The Springboks won the series 3-1, Siya Kolisi lifted Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry trophy, and the Boks triumphed with their most dominant performance of the series in front of a majority-South African crowd in a money-spinner in the USA.
For SA Rugby it was a win all around. The cash generated from the game will do both them and New Zealand no harm heading into a World Cup year.
For the Springboks, they have now won eight out of their last 10 games against the old enemy in a lopsided rivalry since 2023 and proved that their blip at Ellis Park - the one game that New Zealand won in the test series - was just that.
Because while Rassie Erasmus may seem to have gambled on a team to play four consecutive weeks of rugby at the highest level, he too learnt a lot out of the game and ensured the Boks continue to be the best side in world rugby.
Erasmus knows now that those who have conquered the World Cup twice, and beaten the British and Irish Lions, have not retreated at the hands of father time, and can show their steel - at least at this point - if this was a World Cup knockout round.
TOUGHEST CHALLENGE IN RUGBY
Going head-to-head with the All Blacks over four consecutive weeks is genuinely the toughest challenge in World Rugby, and to come out the other side almost unscathed, three wins to one and a dominance that will have the rest of the rugby world talking, takes some doing.
But this team have done it, as they have shown us time and again when the chips are down. They have the determination, they have the passion, and they are crafting a legacy that hopes to be the best team World Rugby has seen.
That is no mean feat when considering the other sides that have dominated the game over the years, but what makes the Bok legacy even stronger is that it has been forged against the backdrop of adversity. The Lions tour took place during the Covid pandemic, and there were losses to bounce back from in the World Cup and in this series. The team delivers when they need to.
That isn’t something that should be taken lightly. As much as many of the chasing pack want to see a weakness (and many did after the first test loss at Ellis Park), this Bok team have confounded them again.
And still we wonder when they will hit their peak.
The biggest story from a Springbok point of view in this series was their finishing. The All Blacks scored 17 tries against them - but that is what All Black teams do. They score points, and the old saying has never been more true: you simply need to make sure you score more than 30 points in every game against them.
In Johannesburg, that wasn’t the case, but the Boks had 11 entries into the 22m area, and scored only once. It wasn’t a case that the All Blacks were so much better - as was suggested at the time with the five tries to one scoreline - it was more a case of a rusty Bok team that perhaps were seduced by their own success at the scrum and forgot the best thing to be in a game is clinical.
BOKS STILL WEREN’T CLINICAL ENOUGH
Over the course of the series, the Springboks had 38 22m entries - way more than the All Blacks, who had 32 over the four games. The All Blacks scored 17 tries - just over 50 per cent success rate. The Springboks scored 14 at a rate of 38 per cent.
Despite the dominance in the series, that simply isn’t good enough by their own standards, and they know it.
In Baltimore, that was apparent in the first half. Six 22m entries gave them two tries, and there was a feeling that the dominance wasn’t being rewarded.
The All Blacks can say what they will, but they entered this tour with a question mark around their ability to compete in the aerial battle, a question mark over their scrum and their ability to handle the Boks' physicality.
In all three areas, those questions persist, and it will be a brave man to say they have solved any one of them. Three losses in a row will pile some pressure on, although Dave Rennie is an astute coach and will know what he needs to fix ahead of the World Cup.
But back to the Boks. The set-piece dominance is there. The physical dominance is there, and the aerial dominance is there. These are telegraphed before the time, but the Boks are so damn good that it is difficult to counter.
TONYBALL WILL RETURN
While it feels that they have put Tonyball to one side for now, there were flashes of it, and the interplay between forwards and backs in Baltimore was pleasing to see.
Rassie Erasmus afterwards was humble, and played down the gulf between the two teams. But clearly, despite the scoreline often suggesting otherwise, it was there.
“We're the better team. At minute 60, I thought it was still in the balance. So no - we came out the winners because we had more points on the board than them, and that's probably the most important thing in most of the games. Although you have different things you're trying to build in your game - attack better, defend better - but it's all about the scoreboard. And up until the last 11 minutes, I wasn't sure if we were gonna win. So no, we appreciate that we won, but we definitely don't think the margin between us and New Zealand's this [gestures wide]. It's definitely not this. It's this [gestures narrow].”
Kolisi was a bit more circumspect, knowing the Boks have won something special here. And while it was suggested that the Kiwis may have slipped their own standards over the past few years, he saw it very differently.
“I'd say we changed. When coach Rassie came in, he had a plan for how to change things going forward. I think our mentality at the time wasn't in a good place. He reminded us how important and powerful this team is, and what it's done in the past - and that the team is more important than the individual, but the individuals make the team work,” Kolisi said.
RASSIE REMINDED THE TEAM OF THEIR GREATNESS
“He brought together South Africans from different parts of life, all focused on one thing. We all came in with different goals, we speak 11 languages in our team, but our main focus was to make the Springbok, and the people of South Africa, proud. He was honest and upfront with his coaching staff about the way forward, and he backed us, believed in us, fought for us, and that's what made us want to play for him and for the country.
“It's a huge honour and responsibility to put on this jersey. The way he got us to align on one goal. At the end of the day, all our individual dreams are achieved once the team achieves it. So we're not focused on what other people are doing; we're always trying to improve, working on our own internal standards, because we can't stay the same or everyone else catches up.
“The way we're honest with one another, the way we work with one another, is really important. We wouldn't want it to just be watched and let go. We'd love the rest of South Africa to take a bit of that too. Our diversity showed us how much strength there is, and we can all be ourselves in the team. That's the most important thing, because South Africa is a very colourful country, and we get to embrace that as a team and play that way too.”
BOKS CURRENTLY HAVE NO EQUAL
Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry is settled in favour of the double world champions, and the focus will now shift to the friendly in two weeks’ time against Australia, with the side flying directly Down Under from the United States to prepare.
But there will be changes, and players will be rested. Several of the stalwarts that stood out deserve a rest now, and the greater squad needs to step up. The loss in the first test may have stunted Erasmus’ plans going forward, but it also allowed him to give his ageing stalwarts a litmus test to see if they still are good enough a year out from the World Cup.
Their performance answered that question resoundingly. Now it will be up to the rest of the squad to impress upon him why they need to go to the World Cup as well.
And with that, Springbok rugby has never been healthier, more feared and more dominant.
There would have been few who would have said that at the beginning of this tour.