the latter beat former captain Smit as well as James Dalton, Bongi Mbonambi and Bismarck du Plessis.<\/p>\n Ultimately, Du Randt is the only member of the 1995 World Cup-winning squad to make the team. He is also one of the eight players from Jake White\u2019s 2007 winning squad with Erasmus\u2019 and Jacques Nienaber\u2019s 2019 and 2023 vintage making up the remaining seven positions.<\/p>\n SuperSport\u2019s<\/a> experts selected the bench following the voting, selecting the following: Du Plessis, Mtawarira, Trevor Nyakane, Bakkies Botha, Kwagga Smith, Kolisi, Van der Westerhuizen, and Damian Willemse.<\/p>\n