Five Bok Fairy-Tales To Savour

Five real-life fairy-tales formed part of the Springboks’ dream Rugby World Cup title defence in France, writes Quintin van Jaarsveld.

Every member of the triumphant South African squad has a story to celebrate, but the following players enjoyed journeys worthy of the Hollywood treatment:

Deon Fourie

The least likely of all the players to make it to the World Cup wound up playing 76 minutes of the final after Bongi Mbonambi suffered a nasty knee injury. Fourie, who first made a name for himself as a hooker at Western Province, returned to the Cape in 2021 after seven years in France as a veteran with no other intention but to give back.

Instead, the Stormers found lightning in a bottle in the battle-hardened Fourie, now a tenacious, pit bull-like fetcher whose motor and mongrel saw him outwork, out-will and outfox his much younger and faster counterparts. A scrappy scavenger supreme, he helped the Stormers become inaugural United Rugby Championship champions in 2022 and forced his way into the national set-up.

The man Father Time forgot became the oldest Springbok debutant ever at 35 years, nine months and 14 days when he came off the bench against Wales in Bloemfontein on 9 July 2022 and was somewhat surprisingly included in the World Cup squad as a utility forward.

Thrust into the fray as back-up hooker after Malcolm Marx sustained a tournament-ending injury, the 37-year-old produced a Man of the Match performance against Tonga and held it down against the All Blacks in the decider, soldiering on through aching cramps and captaining the team in the dying stages of the nail-biting 12-11 win.

Four years after watching the Boks demolish England in the 2019 World Cup final as a player languishing in the French second division, the evergreen enigma was back in France as a World Cup winner.

Pieter-Steph du Toit

It’s a minor miracle that Du Toit is still playing rugby, let alone firing on all cylinders as the ironman of the Boks. Serious knee injuries in 2014 and 2015 threatened to end his career, so much so that his father had to donate his hamstring tendon to fix his son’s torn ACL.

He’d go on to flourish, winning the South African Player of the Year award in 2016 and 2018 before playing a starring role in the Boks’ triumphant World Cup and Rugby Championship campaigns in 2019 – a year that saw him ascend to rugby royalty as he claimed the highest honour in the sport, the prestigious World RugbyPlayer of the Year award. He also became only the third three-time winner of the South African Player of the Year award after Naas Botha and Bryan Habana.

Having overcome five serious injuries in all up to that point, Du Toit would’ve been forgiven for thinking the worst was behind him, but the star loose forward would end up almost losing his leg in 2020. A haematoma to his leg – picked up in a Super Rugby game in February of that year – saw him rushed to hospital as he was rapidly losing blood flow. In a scary, freakish situation, one of South African rugby’s crown jewels was almost lost and it was only the quick thinking of the medical staff, and the work of a vascular surgeon in Cape Town, that prevented Du Toit’s leg from being amputated.

Back to help the Boks clinch a series win over the British & Irish Lions in 2021, he steadily grew from strength to strength and peaked at the perfect time in the World Cup. A tireless titan all tournament, the “Malmesbury Missile” produced his magnum opus in the final, an all-time great Man of the Match performance that saw him make no less than 28 tackles.

Siya Kolisi

A sombre mood fell over South Africa when Kolisi suffered a knee injury while playing for the Sharks against Munster in a United Rugby Championship match in April. The serious nature of the injury and subsequent surgery had threatened to rule Kolisi, who led the Boks to World Cup glory in Japan in 2019, out of the world champions’ title defence. 

Through a combination of sheer will and what the Bok captain believes was divine intervention, Kolisi defied doctors’ expectations as he recovered in record time – 119 days to be exact – to return in the World Cup warm-up game against Wales in August.

His comeback could not have gone any better. Always a terror in the trams, his excellent offload to put Malcolm Marx over for the opening try was an ideal psychological boost and set in motion a magnificent 40-minute return. A comeback fit for a king, it was both incredible and incredibly important to the Boks’ hopes of retaining the Webb Ellis Cup.

The inspirational Bok captain once again led from the front in France, celebrated his 50th Test as skipper in style in the 49-18 win over Tonga and became just the second captain after New Zealand’s Richie McCaw to lead his country to global glory for a second time.

Handre Pollard

The World Cup squad announcement had several shocks, among them being the omissions of key trio Pollard, Lukhanyo Am and Lood de Jager because of injury.

Having last featured for the Boks in the 25-17 loss to Australia in Adelaide in August 2022, it was hoped Pollard – who piloted South Africa to their third World Cup title in 2019 with aplomb – would recover in time from a calm injury to steer the Boks again but with the decorated general out, the inexperienced Manie Libbok was the only specialist flyhalf in the squad.

With Libbok at No 10, the Boks had an extra sting in their tail offensively but his and the other goal-kickers’ erratic form off the tee had been an ongoing issue and cost South Africa dearly in the 13-8 loss to Ireland in the virtual Pool B decider.

A tournament-ending injury to Makazole Mapimpi coincided with Pollard’s return to action for his English club Leicester and the satisfactory 30-odd-minute performance off the bench was all Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber needed to see to rope in back in.

Pollard was pure class in his comeback game against Tonga and delivered a clutch Man of the Match cameo off the bench in the semi-final against England, highlighted by his 49-metre match-winning penalty goal. Reinstated in the starting line-up for the final, Mr BMT delivered in a big way, kicking all of the Boks’ points in their dramatic one-point triumph.

The only flyhalf to kick his team to two world championships, Pollard slotted a perfect 13 from 13 in France.  

Jesse Kriel

His is the ultimate story of patience and perseverance paying off. Tipped to be the next big thing in South African rugby when he put himself on the map at the Bulls nearly a decade ago, things didn’t turn out that way for Kriel. He was the Boks’ first-choice outside centre at the 2015 World Cup and continued in the role without truly making it his own until 2017.

Come 2018, Am took ownership of the No 13 jersey. From thereon out, Kriel had to be satisfied playing a supporting role, be it in the midfield or providing cover on the wing whenever injuries called for it.

With each passing season, Bok supporters grew increasingly perturbed by Kriel’s presence in the national set-up, the consensus being he hadn’t earned his keep and set himself apart from more exciting up-and-coming talent.

As criticism continued, Kriel remained the ultimate team man, never complaining about a lack of game time. Instead, he gave his all at training sessions, emulating whomever Am would come up against that given week, and biding his time for his next opportunity to show his worth.

That chance came when Am limped off with a knee injury in the World Cup warm-up match against Argentina in Buenos Aires. He had a blinder the next weekend against Wales, scoring a brace in the 52-16 win in Cardiff where his commanding display allayed fears that the Bok backline could implode without the genius and defensive generalship of Am.

Kriel was wonderful in the World Cup and when he was selected ahead of a returning Am, who’d been drafted into the squad for the injured Mapimpi, for the blockbuster quarter-final against hosts France, he repaid the coaches’ faith in him by producing his best performance in the green and gold.

Battered and bloodied, he was nothing short of heroic as he took the fight to Les Bleus and made brilliant reads, from his great grubber for Cheslin Kolbe to collect and score to his many vital tackles. Wearing a crimson mask after the epic 28-27 triumph, he had cemented his place for the remainder of the playoffs and went on to man the midfield with distinction alongside Damian de Allende having finally earned the respect and admiration of the entire Bok fan base.