Boks’ tactical mastery of kicking game fuelling record-breaking success in Rugby Championship

The Springboks have scored 110 points in their last two matches — 43 against the All Blacks in New Zealand, and 67 against Argentina in Durban. 

Flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu scored 37 points against the Pumas to break the all-time Bok record held by Percy Montgomery — for context, Montgomery scored his 35 points in the 105-13 rout against Namibia back in 2007.  

It’s one thing to set a record against a tier-two nation in a World Cup warm-up, and quite another to break it against an Argentina side that beat New Zealand and Australia only a few weeks earlier. 

The same could be said for the Boks’ record-breaking performance in Wellington on 13 September. 

It’s one thing to thrash the All Blacks in a World Cup warm-up — the Boks won 35-7 at Twickenham in 2023 — and something else entirely to prevail 43-10 in a must-win Rugby Championship match staged on New Zealand soil.

It’s fair to say that Rassie Erasmus’ charges have delivered a series of statements over the past few weeks.

While their immediate focus is the final Rugby Championship clash against Argentina in London this Saturday — where they will start as favourites to win the match and clinch the title — their very best may be yet to come.

New identity

These are extraordinary times for South African rugby, where the Boks have the capacity to win regularly between World Cups. 

Since the arrival of attack coach Tony Brown in early 2024, they have developed a new identity that marries traditional South African power and tactical-kicking accuracy with relentless speed and adventurous intent. 

That they can win and switch between styles while rotating their squad on a weekly basis is all the more remarkable.

If they stay on their current trajectory, they will continue to win hearts and minds, and may lead the sport to a place where tradition as well as innovation are equally celebrated.

For many fans, it’s easier to celebrate the 110 points and the 15 tries the Boks have scored over the past two matches than to credit the less glamorous aspects that underpin their approach.

Indeed, when the Boks lose, it’s always because they were too risk averse, too conservative and too kick-oriented. 

Some commentators and media pundits continue to bemoan the prevalence of box kicks and tactical-kick tennis that are “killing the sport”. 

When teams win big, it’s always because of attacking intent rather than tactical kicking accuracy. Box kicks, cross-kicks and deep raking punts are rarely acknowledged by critics when they are executed well, and are slammed when they lack accuracy.

When you take all the stats into consideration, however, you start to see how essential kicking is to the Bok attack.

After five rounds, the Boks top the Rugby Championship charts for metres made, offloads, linebreaks and defenders beaten, as well as tries and points scored.

A lot has been made about the attacking shape pushed by Brown — dubbed “Tonyball” — where forwards and backs juggle the responsibilities of carrying, distributing and cleaning at the ruck.

What hasn’t changed is the Boks’ quest to dominate the aerial battle and to harness their kicking skills with the aim of winning territory and generating further attacking opportunities.

The invisible stats

One stat that hasn’t received enough attention in recent weeks is kicks from hand. The Boks put boot to ball 40 times in Durban last week — and kicked the ball 25 times in the second half alone.

They regathered high balls and cross-kicks on eight occasions, which allowed them to run at a less-organised Argentina defence. 

Handré Pollard is renowned for his kicking from hand, but attack-minded players such as Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Manie Libbok don’t get enough credit for their vision and execution in this department. 

It’s easy to get caught up in Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s record-breaking feat — and the fact that he scored three breathtaking tries — but the 23-year-old also topped the kicking stats in Durban with 15 kicks from hand. 

In the previous match, where the Boks scored 43 points against the All Blacks, South Africa put boot to ball on 32 occasions, and regathered the high ball eight times. 

Scrumhalf Cobus Reinach led the way with 12 kicks, followed by Libbok — an early injury replacement for Feinberg-Mngomezulu — with 10. 

That strategy paid significant dividends, as the final territory stats, try and point tallies confirm.

The Boks are scoring more points this season, and there’s something to be read into the fact that they are kicking more frequently — averaging 31 kicks from hand over five Rugby Championship matches compared with an average of 28 in the 2024 tournament. 

The 2025 average of 31 needs unpacking — as it takes the 38-22 loss to Australia into account. 

The Boks employed a balanced brand in the early stages of the tournament opener and used their kick-chase to get in behind the opposition. As a result, they raced to a 22-0 lead inside the first quarter. 

Thereafter, they failed to strike the necessary balance between kicking and running — and finished with a mere 18 kicks from hand. The Wallabies, by contrast, kicked 29 times en route to scoring six tries and claiming a rare victory at Ellis Park.

Leinster scalp shows how Stormers have kicked on

It may not be the sexiest stat out there, but there’s ample evidence to show that a strong kicking game is integral to a successful attack.

The Stormers produced one of their greatest performances against Leinster in the first round of the United Rugby Championship last week, when they married sharp kicking and set-piece supremacy with a clinical attack, and ultimately claimed a 35-0 win at the Cape Town Stadium.

Going by what was said on social media in the early stages of that fixture, many fans failed to appreciate the Stormers’ quest for territory or their favouring of the contestable kick.

By the end of the match, the Stormers had thrashed Leinster on the scoreboard, and out-kicked the reigning champions by 32 to 20. 

Afterwards, coach John Dobson and captain Ruhan Nel hailed the less flashy aspects of the performance — such as the defence, kick-chase and lineout maul that set the platform for an emphatic winning margin.

Best yet to come

Over the past few months, many have voiced their concern over the Boks’ style of play. 

Tonyball was blamed after the defeats at Ellis Park and Eden Park, but many also questioned the kicking strategy as if it belonged to another era.

The past two matches, of course, have vindicated Brown’s approach while also highlighting the need for South Africa’s traditional strengths. 

Erasmus deserves credit for persisting with this template as much as he deserves praise for picking youngsters alongside veterans in his matchday squads.

There may be a few more growing pains in the coming months, as Erasmus exposes a few more rookies to the national systems on the five-Test tour of Europe.

And yet, there’s reason to believe that the performances in Wellington and Durban represented the start of a great journey, and that the best may be yet to come. DM