The Springboks are widely considered "a lot more dangerous" now compared to their 2023 World Cup team because they have evolved from a one-dimensional, physically dominant side into a multi-layered attacking force.
Under the guidance of head coach Rassie Erasmus and attacking coach Tony Brown, the team has shifted its philosophy to ensure no single defensive tactic can shut them down.
“I think the evolution of the Springbok rugby is how we combine our defence, attack, kicking game, set-piece, and we combine it together and try and put teams under massive pressure to obviously score points and win Test matches,” Tony Brown said at a recent Springbok media event.
“So we never ever look at a Test match where we're going to go, we're going to attack, and we're going to put these guys under huge pressure with our attack.”
“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 create turnovers, and then we build our attack off those two things.”
“So I think that's probably been the evolution. The players have enjoyed it, the players have got better as we've gone through the last couple of years."
The Boks no longer rely solely on "Bok-ball" (kicking and set-piece dominance). They now integrate their scrum, defence, kicking game, and counter-attacks into interlinked weapons.
“I think no rugby team can look at the Springboks and go, if we shut this down, we're going to win the test match. I think we've got so many different layers to our game now.”
“We can win with defence, we can win with scrum, we can win with them all. We can win with the kicking game, we can win with counter-attack, we can win with turnover attack. We can win with a set-piece attack. So I think we're a lot more dangerous as a rugby team now, and it's exciting to see where we can push it.”