"Evolve or perish." Springbok defence coach Jerry Flannery says the Boks cannot afford to stand still if they want to defend their crown in Australia next year. Photo: Backpagepix
Image: Backpagepix
If the Springboks do not evolve and advance in 2026, there is a good chance they will perish at next year’s Rugby World Cup in Australia.
That is the sentiment of Bok defence coach Jerry Flannery, the fiery Irishman who adds that the Boks will use the 14 matches they play this year to add yet more arrows to their quiver. Flannery, who took over the defensive reins from former Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber at the beginning of 2024, was speaking at a media day in Cape Town ahead of the first alignment camp of the year.
Nienaber doesn’t always get praised for the work he is doing at Leinster, but Flannery is a big fan of the pillars Nienaber built that were crucial to the Boks’ back-to-back World Cup wins in 2019 and 2023.
“If you speak real plainly, Jacques laid a massive foundation for the two World Cup wins with the work that he did around the defence,” Flannery said, of his predecessor.
“Jacques was embracing the stuff that South Africans do better than anyone else, which is being so physical, being so fit as well. And I think that that’s given a great framework.”
However, Flannery said the Boks had to add to those foundations if they are to stay ahead of the pack in Australia.
“I don’t think you can ever say you can consolidate and sit on something and say it’s okay because as we’ve seen, the game is constantly evolving,” he said. “You’ve got to be on it every single week looking to see where there’s a small gain that you can make.”
Flannery pointed out the good work Kiwi Tony Brown is doing with the backline.
“The evolution of Springbok rugby is how we combine our defence, attack, kicking game, and set-piece, and try to put teams under massive pressure to score points and win Test matches, obviously. In essence, that is what we are trying to do.
“We always go, this is how we control the game, this is how we use our kicking game. This is how we use our defence to crack turnovers. And then we build our attack off those two things.
“So I feel as though we’re in a powerful position to push that forward over the next 12 months.”
* Mike Greenaway is a senior rugby reporter at Independent Media and contributor on our Last World on Rugby podcast on our YouTube channel, The Clutch