Next up in our set of previews ahead of the 2025 Rugby Championship, we examine the prospects of last year’s champions, South Africa.
Rassie Erasmus’ Springboks enter the tournament as favourites for the title, with the back-to-back world champions out to win the competition in consecutive years for the first time.
Rugby Championship titles are few and far between for South Africa, boasting just two in total (2019 and 2024) since Argentina’s addition to the Tri Nations, but considering their current standing in the international game and their squad depth, the Boks will be expected to better their haul this year.
Last year
South Africa hammered Wales 41-13 in Twickenham before playing out a drawn 1-1 series with Ireland in July. The Springboks then swept aside Portugal before heading off to Australia for back-to-back Test matches against the Wallabies.
There, Erasmus’ men ended an 11-year, four-game losing streak at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane and did so in emphatic fashion, thrashing Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies 33-7. It was a similar story a week later in Perth as they once again outclassed their hosts, flexing their forward dominance.
That set up the Boks well for the rest of the tournament as they hosted the All Blacks in Johannesburg and Cape Town in rounds three and four. A late Grant Williams try secured a 31-27 victory over New Zealand in the former, and Malcolm Marx did the same in the Mother City seven days later in the 18-12 success, extending their winning run over their fiercest rivals to a record four games.
This meant that the men in Green and Gold could win the Rugby Championship in Argentina with a victory, but a late Manie Libbok conversion extended the competition for another week. But South Africa responded emphatically a week later, crushing Los Pumas 48-7 to clinch the trophy.
The winning run continued in the north during the November internationals as they swept Scotland (32-15), England (29-20) and Wales (45-12) aside to finish the year on a high.
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This year
As they did in 2024, the Springboks kicked off the year with a match outside the official Test window against the Barbarians, with the famous invitational team travelling to South Africa for the first time.
The Baa-Baas offered little resistance as Erasmus’ side marched to a 54-7 victory before turning their attentions to Italy and Georgia. Against the Azzurri, South Africa secured a hard-fought 42-24 win with the Italians showing real fight in the second half, but fresh tactics and innovative play in the second Test in Gqeberha resulted in a far more bloated 45-0 scoreline.
It was a similar story in Nelspruit as Georgia were put to the sword, going down 55-10 against the world champions.
First up in the Rugby Championship for South Africa is back-to-back games against the Wallabies at Ellis Park and in Cape Town before attentions turn to two Tests against the All Blacks, the first taking place at their rivals’ fortress, Eden Park, a ground where the hosts are on a 50-game unbeaten streak. The action moves to Wellington for the second clash between the two sides before the Boks host Argentina in Durban, with the Championship concluding on neutral ground as Los Pumas and South Africa collide at the Allianz Stadium in Twickenham.
Players to watch
The Springboks squad is brimming with quality, experience and stars of the future littered throughout Erasmus’ selections.
While Cheslin Kolbe and Kurt-Lee Arendse have dominated the starting winger roles in the Green and Gold jersey in recent seasons, there is a new livewire speedster who has shot to stardom, Edwill van der Merwe. The Sharks-bound flyer enjoyed a try-scoring debut against Wales last year before injury robbed him of a second cap in 2024, but he did not waste his opportunities this year, as he crossed for two tries against Italy in the second Test and did the same against Georgia.
Staying with the backs, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu enjoyed a stunning breakthrough into the Springboks squad last year and featured in both of the victories over the All Blacks and Wallabies. The 23-year-old has been tipped for a bright and long future in the Green and Gold jersey and will be eager to continue that rise when given the opportunity during the Championship. He does have stiff competition at fly-half in the form of World Cup winners Manie Libbok and Handre Pollard, with the former getting the nod in the starting jersey for the first Test.
In the forward pack, Wilco Louw’s recent form pits him amongst the most destructive tighthead props in world rugby right now, doing so in the absence of the injured Frans Malherbe. The Bok scrum has been a real weapon in recent years, and Louw has only added to that reputation and will be ably assisted by powerhouse loosehead prop Ox Nche. While Louw has already made his mark on the Test scene, rookie Asenathi Ntlabakanye will be eager to follow his lead as he makes his Rugby Championship debut this year. A giant figure weighing around 144kgs, Ntlabakanye is not just a force in the scrums but around the park too, with surprising agility for a man of his frame.
There is no shortage of lock options in the Springboks squad, but Ruan Nortje has shot up the pecking order after easing the second row crisis last year. The Bulls captain has gone from strength to strength since then and enjoyed another fine run of form during the mid-year internationals. Lood de Jager, Eben Etzebeth, Franco Mostert, and RG Snyman have dominated the lock jerseys since 2018, but Nortje is certainly making a good fist of disturbing the status quo.
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Prospects
Expectations are high for the Springboks and rightly so; a standard has been set. Hosting the All Blacks in South Africa last year certainly boosted their chances of winning the Rugby Championship, but two Tests away in New Zealand, it makes 2025 an entirely different ball game. That, paired with a motivated Argentina outfit and an ever-improving Wallabies team, means this is shaping up to be one of the most competitive Rugby Championships in recent memory.
All eyes will be on the clash at Eden Park, a ground that South Africa last visited in 2013, in round three, which may well make or break the Springboks’ title defence after navigating their two Tests against the Wallabies. The standard has been set, and the expectations are ludicrously high for Erasmus’ men, who will set the target of defending their title, and anything less will be viewed as a failure. History beckons for the Springboks, but it’s make or break. First.
In numbers: The All Blacks’ INSANE 50 game unbeaten run at Eden Park since 1994
Fixtures
Saturday, August 16: v Australia (Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg)
Saturday, August 23: v Australia (DHL Stadium, Cape Town)
Saturday, September 6: v New Zealand (Eden Park, Auckland)
Saturday, September 13: v New Zealand (Sky Stadium, Wellington)
Saturday, September 27: v Argentina (Kings Park Stadium, Durban)
Saturday, October 4: v Argentina (Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, London)