The Mercury

Boks still in good shape

- MIKE GREENAWAY mike.greenaway@inl.co.za

IT is 16 months since the Springboks won the World Cup, and it will be another four before they play a Test match again, which just happens to be the first Test against the British and Irish Lions.

On face value, that seems way too long for the Boks to be competitiv­e against the tourists, especially seeing as the Six Nations has just been completed and, late last year, the composite unions of the Lions played another series between themselves.

If I can give one reason why that doesn’t necessaril­y mean the Boks are no-hopers, it is the extraordin­ary events that transpired during the Rugby Championsh­ip in Australia last year, where Argentina shocked the All Blacks and drew with the Wallabies.

The prediction for the Pumas was massive hidings given that none of their players had been in action since the Jaguares ceased playing in March last year, when Super Rugby was shut down.

The Argentine players went from playing no rugby for six months to beating the mighty All Blacks, whose players had just finished a highly competitiv­e Aotearoa Cup.

The only rugby the Pumas had prior to that epic victory was two warm-up matches against Aussie composite sides, following intensive internal camps.

Argentina's win proved that you don’t have to have a convoluted build-up to a big series to be successful. Sometimes less is more and it allows you to be more heavily focused.

And the Boks will be in a much better position than the Pumas players in that the South African players are actually playing, and many of them very well. Each week we see players that starred for the Boks in Japan doing the same for their European clubs.

To give just one example, over the last year or so Eben Etzebeth has become a folk hero in France, and Cheslin Kolbe continues to enjoy that status.

There are also a sprinkling of players in Japan, such as Makazole Mapimpi, Malcolm Marx and Willie le Roux, who are impressing.

Our home-based Boks have not been too shabby either. Duane Vermeulen has been immense, cleaning up just about every award on offer. World Cup final frontranke­rs in Steven Kitshoff, Frans Malherbe, and Bongi Mbonambi are playing well, and Lukhanyo Am is back in form at 13 for the Sharks.

The significan­t developmen­t is that Siya Kolisi debuted for the Sharks last week after a difficult year of injuries, and I am certain that he is entering a new lease on life, and come the Lions he will be in the best form of his life.

There are two major concerns in the horrific injuries sustained by Handre Pollard and Pieter-Steph du Toit, but they are on course for comebacks.

In short, Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber will have the same squad that won the World Cup and by July the Boks will have had their camps and their warm-up games, and there is every chance they can pick up where they left off in Japan.

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