World Rugby has been ridiculed: From former Italian international lock Carlo del Fava to former All Blacks wing Jeff Wilson, to former England international Andy Goode, there has been ridicule at world rugby’s officials for the straight red card given to the Springboks lock Franco Mostert in Turin, Italy, writes Mark Keohane.

Mostert was shown a straight red card, as the second tackler, for what match officials deemed was an intentional shoulder to the head of Italian flyhalf Paolo Garbisi, who never went for an HIA and was up and running a few seconds after taking the tackle of Ethan Hooker and the secondary hit from Mostert.

Below is a collection of X feeds, which also showcased the inconsistency in all this weekend’s internationals when it came to shoulders to the head. In some instances, like James O’Connor taking one to the head in Dublin, it was play on. Others, like in Cardiff in Wales’s match against Japan, it was a yellow with a bunker referral to see if it was a red.

Same incidents, all different interpretations and applications.

World Rugby is a joke at the moment with its head contact policies that lack all consistency and all common sense.

If player welfare is indeed the reason, then why not send the victim of any head contact for an HIA?

Thomas Ramos, against the Boks last weekend, never went for an HIA and played the entire match. Garbisi never went for one in Turin and played the entire game.

It is a joke.

South Africans are justified in feeling aggrieved.

In my Sunday Times match review, I wrote that Justice, in the quality of the Springboks, triumphed over injustice, in the form of incompetent match officials, in Turin as the Springboks won for the 19^th time in 20 Tests against Italy.

These Boks have a spirit that can’t be bought or manufactured. It is inherent because of an environment that has been nurtured over the past nine years.

Jared Wright posted this: Brilliant stat via @StatBoy_Steven

‘Since the introduction of the 20-minute red card, the Springboks have been given a full red card 3 times: July 12 vs Italy: Wiese in the 12th minute November 8 in France: Lood de Jager in the 40th minute November 15 in Italy: Franco Mostert in the 12th minute In 178 minutes combined in those matches after being shown the red card, they have conceded just 17 points and just 1 try, and won all 3.’

Screenshot

FRENCH V FIJI RED GOES UNPUNISHED

O’CONNOR GETTING SMASHED GOES UNPUNISHED

A COLLECTION OF INCONSISTENCIES FROM THE WEEKEND

WALES V JAPAN – ANOTHER INCONSISTENCY TO MOSTERT’S 

WALES’S JOSH ADAMS INTENTIONAL THUGGERY GOES STRAIGHT TO BUNKER REVIEW

MARK KEOHANE ON BOKS 32-14 WIN v ITALY

Some X comments

https://x.com/AndyGoode10/status/1989727007467360333?s=20

https://x.com/PlanetRugby/status/1989701468635451731?s=20

https://x.com/SARugbymag/status/1990034224963854816?s=20

https://x.com/jaredwright17/status/1989700599630204977?s=20

https://x.com/SportyBetZA/status/1989747718961447247?s=20

https://x.com/SSRugby/status/1989681762075570494?s=20

https://x.com/mark_keohane/status/1989756004096168227?s=20

https://x.com/SSRugby/status/1989692773055041607?s=20

Photo: Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images

There is no greater rivalry in rugby than the All Blacks and Springboks, and it does not get bigger than the men in black touring South Africa, writes Mark Keohane. Finally it is official. Rugby’s worst kept secret is rugby’s best news for 2026.

The All Blacks will tour South Africa in 2026, play all four Vodacom United Rugby Championship teams and three Tests against the Boks, with a fourth to be played on a neutral venues, still to be announced but most likely in London.

The All Blacks have toured South Africa just six times and their only success, in a Test series, was 30 years ago, in 1996. It was the last time they toured.

Sean Fitzpatrick’s history makers won the first two Tests in Durban and Pretoria before losing the third Test at Ellis Park.

The 33-26 win in Pretoria is iconic, for the result, the quality of the match and the pedigree of the two teams.

SA Rugby’s Communications revealed all details on Thursday, 16th October.

Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry announced: Springboks and All Blacks reignite traditional tours

· Quadrennial tour between Springboks and All Blacks announced

· Eight match schedule of All Blacks’ 2026 tour of South Africa confirmed

· Historic fourth Test to be played internationally

· Springboks’ first professional era tour of New Zealand to occur in 2030

Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry, an alternating quadrennial tour between South Africa and New Zealand, was confirmed on Thursday, marking a defining new chapter for the intense rivalry between the sport’s most successful and storied nations.

In the tour’s maiden year, South Africa will host New Zealand in August and September 2026. The All Blacks kick off the tour against the DHL Stormers in Cape Town on Friday, 7 August and take on the Hollywoodbets Sharks, Vodacom Bulls and Lions, to complement a four Test series against the Springboks.

Ellis Park (Johannesburg), DHL Stadium (Cape Town), and FNB Stadium (Johannesburg) are confirmed as South African Test venues, preceding a landmark fourth Test hosted at a neutral international venue. Details of the fourth Test will be confirmed in the coming months.

By reigniting rugby’s traditional roots, the tour will renew the legacy of a rivalry known for its fierce competition and societal significance across the last century.

Next year marks 30 years since New Zealand’s last major tour of South Africa, where the visitors embarked on an eight-match schedule, culminating in a historic 2-1 Test series win. In the reciprocal 2030 iteration, South Africa will conduct their first professional era tour to New Zealand.

SA Rugby CEO Rian Oberholzer said: “This fierce competition between two very proud nations has delivered more than a century of drama on rugby fields across the world, including two Rugby World Cup finals.

“We saw last year how much it means for Springbok supporters to welcome the All Blacks to South Africa, and we can’t wait to see them tour our country next year, as we rekindle our friendship with our greatest adversaries.

“Today’s announcement promises more drama, physicality, strategy, and unpredictability in a rivalry regarded as one of the most intense in world sport.

“This tour will also mean so much for our four franchises and their players – facing one of the best teams in the history of the game – as well as their fans, who will have the opportunity to see their team in action against international opposition for the first time since 2009. We know next year’s tour will be nothing short of epic.”

Mark Robinson, CEO of New Zealand Rugby added: “The rivalry between the All Blacks and the Springboks is fierce, but it’s also steeped in history and respect. Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry is everything that is great about traditional rugby tours whilst finding new ways to offer more for fans to see and engage with. All eight matches during this tour will be a showcase of our sport for fans, whether they are in New Zealand, on the ground in South Africa, or across the globe.”

RASSIE RAVES ABOUT RIVALRY TOUR

Back-to-back Rugby World Cup winning Springbok captain Siya Kolisi said: “This is going to be something huge and something this generation will never forget. These are the tours we’ve only heard of. To experience this for the first time, where it’s like a Lions tour, is unbelievable for us as a group.

“I have no doubt the Springbok fans will be there waiting to welcome the All Blacks fans to South Africa. Let’s get excited; let’s get behind it and, people of South Africa, it’s an opportunity for us to show the world once again who we are and what we are about – we certainly can’t wait for it.”

All Blacks captain Scott Barrett said: “This is a huge rivalry, and one that is founded off mutual respect, but for 80 minutes these are two teams that every time they play there’s everything on the line. The intensity is right up there, and it is shaping up to be a heck of a tour. The format will be great, and there will be a whole lot of excited fans watching from home, and travelling with us as well. We are looking forward to it.”

Tickets for the tour, including match bundles, will go on general sale early next year. Fans can sign up to be the first to hear and gain priority access to pre-sales by visiting greatest-rivalry.com

The launch of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry sees the creation of a new and bold visual identity for the tour. Its logo brings together the iconic Springbok and All Black marks inside a ‘V’ shape, putting them at the heart of the ‘versus’ terminology used when debating heavyweight international clashes. Its earthy colour palette takes inspiration from the tones from each nation’s landscapes.

Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour fixtures 2026

Friday 7 August: DHL Stormers v All Blacks at DHL Stadium, Cape Town

Tuesday 11 August: Hollywoodbets Sharks v All Blacks at Hollywoodbets Kings Park, Durban

Saturday 15 August: Vodacom Bulls v All Blacks at Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria

Saturday 22 August: First Test – Springboks v All Blacks at Ellis Park, Johannesburg

Tuesday 25 August: Lions v New Zealand at Ellis Park, Johannesburg

Saturday 29 August: Second Test – Springboks v New Zealand at DHL Stadium, Cape Town

Saturday 5 September: Third Test – Springboks v New Zealand at FNB Stadium, Johannesburg Saturday 12 September:

Fourth Test – South Africa v New Zealand (International venue to be announced)

*The tour replaces the 2026 Castle Rugby Championship, as does the 2030 Springboks tour to New Zealand, where the Boks will play three Tests and five matches against the Super Rugby franchises.

BOK BEFOK: Springboks 43 All Blacks 10 

AfricaPicks will partner with Keo.co.za to bring data to life in the rugby landscape. The two platforms will combine in their coverage of all the major rugby matches.

Statistics aside, the biggest plus of Keo.co.za’s collaboration with AfricaPicks is the accessibility to data in the storytelling and an ability to give the rugby consumer an informed opinion, be it to retell the story or have a flutter on a match.

Sports betting is packaged with storytelling and the logical partnership was to give the African rugby fan the necessary information and breakdown of that information to make insightful choices, especially when betting on rugby matches.

‘The partnership will redefine the opinion, analysis and historical edge of the platform,” said Keo.co.za founder Mark Keohane.

Keo.co.za was launched in 2004 and is a legacy URL with a strong alignment to digital rugby giant SA Rugby Magazine.

Keohane has professionally reported on rugby in South Africa, Africa and across the world since South Africa’s international readmission in 1992.

“It is a new and exciting digital voice for rugby in the continent and the interest extends beyond South Africa, with the sport having a big following in Kenya, Namibia, Uganda and Zimbabwe,” said Keohane. “Zimbabwe’s qualification for the 2027 RWC in Australia has only added to the interest.”

Keo.co.za has long been South Africa’s home of unfiltered opinion and analysis and its founder and primary content creator (Keohane) said AfricaPicks content direction was an obvious fit for his platform.

“It is opinion-first, data-backed rugby journalism that speaks to the punters and thinkers, and not followers of perception. The content vision at AfricaPicks is about education and inspiration, giving the punter something beyond the obvious and being responsible,” said Keohane.

“I believe betting, like sport, is about perspective — and AfricaPicks delivers that in every story. It is a digital presence that will add to the ecosystem and bring together fans bettors and experts on one platform.”

AfricaPicks will focus on rugby in Africa and France’ Top 14, England’s Premiership, the Vodacom United Rugby Championship that features 16 teams, including South Africa’s quartet of the Bulls, Lions, Sharks and Stormers, as well as the Springboks and the national teams of Kenya, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

STORMERS RUNNING HOT IN THE URC

AFRICAPICKS – ALL RUGBY’S LATEST

Rassie Erasmus’s rampant Springboks set the standard in Test rugby in 2025, but nothing will ever compare to the dominance of the All Blacks between 2009 and 2019, writes Mark Keohane, who doubts there will again ever be such an emphatic hold on the No 1 world ranking.

There is no debate. Erasmus, former Boks coach Jacques Nienaber and captain Siya Kolisi have led the Springboks to a Golden Era since winning the World Cup in 2019.

The squad, in a peak for some and in transition for others, has enjoyed their best returns in the past 36 months, with 31 Test wins from their last 37 internationals and a 54-7 win against the Barbarians in Cape Town to start the 2025 Test season.

Successive World Cup titles in 2019 and 2023, a British & Irish Lions series win in 2021, a Castle Rugby Championship title in 2019 and successive Rugby Championship titles in 2024 and 2025 have defined Kolisi’s current Kings of Rugby.

To illustrate just what Kolisi’s Boks have achieved, is to highlight that in the first 23 years of the Tri nations and Rugby Championship, the Boks won the title three times. In the past seven years, they have won it three times.

The 2025 title success was also the first time the Boks had gone back to back in the Rugby Championship, something the 1999 World Cup-winning Wallabies also achieved in 2000 and 2001.

But nothing compares to the All Blacks dominance in the Tri Nations and Rugby Championship, and the All Blacks, from 2009 to 2019 produced results that will never be matched. In that period they played 128 Tests, lost 12, drew four and won 112. In that period they won the World Cup twice, the Bledisloe Cup 11 successive years and won the Tri Nations/Rugby Championship seven times, including winning the Rugby Championship three times on the bounce from 2012, 2013 and 2014, before winning the 2015 World Cup, and then winning the Rugby Championship in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

The All Blacks have won the Tri Nations/Rugby Championship 20 times, the Springboks have six titles and the Wallabies have four. The Pumas have never won the title.

Erasmus, in celebrating the record-breaking Boks, was quick to emphasise that the celebration was about what South Africa was achieving. ‘We know New Zealand set the standard and did it many times.’

Erasmus, after winning the 2019 World Cup, challenged his Boks to find the consistency of the All Blacks from 2009 to 2019 in defining their own legacy. That meant winning 80-plus percent of the games all the time. In the last three seasons they have achieved this and Erasmus continues to challenge the players to chase that golden standard between 2009 and 2019.

All Blacks coach Scott Robertson has 17 wins from 23 since succeeding Ian Foster in 2024, which is a 73.9 percent win record; one that puts him in the top bracket of Test-winning coaches globally, but not among the elite of All Blacks coaches.

New Zealand’s success in consistently winning in the 2000s is a curse to the current crop, who lack the quality of their predecessors, but also are playing at a time when so little separates the top eight to 10 teams in the world rankings.

Erasmus, in his two tenures as head coach, has 35 wins from 48, which puts him at 72.9 percent. It makes him the most successful Boks coach of those who have coached more than 20 Tests.

His 72.9 percent win is substantially better than the Springboks historic win percentage in the Tri Nations/Rugby Championship, which is 47% – and Erasmus and Nienaber’s success since 2019 has improved that average.

The Boks have 69 wins from 147 matches for 333 league points over 30 years (46.9 %). The All Blacks have 107 wins from 149 matches for 521 league points in the same period (71.8%).

The All Blacks also lead the Freedom Cup battle against the Boks 16 to 4 over the last 20 Tri Nations/Rugby Championship tournaments.

There is absolute acknowledgement in New Zealand that the Boks are running hot and are the team to beat in 2025, but the numbers of those All Blacks from 2009 to 2019 were just insane.

In that period the All Blacks played the Boks 24 times and won 17 and drew once, with six of the wins coming in South Africa and two at neutral venues in the 2015 and 2019 RWC.

The AllBlacks home page details some of the staggering numbers of that decade

12: The record for the most consecutive away wins began with a 42-8 victory over Australia on August 20, 2016, in Sydney and ended with an 18-23 loss to Australia in Brisbane on October 20, 2017.

14: In 2013, the All Blacks became the first team in the professional era to win every Test match in a 14-Test calendar year.

18: The All Blacks set a world record by winning 18 consecutive Tier I Test matches from August 15, 2015, to November 5, 2016. This remarkable streak began with a 41-13 victory over Australia at Eden Park and concluded with a 29-40 loss to Ireland in Chicago. England matched this tally between 2015 and 2017.

93: The most wins by a single head coach was achieved by Sir Steve Hansen in 107 Tests between 2011 and 2019. Sir Graham Henry won 88 of 103 Tests between 2004 and 2011. Hansen was an assistant coach for that entire span.

Henry and Hansen combined as head coaches to win 181 Tests in 210 between 2004 and 2019 = 86%

743: World Rugby introduced official weekly world rankings just before the 2003 Rugby World Cup. The All Blacks have held the top position for an unrivalled 743 weeks with eight tenures at one. South Africa is the next-best team with 278 weeks at the top. From November 16, 2009, to August 19, 2019, the All Blacks maintained their number one ranking for 509 consecutive weeks. During this period, they played 128 Tests, achieving 112 wins, 12 losses, and 4 draws. Additionally, from June 14, 2004, to October 22, 2007, the All Blacks played 47 games while ranked as the world number one, winning 41 of those matches.

It could explain why 17 wins in 23 from All Blacks coach Robertson jars with the New Zealand rugby public because the reality is the Springboks and All Blacks both finished the 2025 Rugby Championship with fours wins from six and on 19 league points.

And we are in state of ecstasy and the Kiwis are in mourning.

INCOMPARABLE PIETER-STEPH DU TOIT INSPIRES THE BOKS 

John Philip Botha is as close as one can get to the Toyota Hilux Legend 55, writes Mark Keohane.

The Hilux Legend 55 is sold as being more than a Bakkie, but in terms of rugby players, it matches the ultimate in one Bakkies Botha.

The Keo & Zels Show partnered with Toyota to showcase the Legend 55 and dedicate a four-part series to four Bok legends Zels and I believe to speak the language of the Legend 55.

Our selection policy was that we could not include a current Springbok but had to dig into the archives to define legacy and legend as qualities.

Our gifted quartet is Bakkies Botha, Danie Rossouw, Schalk Burger and Frans Steyn.

In the first of the four-part series we celebrate the achievements of Bakkies Botha as a Springboks and professional rugby player, who won every rugby title possible when he played in the Southern Hemisphere for the Bulls and in the Northern Hemisphere when he played for the French club Toulon.

Botha, who played 100 matches for the Bulls in Super Rugby and won the premier southern hemisphere club title three times, was part of the exceptional Toulon squad that won three successive Investec Champions Cup titles, then known as the Heineken Cup.

Botha also won France club rugby’s coveted Top 14 title, as well as the Currie Cup in South Africa.

He won the 2007 World Cup with the Springboks, a 15-6 win against England in Paris, France, and was also a Tri nations title winner.

Botha was the fans’ vote for the greatest ever No 4 lock in the 30 year history of Investec Champions Cup and the former French national coach and Toulon Director of Rugby Bernard Laporte described Botha as the best player he had coached.

Botha told me it was among his greatest compliments. Equally each time one of his peers selected him in their finest World XVs.

Botha is Europe’s Best

Botha’s durability, sustainability, longevity, excellence and reward in titles.

Blue Bulls

• Vodacom Cup: 2001
• Currie Cup: 2002, 2004, 2006 (draw), 2009

Bulls

• Super Rugby: 2007, 2009, 2010

Toulon

• Heineken Cup European Champions/European Rugby Champions Cup: 2013, 2014, 2015
• Top 14 French League : 2014

South Africa

• World Cup: 2007
• Tri-Nations: 2004, 2009
• British & Irish Lions series win: 2009
• Mandela Challenge Plate: (v Wallabies) 2005, 2009
• Freedom Cup: (v All Blacks) 2004, 2009

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA – JUNE 07: Bakkies Botha of the Springbok in action during the International match between South Africa and World XV at DHL Newlands Stadium on June 07, 2014 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo by Carl Fourie/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

In a new series, we celebrate the new Toyota Hilux Legend 55, and a select quartet of Bok rugby legends of similar ilk!@ToyotaSA #Legend55 #ToyotaBakkiesSA #NotJustABakkie pic.twitter.com/y17evMCfQe

— SA Rugby magazine (@SARugbymag) October 3, 2025

Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus has backed the young Bok guns to do the business at Twickenham agains the Pumas. It is not so much discarding the old guard but recognising the form of the Boks next generation, writes Mark Keohane.

It is also not putting out to pasture those who won the Castle Rugby Championship agains the Pumas in 2024.

To illustrate how Erasmus has evolved the squad in a Test season, without sacrificing results, he has named just eight from the starting XV who beat the Pumas to win the Castle Rugby Championship a year ago.

In the match 23, there are 15 from 23 in between two potential Rugby Championship titles, to also show how much squad continuity there has been. The differentiator, within the squad, is that there are eight survivors in the starting XV in between two matches that double as finals agains the same opposition.

I expected injury withdrawals, but that did not happen to Damian Willemse, Cheslin Kolbe or Ox Nche,

I anticipated changes, the likes of Handre Pollard and Jesse Kriel in the starting XV, or on the bench.

Pollard, the back to back World Cup winner, misses out from the match 23 for a third successive match and Kriel, captain of the Boks agains the All Blacks at Eden Park, gets a place on the bench for Andre Esterhuizen as Erasmus, for the second successive Test, went with those who have scored 15 tries and 110 points in their last two Castle Rugby Championship wins.

Erasmus, who pre the Wellington Test win was averaging 12 changes in his match 23 and eight in his starting XV , has rewarded form, and the finishing brilliance of a squad who put the All Blacks to the sword 43-10 in New Zealand, and backed that up with a 67-30 win agains the Pumas in Durban.

Keo on SACHA FM

The Boks win, they win the title.

Keo & Zels on the Boks

Boks beat Pumas 48-7 in Nelspruit to win Castle Rugby Championship in 2024.

Springboks

Starters: Fassi, Kolbe, Kriel, De Allende, Arendse; Libbok, Hendrikse; Nche, Mbonambi, Malherbe, Etzebeth, Nortje, Kolisi (capt), Du Toit, Wiese. Finishers: Marx, Steenekamp, Koch, Louw, Smith, Reinach, Pollard, Am.

Springboks (to play for the Castle Rugby Championship title v Pumas at Twickenham in 2025)

Starters: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Ethan Hooker, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche. Finishers: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Grant Williams, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Jesse Kriel.

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu is South Africa’s new sound at 10, writes Mark Keohane

This is the feature article I wrote for SA Rugby Magazine’s digital and print publication two months ago, 60 days before Feinberg-Mngomezulu rewrote the history books of Springbok rugby and scored a record 37 points against the Pumas in Durban on Saturday night.

No hindsight was needed or confirmation of his ability. It was always there.

There’s a new frequency crackling through South African rugby. It is clear, confident and controlled. It’s not static. It’s not noise. It’s Sacha FM – and it’s about to go global.

You don’t watch Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu play rugby. You tune into him.

And when you’re locked into the Sacha FM station, it’s all rhythm and no distortion. He plays the game like he was born with a boot made of silk and a brain made of sonar.

In 2025, there is no signal louder than Sacha FM.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu is the playmaker South African rugby supporters did not know the Springboks needed. Why would they?

Handré Pollard, at No 10, has won the Springboks successive World Cup titles, but for the Boks to make it an unprecedented three-peat in Australia in 2027, it needs a combination of youth and experience, and it requires the security of Pollard and the sensation of Sacha FM.

South African rugby has always revered its physicality. Brutal scrummaging, gainline dominance, tackles that rattle the bones of memory. But every era demands a spark – a mind that choreographs chaos. In Sacha FM, the Springboks have found that alchemist. He doesn’t just play No 10; he broadcasts it. Every movement, every pass, every perfectly-weighted kick says: ‘I see it before you do.’

Stormers coach John Dobson, who has had a front-row seat to the boy becoming the man at the Stormers, is unflinching in his assessment.

‘Sacha is a generational talent,’ Dobson told me. ‘We knew from the moment he came through that he wasn’t normal. He doesn’t think about the game like others. He feels it. His rugby IQ is scary. He’s not going to be great – he already is.’

Dobson’s right. Sacha didn’t arrive. He interrupted.

Sacha FM: Springbok rugby’s Anointed One

From captaining SA Schools at just 18, to leading the U20 side, his rise has never been subtle. And yet, even with those lofty accolades, no one could have predicted the authority with which he would take to Test rugby.

In 2024, he made his debut off the bench against Wales. But it was what followed in the Rugby Championship that confirmed the rugby reality of Feinberg-Mngomezulu was as seductive as any fantasy game.

Rewind to the All Blacks at Ellis Park in Johannesburg in 2024.

A full house. Altitude and pressure. But from the outset Sacha FM was on another frequency.

Photo: Anton Geyser/Gallo Images

He ran the game with the calm of a surgeon and the unpredictability of a poet. There was enthusiasm from the home crowd and envy from those wearing black. He played as if he had done it 20 times against the All Blacks.

The Boks, 27-17 behind with 10 minutes to go, won 31-27. Feinberg-Mngomezulu even had the luxury of a missed penalty kick with a few minutes to go.

The Boks won and the rugby world took notice, as they did in Australia the month before New Zealand arrived in South Africa. Feinberg-Mngomezulu started at No 10 in Brisbane and Perth and the Boks won both Tests, with the first Test win at Suncorp Stadium since 2013 a Sacha FM special.

‘We threw him into the deep end,’ said Rassie Erasmus after the Brisbane win in 2024, ‘but what I love about Sacha is he swims like he was born in the ocean. He’s got that calm. He’s got that belief. And technically – he’s world class already. He knows there are areas of his game and game management that must get better, but they will get better the more he plays Test rugby.’

Pollard, the double World Cup-winning general, remains a titan. But in Sacha FM, the Boks now have a foil; not a replacement. It’s not about either-or. It’s about the mix. The radio signal blends into stereo.

Pollard brings the grunt, the ice and the muscle-memory of winning World Cup finals. Sacha FM brings the jazz and the flavour and, with it, the ability to crack a game open in a moment. The Boks don’t just have a flyhalf. They have a broadcasting duo – static-free and perfectly in tune.

Pollard, in his third and final season for Leicester, was the model professional in his 55 matches. The club finished second in the league stage of the English Premiership and narrowly lost the final against Bath at Twickenham.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu was as effective at flyhalf for the Stormers in 2025, although his style has been in complete contrast to that of Pollard.

Two different leagues, in the Premiership and URC, but also two very different players in the No 10 jersey. The Springboks are fortunate to have both options. And Manie Libbok to complete world rugby’s most gifted trio of Test no 10 options.

Add Damian Willemse and there are four who could play Test rugby for the Boks. At a push, add Cheslin Kolbe and you have an unprecedented quintet of No 10 variations.

Sacha FM was the standout performer in the Stormers’ league comeback in the 2024/25 season to finish fifth, having earlier in the campaign languished 13th from 16 teams.

His individual reward was winning the South African URC Player of the Year award.

There was the 25-minute masterclass against Connacht that brought him three tries and his try-assist passes and cross kicks in the season were equally breathtaking. In Durban, on Saturday night, wearing Green and Gold, he produced a similar stunning hat-trick.

It was his vision and fearlessness that started Deon Fourie’s try, a 60m counter-attack effort against the Scarlets, that began with an outrageous reverse pass. The try won the league’s Try of the Season.

‘I trust my instincts,’ Sacha told the media after receiving his award. ‘Since I was a kid, I’ve always believed the game talks to you – if you listen. I’ve just tried to stay tuned in.’

To borrow from Stormers coach Dobson: You can’t coach that. You can’t teach feel. You either have that radio-active awareness, or you don’t. And Sacha FM does.

On Saturday night, two minutes after the win, the record breaker spoke with a calm of a player who had not scored a point.

‘We wanted to produce a performance like this. It was a great way to finish our home season,’ he said in the most understated manner.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s media persona is as blended in charisma as his on-field play. He is unfazed and when asked about the step up to Test rugby, he brought it back to the game staying the same.

‘It’s fast, yes. Physical, yes. But honestly? It’s just rugby. And I love rugby. I’ve been dreaming this dream for so long that it doesn’t feel overwhelming. It feels like home.’

That’s not arrogance. That’s alignment. A player who understands who he is, where he is and what he brings.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s attitude reminds me of a quote when former Manchester United forward Dwight Yorke was asked how he handled the pressure of playing in front of millions.Yorke’s response that a war-torn zone was pressure; playing soccer was pure joy.

Sacha FM is that player.

He’s the new voice of creativity in a Springbok system built on brutality. He doesn’t replace the blueprint. He adds to it. He enhances it and sharpens the edges and brightens the colours.

If 2024 was his Test introduction, then 2025 is his syndication.

Sacha FM, coming in loud and clear. From Cape Town to Cardiff. From Loftus to Twickenham and finally to Auckland, Wellington, Paris, Dublin and in record-breaking form, Durban.

He’s not just on frequency. He is the frequency.

Sacha FM can become rugby royalty. I’ve watched and reported on the careers of every Test flyhalf since the Springboks returned to international rugby in 1992, and Sacha Feinberg‑Mngomezulu is super special, writes Mark Keohane. 

The rugby globe is rightfully raving about Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s Springboks record-breaking 37 points in the 67-30 Castle Rugby Championship win against the Pumas in Durban on Saturday, but those of us who have followed his career from a teenager at Bishops, in the southern suburbs of Cape Town, have always believed nights like Durban (for the Springboks) would not be long in waiting.

I’ve written on every professional Test rugby No 10 since the sport turned professional 1996.

I’ve travelled the globe and sat in stadiums from Pretoria to Paris and Perth, from Buenos Aires to Brisbane, from Cardiff to Christchurch and Cape Town, Mendoza to Melbourne, Wellington’ Sky Stadium to Sydney and Springs, from Houston to Hamilton, from Wembley to Twickenham, from Murrayfield to Montpellier and Marseilles, from Genoa to Bloemfontein, from Johannesburg to Auckland, and to the Nelson Mandela Stadium whenever I could get there for the Boks.

And from Dunedin to Durban.

I have been blessed to be there to write about Test rugby.

The occasions have been electric and the memories mind-blowing.

Think Jannie de Beer’s five drop goals in Paris against England in the 1999 Rugby World Cup quarter-finals, to Jonny Wilkinson’s 27 points in Bloemfontein against the Boks, to Morne Steyn’s 31 points against the All Blacks in Durban, to Carter’s 33 points against the Lions in Wellington, to Beauden Barrett’s 31 points against the Wallabies at Eden Park, to Sacha’s 37 points against the Pumas in Durban.

If there’s one position that defines a generation of rugby watchers, it’s the No 10 jersey.

England’s Wilkinson remains an icon. His 2003 World Cup‑winning wrong‑footed drop goal has been replayed a thousand times, but it was his obsession with preparation and his defensive steel that made him special.

Morné Steyn had that same ice‑cold temperament for the Springboks, as does Handre Pollard with two World Cup gold medals and a 100‑plus Test record still unfolding. Steyn scored 31 points in a Test against the All Blacks and beat the British & Irish Lions to secure the Springboks the Test series in 2009 in Pretoria and 2021 in Cape Town.

Jannie de Beer kicked five drop goals and scored 34 points against England in the 1999 World Cup quarter‑final in Paris, and André Pretorius kicked four drop goals against England at Twickenham and an angled penalty to beat the All Blacks in the final minute at Rustenburg. It all happened in 2006.

Then there is the 1995 World Cup‑winning drop‑goal master Joel Stransky, who a year later scored all 25 points in the Boks’ win against the Wallabies in Bloemfontein; Butch James, wearing No 10 with such authority in the World Cup‑winning final against England in Paris in 2007; and one of my early favourites, Henry Honiball.

New Zealand’s Andrew Mehrtens had touch and timing that few matched. Australia’s Stephen Larkham was the flyhalf who redefined instinctive play without ever saying much. And he kicked the most famous drop goal in Wallabies World Cup history, against the Springboks in the 1999 semi‑final at Twickenham.

All Blacks No 10 Carlos Spencer was a magician – a player who defied convention for the sake of joy.

England’s Owen Farrell is a Sir. Give him a knighthood. He’s a warrior, a leader and a metronome in the big moments.
Ireland’s Johnny Sexton and Ronan O’Gara put Ireland at Test rugby’s top table.

Stephen Larkham was wonderful for the Wallabies and Scotland’s Gregor Townsend was unorthodox and a genius before it was trendy. Finn Russell today is the closest we’ve come to reviving that free‑thinking flyhalf spirit.

Gareth Anscombe’s touchline conversion in 2022, to beat the Boks for the first time ever in South Africa, wrote his name into Welsh rugby folklore. Dan Biggar, with 115 Tests, gave Wales backbone and bite. Stephen Jones was as influential for Wales.

France’s flyhalves have always delivered flair and enterprise. Frédéric Michalak was all theatre, and Romain Ntamack is a combination of flash and function.

All Blacks Beauden Barrett, Aaron Cruden and Richie Mo’unga are all world‑class flyhalves. Barrett, at his peak, was untouchable on the run. Cruden had vision, calm and the most underrated presence in Test rugby. Mo’unga is a wonderful all‑round Test No 10.

Their All Blacks predecessor Dan Carter is the most complete flyhalf I have ever seen in the professional era

Carter played the game as if he was never in a hurry. The pass, the kick, the run – always in sync. He could play 10 or 12. He could tackle like a loose forward. And he did it all with the poise of someone who looked immune to the pressure and pain of Test rugby.

Carter owns the record for most Test points scored (1 598), but his goal kicking was a given. What completed him was every aspect of his game.

When people ask who the best is that I have seen – the best of the best – I don’t hesitate: Dan Carter.

Sacha Feinberg‑Mngomezulu is Carter‑like. Don’t read this as me thinking he is a Carter impersonator; rather, he has every quality that Carter showed in a 112‑Test career, in which he won 99 matches, drew one and lost 12.

Carter’s 33 points from 48 for the All Blacks against the British & Irish Lions in Wellington in 2005 was the most complete No 10 performance I had ever experienced, but 20 years later we have Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s 37-point individual effort in Durban to sit alongside that of what Carter produced in 2005.

Both did it as 23 year-olds. Carter did it in his 3rd season of Test rugby. Feinberg-Mngomezulu did it in his second season.

That is the potential of Feinberg‑Mngomezulu. That is why the hype is justified, even if the coronation is premature until his career is completed.

Carter won two World Cups and got to 112 Tests in a 15‑year Test career. He won everything there was to win, at every level. He wrote his own coronation at Twickenham in the 2015 World Cup final win against Australia.

Feinberg‑Mngomezulu is into his second year of Test rugby. He has been anointed, but the royal capping will only come with his last act in Test rugby.

For now, for pure pleasure and spectator joy, let’s celebrate the record-breaking 37 point nights Sacha FM produced in Durban against the Pumas because history has shown us how rare nights like those are for even the very best in the game.

SACHA SIZZLES FOR BOKS V WALLABIES IN BRISBANE

LOUD & CLEAR: SACHA FM TURNS UP THE VOLUME FOR THE BOKS

Boks coach Rassie Erasmus has been bold in his team selections for the Castle Rugby Championship showdown against Argentina. Now those Next Gen Boks must deliver and reward their coach with a performance the equal of what was produced in Wellington against the All Blacks, writes Mark Keohane.

Erasmus, who has averaged seven changes in his run-on XVs this season and 12 in his match 23, from one Test to the next, resisted tampering with the winning formula from Wellington.

There were only two enforced swaps, both through injury and on Friday two became three when loose-head prop Ox Nche was ruled out with a niggle.

Earlier in the week Erasmus entrusted 13 of the starting XV from Wellington, New Zealand, to start against Argentina.

Eben Etzebeth, the most capped player in Bok Test history, is back in the engine room, Damien Willemse, a back to back World Cup winner, moves from inside centre to fullback and the veteran double World Cup winner Damian de Allende returns to the midfield in the No 12 jersey.

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu starts at No 10, with the option to move to 15 in the last quarter.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu has been beset with injuries in the past 12 months and he needs time in the saddle. He needs to make it through 80 minutes.  Durban is his stage.

Canan Moodie gets another opportunity to showcase his skill set at outside centre and Thomas du Toit’s mobility is preferred as a starting option at tighthead, with Wilco Louw to bring the heat at scrum time in the second 40.

Erasmus has picked a power pack, led by Siya Kolisi.

Argentina will test the Boks

Pumas coach Felipe Contepomi, who played 87 times of Argentina, has turned the Pumas into more than bruisers. Their backs are sharp, their counter-attack lethal, their pack no longer a second-tier act. They’ve beaten New Zealand in Wellington, run riot against Australia, and edged South Africa in Argentina a year ago.

They will not fear Durban.

But Saturday is not about them.

It is about the next wave of Boks – Sacha, Moodie, Willemse, and the younger forwards. It is about continuity and not nostalgia. It is about proving that the world champions have the depth to stay world champions.

Discipline will matter and Durban’s match conditions invariably are a leveller.

Australian Angus Gardner’s whistle has hurt the Boks before, and the Boks have to take Gardner’s interpretation out of the equation with a compelling performance.

Keo’s prediction: Springboks 37–25 Argentina.

Zel’s prediction: Springboks 30-20 Argentina

Keo & Zels chat all things Rugby

SA Rugby Mag: All the latest Castle Rugby Championship News

Los Pumas are a different beast since Felipe Contepomi has taken charge as head coach. Mark Keohane unpacks the potency of the Argentenians and highlights the point of difference in the 2025 Castle Rugby Championship.

Once affectionately dubbed rugby’s little brother to the Springboks, the men from Argentina are very grown up and not quite so little in presence or prestige.
Consistency has always been the Achilles Heel of Los Pumas, but in the last two Castle Rugby Championship tournaments, including the current one, the Pumas have turned potential into potency.

Pumas coach and former international Felipe Contepomi has proved inspirational since his appointment as head coach in 2024. Contepomi enjoyed a stellar player career, was capped 87 times for the Pumas and played his club rugby for Bristol, Leinster, Toulon and Stade Francais. He spent between 2003 and 2009 in Dublin at Leinster, playing 116 times.

Contepomi has a strong association with Ireland, having studied at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, played for Leinster and was the Irish club giants’ backs coach between 2018 and 2022.

He has introduced the best aspects of what he learned in Ireland and merged the raw power and physicality that runs so deep in the DNA of Argentinean rugby with an attacking style that has been the most impressive of all the teams playing in the Rugby Championship.

Contepomi has also, in 18 months, created history with wins against the Wallabies, the All Blacks and Springboks in the 2024 Rugby Championship. The 38-30 win against the All Blacks was the most points a team had ever scored against the All Blacks in New Zealand until the Boks (43-10) winners surpassed this at the same Sky Stadium in Wellington. The Pumas scored the most points in the history of the Rugby Championship, coming from behind to beat the Wallabies 67-27 and then beating the Boks at home by a point.

In 2025 the Pumas have tamed the British & Irish Lions, in Dublin, beaten the All Blacks at home for the first time and were a minute away from completing a double against the Wallabies in Australia. They lost the first Test in the 84 th minute and were always in control in a second Test win.

They arrive in South Africa determined to pitch up for next Saturday’s Test in Durban, having been torn apart 48-7 by the tournament-winning Boks in last season’s final round in Nelspruit.

Contepomi rued last year’s final hit out, insisted the occasion was too big for his squad, but confident that the gains had been made in victories, consistency and in Argentina’s charge to a top five world ranking.

The Pumas were World Cup semi-finalists in 2007, 2015 and 2023, but it was an inability to back up big wins that has been their undoing. They were also limited in the backs, but there has been a revolution, more than an evolution, with their back play, especially since Contepomi’s arrival.

‘Our mentality has changed. We focus more on process than the result. Obviously, it is nicer to win, but in last season’s win against the Springboks they had the chance to win the Test with a late penalty kick. My impression of the game would not have changed, regardless of the result. The performance speaks to our processes and what we are trying to achieve,’ he said.

Contepomi has always been an admirer of the Boks, both when facing them as a player and now as a coach, but the admiration is not to be confused with being in awe of the back-to-back world champions.

‘They have set the standard, and they have the titles. They have a great coach and a support staff, an iconic leader and wonderfully talented players. It is the biggest challenge to play them, especially in South Africa, but it is a challenge that excites us. There is so much respect for them but also self-belief that we are good enough to beat any team, including them.’

SPECIAL SPRINGBOKS JERSEY FINDS ITS WAY HOME

Contepomi aside, hooker Julian Montoya has captained the Pumas 50 times, and vice-captain Pablo Matera is among Test rugby’s most imposing loose-forwards.

The Pumas are tough, but where they once lacked variation and balance, they now have plenty with the new breed of backline player, aligned to Contepomi’s attacking mindset, adding a dimension that was absent in their style a few years ago.

The starting back line in the win against the Wallabies in Sydney is world class, with Juan Cruz Mallia at fullback, Rodrigo Isgro, Mateo Carreras (wingers), midfielders Santiago Chocobares and Luciano Cinti and halfbacks Gonzalo Garcia and Santiago Carreras lethal as collective.

Tomas Albornoz, the regular starting 10, has recovered from injury and will play against the Boks, but the quality of this Pumas side is that Albornoz’s No 10 stand-in in Sydney, Santiago Carreras scored 23 points.

Argentina, playing their 19th Test in South Africa, have just the one victory, which was in Durban in 2015.

‘The Pumas have a powerful pack and classy playmakers in their backline and will have to be mentally and physically ready for them,’ said Erasmus. ‘They beat us last season and they, like us, New Zealand and Australia, are all in with a chance to win the tournament. We must be at our best to win, in Durban and a week later against them at Twickeham.’
*Argentina moved their home game to Twickenham for commercial reasons.

Keo’s feature first appeared in the Sunday Times

The All Blacks took a beating against the Springboks in Wellington, but history a reminder that the occasional rugby beating does not make for the death of a famed rugby nation. If it was so, the Springboks would be ashes in an urn, writes Mark Keohane.

What has stunned the rugby world about the Springboks 43-10 win in Wellington, New Zealand last Saturday is that historically the All Blacks may lose, but they seldom get beaten up.

Be guaranteed they will be back, just as the Springboks always have bounced back from their darkest days to win four Rugby World Cup titles and some of the biggest Test matches, in which they were written off because of a historical result or results.

The Boks have inflicted the two biggest points differential defeats in All Blacks history, 33 points in Wellington last Saturday and 28 points at Twickenham in 2023, pre the World Cup.

The All Blacks, in 658 Tests, have lost by 20 or more points four times.

No team has scored 50-plus points in a Test against the All Blacks. The Springboks have scored 46 and 43, Australia has scored 47 and France on one occasion went past 40 against them. This is in 658 Tests.

The All Blacks have won three World Cup titles and 20 Tri-nations/Rugby Championship titles. The Boks are second best with five titles and one better in World Cup titles with four.

Many of the back to back Springboks World Cup winning squads of 2019 and 2023 were in the teams beaten 57-15 in Durban in 2016 and 57-0 in Albany in 2017.

My point is that the All Blacks will only improve over the next two seasons in the lead into the World Cup played in Australia. To dismiss them as yesterday’s news is to make the same mistake so many did about the Springboks when the All Blacks were pumping the South Africans, Ireland was winning 38-3, England was pounding the Boks, Argentina was rolling them in South Africa and in Argentina, Scotland were doing a number on them, Wales were on a roll against them and even Italy got in a historic home win.

The Boks have been through darker times than the All Blacks have experienced, yet the Boks recovered and in the past six years have been the dominant Test team in the game.

But those very same players who took 57 points in Albany, the likes of Siya Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth, Tendai Mtawarira, Malcolm Marx, Franco Mostert, Lood de Jager, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Handre Pollard and Damian de Allende, went onto win World Cup titles, with seven of the nine winning back to back World Cup titles.

The All Blacks will have flyhalf Richie Mo’unga back for the 2027 World Cup. Mark Telea may be back from Japan and on the wing. There are three or four other prominent All Blacks based overseas who are so good that it may just force a rethink in the All Blacks policy of not picking eligible players based outside of New Zealand.

New Zealand will be the late arrivals to the party that promotes the virtues of picking the best players in the world to play Test rugby, regardless of where they play their club rugby.

As a Boks supporter it is natural to revel in the brilliance of the Boks and the cycle from 2019 to 2025, which has seen the Boks win back to back World Cup titles, a British & Irish Lions series, a Rugby Championship and seven wins in the last 10 against the All Blacks, which is significantly better than the historical win percentage of less than 40 percent. These wins have pushed the Boks win percentage up to 42 percent against a rugby nation, whose 58 percent win rate against the Boks is the lowest of all their win rates against any other nation.

Australia, with a 30 percent win rate against the All Blacks, is the next best and the All Blacks since their first Test have won 77 percent of their 658 Tests against all 19 nations, 12 of which have never beaten the All Blacks.

A lost aura is not be confused with the death of a rugby nation.

When we say the aura is gone, it is because the seeming impossible of going to New Zealand and beating the All Blacks is now very possible in this modern age when so little separating  the top eight teams in the professional game.

What the All Blacks have achieved over time is remarkable but right now they are the victims of their own success, and they are in crisis because of the magnitude of their historical success.

The celebrated 2011 and 2015 All Blacks World Cup winner Sonny Bill Williams, post the All Blacks defeat to Argentina in Buenos Aires, said there should be an acknowledgement that other teams have also improved and it is not as simple as the All Blacks having gotten worse.

Sir John Kirwan, the famed 1987 World Cup winner and try-scoring machine on the right wing, said the 43-10 record defeat to the Boks was the crisis that was needed because it would force debate, discussion and transparency of the All Blacks of 2025.

He was another, like Zels and myself, to say the Boks, like Argentina and Ireland in the past few years, have buried the aura of the All Blacks being untouchable in New Zealand.

But to think the All Blacks won’t be back is to not learn from the history and, in particular, the history of the Springboks.

Here are 15 times since the Boks’ international reintroduction that the All Blacks have beaten the Boks, in New Zealand, in South Africa and on neutral ground, with the lowest being a 15 points differential and the biggest being 57 points.

In those 15 Tests the All Blacks blanked the Boks twice, in New Zealand and in South Africa, and went past 50 on four occasions, twice in New Zealand and twice in South Africa.

The Boks have hit rock bottom against the All Blacks and responded with four World Cup titles, with two of the four wins in the final agains the All Blacks, in 1995 and in 2023.

For now the roles have been reversed, which does not make it a permanent situation.

Here is the rugby history lesson to remind us South Africans to enjoy the moment, but to know the men in black will be back, as was the case with our Rainbow Warriors.

1997: All Blacks 55 Boks 35 (Eden Park, Auckland)

1999: All Blacks 28 Boks 0 (Dunedin)

2002: All Blacks 41 Boks 20 (Wellington)

2003: All Blacks 52 Boks 16 (Loftus, Pretoria)

2003: All Blacks 29 Boks 9 (Melbourne)

2006: All Blacks 35 Boks 17 (Wellington)

2006: All Blacks 45 Boks 26 (Loftus, Pretoria)

2007: All Blacks 33 Boks 6 (Christchurch)

2008: All Blacks 19 Boks 0 (Newlands, Cape Town)

2010: All Blacks 32 Boks 12 (Eden Park, Auckland)

2011: All Blacks 40 Boks 7 (Wellington)

2016: All Blacks 41 Boks 13 (Christchurch)

2016: All Blacks 57 Boks 15 (Durban)

2017: All Blacks 57 Boks 0 (Albany, Auckland)

2023: All Blacks 35 Boks 20 (Mt Smart, Auckland)

*In 2016 the All Blacks scored 98 points to the Boks 28 in two Test matches. The Boks were the World Cup winners in 2019.

Damian Willemse and Jasper Wiese were scored the perfect 10s, 10/10 for their performances in the Boks record-breaking 43-10 Castle Rugby Championship win against the All Blacks in Wellington, New Zealand, writes Mark Keohane.

The NZ Herald, the premier media publication in New Zealand, has previously only ever scored two Springboks as perfect 10s in Test matches between the Boks and All Blacks.

Malcolm Marx has been afforded the compliment and Pieter-Steph du Toit, in the 2023 World Cup final, when he made 28 tackles, rearranged every bone in Jordie Barrett’s body and inspired the Boks from minute one to minute 81.

In Wellington it was Willemse, starting his first Test at inside centre for the Boks, and Wiese, back from a six week ban, and starting at No 8.

Cheslin Kolbe, Siya Kolisi and Duane Vermeulen have come close in recent years, scoring eights and nines from 10 when it comes to the New Zealand media, but on Saturday the golden buzzer went the way of Player of the Match Willemse and Wiese, who made 14 tackles, eight carries and was a demon in the way he tortured and terrorised the All Blacks.

Wiese has been missed.

Willemse, who started the 2023 RWC final against the All Blacks at fullback, has had several injury setbacks in the past 18 months, but in Wellington he revelled with the additional responsibility at No 12, as did Wiese in a remarkable performance, given he has not played since seeing red 20 minutes into South Africa’s second Test against Italy in July.

To illustrate the potency of the Boks, in the eyes of the NZ Herald, every substitute received eight from 10, bar one. And that one was the viking RG Snyman, who was rated nine from 10.

Marnus van der Merwe – 8

Jan-Hendrik Wessels – 8

Wilco Louw – 8

R.G. Snyman – 9

Kwagga Smith – 8

Grant Williams – 8

Manie Libbok – 8

Andre Esterhuizen – 8

NZ Herald rates each Boks player out of 10

NZ Herald rugby columnist Gregor Paul wrote: ‘The All Blacks have talked all year about wanting to play at pace, but goodness knows why because they couldn’t remotely compete with the Boks when the tourists rammed the stick into fifth and played with a compelling mix of power, pace, precision and ambition.

The second half descended into exhibition rugby from South Africa and something nightmarish for the All Blacks.

The sight of the giant R.G. Snyman ghosting through a passive defensive line was plain embarrassing.

When the Boks grabbed a sixth try in the last minute to push the score past 40, it was plain humiliating.’

GREGOR PAUL’S NZ HERALD COLUMN 

HOW KEO.CO.ZA CALLED THE BOKS’ WIN 24 HOURS BEFORE IT HAPPENED

Did you know the Springboks have inflicted four of the eight biggest ever points differential wins against the All Blacks and the top two, 33 points in Wellington and 28 points at Twickenham in 2023, pre the Rugby World Cup. They have also beaten the All Blacks twice in the only two finals the two giants have played against each other, in South Africa in 1995 and in France in 2023.

Bok Befok: Yes please. Rassie’s rampant history makers destroyed the All Blacks in Wellington, New Zealand, scoring 36 unanswered second half points in a record-breaking 43-10 win, writes Mark Keohane.

The Boks scored six tries to one and had one disallowed, which should have been a penalty try to the Boks and a yellow card against the All Blacks.

My message to every South African supporter. Be safe, be cool and drink lots of Castle Lager on this Saturday and Sunday.

You witnessed something incredible from the back-to-back world champions in New Zealand.

The World Cup wins aside, this is Rassie Erasmus and Siya Kolisi’s finest hour as coach and captain of the Boks.

What a win.

Celebrate it.

HOW WE CALLED BOKS WIN

We have never done this kind of thing to the All Blacks in New Zealand. No team in the history of the game has.

Six tries!

Absolute dominance, at set piece, in the collisions, in the aerial battle, in the territorial game, and in the pleasure of having the ball.

The Boks, beaten 24-17 at Eden Park a week ago, relied on the tried and trusted in the pack and a range of brilliant individuals in the backs; players so talented but who had never lined up as a collective of the Boks.

The result was beyond comprehension.

The Boks pack, so intimidating when Wilco Louw was introduced on 41 minutes, scrummed the All Blacks from Wellington back to Auckland and than back down south to Invercargill.

The line out, marshalled by Ruan Nortje, was proper and the backs, led by Manie Libbok, were ‘PURE BOK’.

This was a blackout of note.

Erasmus did not roll the dice this week. He know what he was doing.

He picked a 23 with great balance but he introduced kids with greater hunger. Hooker was at the forefront of this hunger.

I wrote in the week that the Boks were good enough to feast on the All Blacks in Wellington. I believed, with conviction, this was a match 23 good enough to win in Wellington.

I was seriously annoyed they did not win at Eden Park a week ago. I felt this was a squad who would not get spooked by history, but they did in those opening 20 minutes and those 14 early All Blacks points were enough to keep in tact the most incredible record of 51 Tests unbeaten in 31 years at Eden Park.

The Sky Stadium in Wellington is not Eden Park. The All Blacks lose there, often.

On Saturday, they did not lose, they got pumped.

I always say ‘Boks by 10’.

Now is it is ‘Boks by 33’

ALL THE REACTION FROM BOKS AND ALL BLACKS 

Bigger than a result on Saturday in Wellington will be the electricity at who has been picked at 10, 12 and 13 for the Springboks, writes Mark Keohane.

This season it has become obvious that the back to back World Cup winning Springboks are a squad in transition. Who of the old guard leaves gracefully, who gets butchered and which of the new guard, respectfully slots in for the 2026 Great Rivalry Home Series against the All Blacks in 2026 and the 2027 Rugby World Cup?

This season has been a reminder that time is the greatest opponent in every aspect of the game and life, and time never loses.

Times has no mercy or empathy or sympathy.

Time just calls time.

After the eight year journey, from Number Seven in the World to Number One, back to back World Cup winners, a British & Irish Lions series win in 2021 and the Rugby Championship title in 2024, those originals are exhausted as a group, fatigued and seemingly done.

Individually, many can move on, but as collective the best is in the past tense.

Handre Pollard, Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel are the most decorated 10.12 and 13 backline axis in the history of Springboks rugby. Lukyano Am had 18 glorious months at No 13 and there have been a few big time cameos at No 10, outside of Pollard.

Individually, all three may still be there in 2027, but collectively it is doubtful that would be the starting 10, 12 and 13 for a 2027 World Cup play-off.

Instead, Rassie Erasmus has picked a 10, 12 and and 13 combination that could be electric in 2027 and, if not, at full tilt at the 2031 World Cup in the United States of America.

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu is a generational player. He has it all. He is the No 10.

Damian Willemse is a generational player and the youngest player in the history of the game to win two World Cup titles. He has it all. He is the No 12.

Canan Moodie is another generational player and he has been electric on either wing for the Boks and sublime in the No 13 jersey. He plays No 13 on Saturday.

The trio have never played together for the Boks at 10, 12 and 13. The trio are all born and bred in the Western Cape and all three attended three of the most famous schools, with Feinberg-Mngomezulu from Bishops, Willemse from Paul Roos and Moodie from Boland Landbou (Agriculture).

Their comfort on one wing is another Capetonian, Kraaifontein’s Brackenfell High Cheslin Kolbe.

Inside of then is a veteran going to the Stormers in Cobus Reinach and another from the rich rugby town of Paarl in Grant Williams (Paarl Gimnasium).

Nos 10, 12 and 13 are effective if the pack is effective and Erasmus has picked a starting eight full of World Cup winners and a forwards bench of potential and World Cup-winning pedigree.

I don’t for a moment doubt the capability of Pollard, De Allende and Kriel in the next 24 months, but finally the next trio has been entrusted to start a Test against the All Blacks in New Zealand.

If they compete and thrive, they will never have a tougher assignment in their careers.

What they also need is to be backed to play together as a trio in more than the occasional Test.

Erasmus has selected an exciting match 23, but he has also picked one that either wins the Test or could fold and lose by 20.

Whatever the outcome he needs to play these guys more and he needs to play these combinations more.

Of all the combinations for Saturday, nothing is more exciting than the 10, 12 and 13 he has picked. Add Kolbe, newbie Ethan Hooker on the wing and Aphelele Fassi at fullback and you could be looking at the core of the next wave of Bok backline brilliance.

Bear in mind Kurt-Lee Arendse, Edwill van der Merwe and Makazole Mampimpi are stilll around, I am talking 2027 and beyond.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu is 23 years old, Willemse just turned 27 and Moodie is 22 year-old.

They have played 65 Tests combined, with Willemse the most experienced and all three have beaten the All Blacks.

Rassie on Willemse at No 12

Keo on Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu 

An emotionally charged Mark Alexander paid tribute to the history of the SARU legends denied an opportunity to showcase their skills to a global audience at the launch of a book honouring and acknowledging those heroes who fought injustice, prejudice and racial division during the Apartheid era. They are names and faces that must never be forgotten, writes Mark Keohane.

SA Rugby Magazine’s Simon Borchardt attended the lauch, appropriately in Cape Town’s Bo-Kaap, and he told me of the power of Alexander’s speech.

‘I wish I had recorded it,’ said Borchardt. ‘It was a very interesting and powerful speech from Mark Alexander. At the end of it he properly teared up, which I have never seen him do in the past.’

Alexander, who has been the president of SA Rugby since 2016, has been the heart beat and pulse of SA Rugby’s revival in transforming the off-field ills of 2016, when sponsors walked away, investors were scarce and the government was at odds with the sport’s leadership for a lack of custodianship in the transformation of the game.

Alexander, a fiery hooker in his early playing days for the non-racial Transvaal, had his career ended prematurely because of a knee injury, but he quickly transferred that on-field fire in the belly to rugby and sports administration.

Alexander, post the low of South Africa’s defeat against Italy in 2016 and the four Bok wins in 12 in 2017, embarked on the most gruelling resurrection of the Springboks and SA Rugby as a brand to corporate South Africa. The result is that in 2025 South Africa are back to back Rugby World Cup champions, under 20 world champions, 7s world champions, undefeated in the most recent under 18 internationals against France, England and Ireland, and have a competitive team at the women’s World Cup, hopefully of making the quarter-finals of the first time.

But it is the memory of the fight pre-unity that evokes such emotion in Alexander because he was at the heart of that fight to restore balance and normality and equal opportunity to every rugby player in South Africa.

Historian Andre Odendaal described ‘Scrumming Against All Odds’ as a remarkable collection of SARU heroes finally getting their just acknowledgement. The book is edited by Omar Esau. 

I contacted Alexander and asked him if he could send me his speech, to record it online, even if the power of the delivery in person could not be replicated.

He obliged.

‘Ladies and Gentlemen,
Friends of rugby, custodians of history and champions of truth— It is both a privilege and a solemn honour to stand before you today at the launch of Scrumming Against All Odds—a work that does more than chronicle the game. It bears witness to a struggle. It gives voice to those who were silenced. And it reminds us that rugby in South Africa was never just about sport—it was about survival, dignity and defiance.

‘This book is not merely a collection of stories. It is a reckoning with our past. A past in which rugby was used to divide, to exclude and to reinforce a system that denied countless South Africans the right to represent their country—not because they lacked talent, but because of the colour of their skin.

‘Yet, in the face of that injustice, communities across this nation refused to let the game die. They played on dusty fields, with torn jerseys and borrowed boots. They coached without pay, organised fixtures without resources and built clubs that became sanctuaries of hope.

‘They scrummed not for glory, but for identity. They tackled not for trophies, but for recognition. And they passed the ball forward—not just in play, but in purpose.

‘These were the men and women who kept rugby alive in the townships, in the rural heartlands and in the forgotten corners of our cities. They sacrificed careers, endured humiliation and faced threats—yet they never abandoned the game. Their love for rugby was unconditional and their commitment to justice was unwavering.

‘And when the walls of apartheid finally fell, it was rugby—more than any other force—that helped unify this country. On that unforgettable day in 1995, when a Springbok jersey became a symbol of reconciliation, we saw what this game could mean to a fractured nation. Rugby gave us a shared language, a common dream and a reason to believe in each other again.

‘But we must also acknowledge that the injustice of apartheid extended beyond our borders. The Māori All Blacks—a team rich in heritage and pride—were denied the right to tour South Africa for decades, simply because they were not white. That exclusion was a stain on our history and it is long overdue that we confront it with humility and remorse.

‘I am pleased to share that the South African Rugby Union is currently in discussion with our counterparts in New Zealand to host the Māori All Blacks for two matches on South African soil next season. These games will not only be a celebration of rugby excellence—they will be a moment of reckoning, of recognition and of reconciliation. We intend to use this occasion to formally
apologise for the discrimination they endured and to honour those who were excluded and marginalised here at home.
Scrumming Against All Odds captures this spirit. It reminds us that the soul of South African rugby was forged not only in stadiums, but in struggle. 

It challenges us to remember that transformation is not a destination—it is a journey. And it calls on all of us, especially those in leadership, to ensure that the sacrifices of the past are honoured through action, inclusion and accountability.

‘As President of the South African Rugby Union, I pledge that we will continue to confront our history with honesty and shape our future with courage. We owe it to those who scrummed against all odds. We owe it to the next generation who must never be told that their dreams are limited by where they come from or what they look like.

‘Let this book be a mirror, a map and a mandate. A mirror to reflect where we’ve been. A map to guide where we must go. And a mandate to never forget the price paid by those who played the game when the game refused to play fair.

‘To the authors, contributors and custodians of this powerful work—thank you. You have not just written a book. You have preserved a legacy.

Thank you.’

South African Rugby President Mark Alexander wants the Māori All Blacks in South Africa in 2026, to finally apologise to those Maori players denied an opportunity to play in South Africa during Apartheid South Africa, writes Mark Keohane.

The 2026 rugby season is shaping as the greatest in the history of South African professional rugby, with the All Blacks and Springboks to play a three-Test series for the first time since Sean Fitzpatrick’s 1996 history makers toured for eight matches and won a three-Test series 2-1. It was the first ever All Blacks series win in South Africa. It remains the only one.

Alexander, the heartbeat of transformation in today’s SA Rugby leadership, was among those players denied the chance to play international rugby pre unity. He was a driving force as a player and youthful administrator.

He experienced first-hand the heartache of apartheid South Africa and is at the forefront of a unified glorious South African rugby landscape that speaks to every South African rugby player’s Springboks aspirations.

The All Blacks will tour South Africa for two months and play three Test matches and five tour matches, four of them against the South African United Rugby Championship quartet of the Bulls, Lions, Sharks and Stormers.

Alexander knows what the Maori All Blacks meant for so many in South Africa, pre-unity, and he, in his capacity as SA Rugby President, is finally content that the rightful apology can now be made because it will be made in a fitting rugby environment that speaks to equality and equal opportunity for every player in South Africa and every player touring South Africa.

Alexander, in honouring the SARU Legends at the launch of ‘Scrumming Against All Odds’, confirmed his desire to make the Māori All Blacks visit to South Africa a reality for all the right reasons.

‘We must also acknowledge that the injustice of apartheid extended beyond our borders. The Māori All Blacks—a team rich in heritage and pride—were denied the right to tour South Africa for decades, simply because they were not white. That exclusion was a stain on our history and it is long overdue that we confront it with humility and remorse.

‘I am pleased to share that the South African Rugby Union is currently in discussion with our counterparts in New Zealand to host the Māori All Blacks for two matches on South African soil next season. These games will not only be a celebration of rugby excellence—they will be a moment of reckoning, of recognition and of reconciliation. We intend to use this occasion to formally
apologise for the discrimination they endured and to honour those who were excluded and marginalised here at home.
Scrumming Against All Odds captures this spirit. It reminds us that the soul of South African rugby was forged not only in stadiums, but in struggle,’ said Alexander.

SA RUGBY PRESIDENT LAUDS SARU LEGENDS

The Springboks last played the Maori All Blacks on the ill-feted 1981 Springboks tour of New Zealand, with Colin Beck kicking the most controversial drop goal to secure a 12-12 all draw for the Boks.

WATCH: COLIN BECK’S CONTROVERSIAL DROP GOAL TO TIE THE MATCH 12-all

The Māori All Blacks have played in South Africa, as part of an invitation to the then Yardley Cup.

REFLECTION: ALL WHITE ALL BLACKS LEAVE FOR SOUTH AFRICA