Looking back at the Springboks performances in the recent Castle Lager Rugby Championship, one thing is clear. This isn’t about Tonyball anymore, it is more about Totalball.
The tendency to coin a phrase to encompass everything has never quite fit this Springbok side, who can switch back easily to type and revert to their physical, direct blunt force approach, but what we have witnessed in recent weeks is not a simple switch to another style, it is a bold step in the right direction to make the Boks an all-encompassing team.
There have always been coaches around the world who have feared the day the Boks match their brute force - whether in the setpiece or the forwards - with the attacking flair they have been so circumspect to employ in the past.
But the performances - especially in Wellington and Durban and to a lesser extent Twickenham and Eden Park - have shown that this team is very much heading in the right direction and is very close to achieving the type of rugby game they want to play.
SLOW STARTS
This is not downplaying the work they still have to do. Any Bok fan will admit there still are a lot of work-ons for the side - none the least the slow start they seem to have picked up in recent weeks, but on the back of defending the Rugby Championship, and with a five game tour ahead of them in the next few weeks the Boks will be looking to take a bigger step towards their new found gospel, and preach it to the unbelievers in the northern hemisphere that watched their Rugby Championship exploits from afar.
One of our colleagues - Jon Cardinelli - coined the phrase this week in a piece for Rugbypass, and quipped that the Boks are no longer looking to “Tonyball” but to “Totalball” and that is spot on.
The side has not shirked its core values. The setpiece is still an attack to launch from. The scrums still dominate and look for penalties and the physicality is still something to behold. But Brown’s work has not been to transform the backline but to unleash them. And the biggest winners have not been the backs, but rather the forwards.
NEW LEASE ON LIFE
Veterans Pieter-Steph du Toit and Siya Kolisi have a new lease on life, and are playing some of their best rugby of their careers - a bold statement given the performances they have put in the Green and Gold jersey in the past.
Anyone who doubts this just needs to look at the stats, where Du Toit sits comfortably in the top 10 players in the Rugby Championship in terms of carries, but then also surprises to be in the top 10 with clean breaks as well.
Du Toit made the second most offloads in the competition - read that again - alongside James O’Connor and was joint eighth in clean breaks - normally a stat that you wouldn’t expect him to be anywhere near.
How about defenders beaten? Jasper Wiese is the first forward on the overall Championship stats list and eighth overall - having beaten 15 defenders, despite missing the first three games of the Championship because he was suspended.
The stats don’t lie - another forward enjoying a renewed lease of life is Malcolm Marx, the fans’ man of the match in the Twickenham win and the player who was the top joint top try scorer in the Championship with four.
SURPRISING OFFLOAD STAT
Offloads? Eben Etzebeth has the same amount as Damian Willemse and is sixth overall, even though he missed a test or two.
The evolution to Totalball is something exceptional and it is the forwards who have led the way. Players like Willemse and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu have rightly received their plaudits, and deservedly so, but the stats show that the Boks have not shirked their responsibilities, and have fronted up, but this time their fronting up has a new face.
This is a physical pack that has skills, that can offload and beat defenders. This is a high-paced unit that has only got started, but still lays a significant platform for the backs.
It may sound oversimplified, but the move to “totalball” was overdone at Ellis Park, where the Boks ran themselves off their feet and were sucker punched by the Wallabies. Since then they have been more circumspect, more balanced and have put their attacking game into motion with a decent defensive system and much more.
TOTALBALL IS HERE
While Tonyball was originally credited, Totalball is more apt because suddenly the aerial game has become a catalyst. Defences can’t organise when you disrupt them and get a kick return and the Boks have coupled that with an ability to attack and strike blows when it matters.
The ability to have forwards in this aerial battle has helped, and it has launched something bigger and better.
Critics may point to the fact the Boks lost at Ellis Park and Eden Park and say there is an overreaction to the positive spin around the Boks at the moment. But they can’t see the forest for the trees.
This is a revolution that is churning on, which has gained momentum and which has struck a few significant blows. Bok rugby couldn’t be healthier at this moment and while the challenges will come in the next month - especially in Dublin and Paris - the Boks will put their heads down and work even harder.
The momentum shift over the past month will be frightening to a lot of opposition coaches ahead of 2027, but it is still very much a work in progress.
But those 20 minutes at Ellis Park at the start, those 40 in Wellington and Durban tell a tale that can’t be ignored.
Totalball is here to stay, and the Boks are smiling.