Springboks captain Siya Kolisi and his teammates celebrate with the Webb Ellis trophy after beating New Zealand’s All Blacks in the Rugby World Cup final. Springboks captain Siya Kolisi and his teammates celebrate with the Webb Ellis trophy after beating New Zealand’s All Blacks in the Rugby World Cup final. Picture:Yoan Valat / EPA
World Rugby can keep their individual awards, what matters for the Springboks and South Africans is the fact that the Webb Ellis Cup will land in Mzansi this morning with a highly successful Bok team.
The Springboks made history on Saturday by winning the Rugby World Cup, claiming it for a fourth time in only their eighth appearance at the tournament since it’s inception in 1987.
They have been more successful at the global showpiece than any other team, and much like the jeering captain Siya Kolisi and his team received from the French crowd in Paris on Saturday, they were snubbed at the World Rugby Awards as well.
They’ve been the most consistent team this season even though they missed key players before and during their campaign, they still had plenty of depth in their squad to win the World Cup and regain the No 1 ranking.
But that wasn’t enough to earn any of the players, except Eben Etzebeth, a place in the Dream Team of the Year.
Instead, Ireland and France who had failed campaigns if you take a look at their World Cup results and where they ended up in the top eight, have five players a piece in the Dream Team.
Five players who could not help their teams get to the semi-finals.
Yes, Ireland beat the Boks in the pool stage of the World Cup, and France claimed a famous win over the All Blacks in the opening game, but surely the fact that both failed to make it past the first knockout hurdle, should count against them.
Etzebeth's inclusion as one of the locks is spot on, and so too is Ardie Savea at No 8, but how do you omit Frans Malherbe at the cost of Irishman Tadgh Furlong or the “Malmesbury Missile” Pieter-Steph du Toit for flank Charles Ollivon of France.
Du Toit has been brilliant for the Springboks, and his World Cup performances opened up the debate in South Africa whether he could be regarded as one of, if not the greatest Bok player ever.
He was sublime and was one of the driving forces behind the Boks’ successful defence all year long and during the World Cup.
But somewhere the Irish and French players had to be rewarded, even if they achieved mediocre positions at the World Cup.
Even the decision of Coach of the Year is a debatable one. Do you give the guy who took his team on a 16-match unbeaten run, but failed to get Ireland - yet again - past the quarter-finals?
Andy Farrell’s side were top of the rankings for 15 months, but it means nothing if you can’t win rugby’s biggest prize.
Outgoing Bok coach Jacques Nienaber, who led the Boks to back-to-back titles, while making history with them becoming the first team to win four trophies, was overlooked as well.
Not that Nienaber gunned for the accolade but it would’ve capped an amazing two World Cup cycles with the Springboks and how he, along with SA director of rugby Rassie Erasmus and the rest of the management, turned things around to make the Boks an immovable force.
And judging how Farrell’s accolade was judged over a period of months, a case could be made for wing Kurt-Lee Arendse, who missed out on the Breakthrough Player of the Year award.
He has been devastating on the attack whenever he pulled the Bok jersey over his head for the last year or so, and even if it might’ve been overshadowed by his attacking prowess, he is a player who doesn’t stand back for contact.
That try-saving tackle on Rieko Ioane on Saturday proved it again.
But, the All Blacks’ Mark Telea is full value for that award and Arendse just missed out against a wing who set the rugby world on fire since he made his debut in November 2022.
The Boks deserved more solo plaudits for how they’ve gone about dealing with the pressure that defending a World Cup brings, but they won’t really care because it was a brilliant team effort over the last four years that brought them the title of champions again.
@Leighton_K