The Springboks’ successful defence of their Rugby World Cup (RWC) title in France in 2023 made them the obvious, and easy, choice for the team of the year. But the story of how they made history was far more complex and nuanced.

Seldom do the best-laid plans come together. But a six-year plan, designed to peak at Rugby World Cup 2023 in France by coach Jacques Nienaber and director of rugby Rassie Erasmus, succeeded.

It succeeded despite some severe challenges, and it succeeded through courage, planning, innovation, execution and even a little luck. But no World Cup success, no six-year plan comes off without a little help from the sporting gods to complement the hard work. The Boks ended the year ranked No 1 in the world, with a record fourth Webb Ellis trophy secured. Their greatness, by becoming only the second team after New Zealand in 2015 to defend the title, cannot be denied.

They were moulded into a formidable unit by Erasmus and Nienaber, and have become the byword not only for excellence but also for innovation and creativity.

They not only won rugby matches, they also gave us seven forwards on the bench, scrums from marks, charged-down conversions and four scrumhalves in a match-day 23.

There were flashing lights in the coaches’ box sending messages to the field, flanks playing hooker, wings ready to play scrumhalf and substitutions on the half-hour.

No matter what anyone says or how much whingeing there was by those teams that lost against the Boks, the reality is that the Springboks won the most important title of them all – again. And they won it by shaking the establishment with bold decisions that went against almost every accepted rugby norm.

Yet, despite all the innovation and tinkering, what they had most were guts and tenacity. When the plans had run their course and every tactic had been exhausted, winning those crucial knockout rounds in France all came down to mental strength and a deep inner belief that they would win.

When it came to the crunch, the Boks knew how to get over the line. They had enough experience and composure in those critical final moments against France, England and New Zealand, honed over years of lessons from winning and losing, to hold their nerve.

“As a Springbok, you always believe you are going to win,” centre Jesse Kriel said, less than an hour after South Africa beat New Zealand 12-11 at Stade de France to lift the Webb Ellis Cup for a record fourth time.

“You don’t have doubts. Winning is a mindset – something we train for – and that belief came through again.”

The Boks started the year with only one objective: winning the title in France. They had to overcome serious injuries to captain Siya Kolisi, centre Lukhanyo Am, flyhalf Handré Pollard, lock Lood de Jager and hooker Malcolm Marx at various stages in the season. Lesser teams lacking the Boks’ depth would never have succeeded with those injury setbacks. All are world-class players and in the end, De Jager and Am played no part in the World Cup and Marx managed just 60 minutes.

Pollard returned triumphantly midway through the tournament to kick the Boks to glory, while Kolisi made an incredible return from knee surgery to be selected for France.

With the bigger picture in mind, Nienaber selected an undercooked team to face the All Blacks in round two of the truncated Rugby Championship and paid the price in terms of the result. Eight players based in clubs in Japan, such as Faf de Klerk, Damian de Allende and Pieter-Steph du Toit, hadn’t played any rugby for weeks and were slightly off the pace. The All Blacks won 35-20 but the Boks dominated from minutes 30 to 65 after being 17-0 down. They learnt some valuable lessons and gained more than they lost.

They saw they had the beating of the All Blacks, but it would need a team that was battle-hardened, with all departments functioning at optimum levels. That’s exactly what transpired.

Record wins over Wales in Cardiff (52-16) and over the All Blacks at Twickenham (35-7) in the weeks prior to RWC 2023 gave the Boks the mental boost they needed. They were ready.

Once they beat Scotland 18-3 in their opening match of the tournament, they knew that the result of their highly anticipated pool match against Ireland was not crucial. The Boks experimented again with a 7-1 bench, held back on using the maul and, despite losing 13-8 in a fantastic match, came away with confidence rather than despondence.

In the quarterfinal they beat France 29-28 in the game of the tournament, the match of the year and possibly the clash of the decade.

A week later the Boks somehow came back from 15-6 down with 11 minutes to go to beat England 16-15 to set up a date with the All Blacks in the final.

“It is a sign of a really good team if you win the matches you are not supposed to win,” lock Jean Kleyn said after the final.

“The semi was definitely a match we won at the death. I think today we earned it; the quarterfinal, we earned it. The belief in the team is immense and I didn’t think for one minute we thought we would lose.”

The All Blacks were the perfect opponent, in the biggest game of a generation, to end a brilliant Bok era in style. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R29.