Rassie’s Boks poised for perfect 10 and a rare global sweep

Rassie Erasmus could not have asked for a better start to the 2026 Test season and to their inaugural Nations Championship campaign.

In spite of a couple of late withdrawals, and despite a lengthy injury list that includes more than a dozen players, the Springboks scored seven tries in their 45-21 demolition of England at Ellis Park to finish the round at the top of the southern conference standings.

Erasmus has committed to bolstering the team’s depth before the Greatest Rivalry Series against the All Blacks – a brutal four-Test stretch that will commence on 22 August – and ahead of the 2027 World Cup.

The Bok coach used 50 players in 2025, and by the end of the clash against Scotland at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, 64 will have featured across the four games in 2026 – a block that includes recent warm-up fixtures against the Barbarians and Zimbabwe.

The series against the All Blacks is the Boks’ biggest priority this season, and they certainly won’t lose sight of their overriding ambition to win a third consecutive World Cup title in Australia next year.

And yet, they stand on the brink of a rare achievement this weekend, one that may cast this golden era for South African rugby in a new light.

Much has been said and written about the Boks’ success over the course of the four-year cycle, and the fact that they have achieved an 86% win-record over the past two seasons.

This record sets them apart from other great South African sides, who managed to win World Cups but failed to dominate in the intervening years. Indeed, the numbers show how the current group has surpassed previous teams coached by Erasmus and right-hand man Jacques Nienaber in the period between 2018 and 2023.

Last Saturday, the Boks beat England to claim their ninth consecutive Test win for the first time in this eight-year era.

And in spite of 10 changes to the team, they will head into the next clash against Scotland as favourites, and may go on to record their tenth consecutive victory.

Unpacking SA’s golden run

The Boks lost two matches over the course of an outstanding 2025 Test season – and the context of those losses still rankles.

The 38-22 defeat to the Wallabies in Johannesburg marked one of the heaviest defeats of the Erasmus era, while the 24-17 loss to the All Blacks at Eden Park amounted to a missed opportunity, given that the Boks haven’t won there since 1937.

Since that disappointment in Auckland, the Boks have taken their performance to another level.

The results as well as the stats show how dominant Erasmus’ charges have been over the past nine games, and why they are full value for their position at the top of the World Rugby rankings.

Erasmus’ Boks shattered the all-time record on New Zealand soil when they hammered the All Blacks 43-10 in Wellington. That 33-point winning margin may never be bettered, but in the context of the past 12 months, it was merely the starting point of the Boks’ golden run.

The Boks have beaten all but one of the game’s leading nations during this period. It’s also worth noting that seven of their last nine fixtures have been staged away from home or on neutral territory.

In short, the Boks have built this streak the hard way and have exploded the myth that South African teams cannot win consistently away from home. They’ve won in New Zealand, England, France, Ireland and Wales over the past 12 months – and have also claimed a rare series win in Australia during the four-year cycle.

England were hyped as one of the best teams in the world after they won 12 consecutive games over the course of the 2025 and 2026 seasons. Steve Borthwick’s side played half of those matches in London, however, and did not tour South Africa or Australasia in that period.

Indeed, England’s one-from-five return in the 2026 Six Nations and their 45-21 loss to the Boks has put that 12-game run into perspective, and they have dropped down to sixth in the world rankings.

While the Boks’ win-record makes for impressive reading, it doesn’t reflect the extent of their dominance.

The 24-point winning margin at Ellis Park may seem unusual in the context of South Africa and England’s long and closely contested rivalry, yet it’s consistent with the average scoreline of the past nine games – as the Boks have averaged 41 points for and 17 against.

Averages can be misleading, especially when they account for performances against weaker teams in a specific period. England, for example, beat USA and Fiji last year, but didn’t play the Boks.

What stands out during the Boks’ recent run is that they have beaten the other leading teams in the world by substantial margins – New Zealand by 33, France by 15, and Ireland by 11 – and it’s worth reiterating that they have racked up these big wins away from home.

Sweeping the top nations

Since the start of the 2025 Test season, the Boks have beaten all of the Rugby Championship teams, and five of the teams that comprise the Six Nations.

If they beat Scotland in Pretoria on Saturday, they will complete a rare clean sweep of the leading nations in the space of 12 months. In that event, their status as the best team in the world will take on new meaning.

There’s still a lot of rugby to be played, but there may come a time when the all-time record for the most consecutive Test wins (18) is within the Boks’ sights.

The Boks will extend their winning run to 11 matches if they beat Scotland and Wales over the next two weeks. The one-off against Argentina in Buenos Aires on 8 August looms as a potentially tricky fixture, as the Boks haven’t won in that part of the world since 2023.

While the Boks will go into the series against the All Blacks as favourites, they are highly unlikely to win all four matches, given the brutal demands of the schedule and the quality of the opposition.

The subsequent one-off against the Wallabies in Perth could be another potential pothole on the road to success, and the second phase of the Nations Championship may be tougher than the first, given that all four Tests will be staged in Europe this November.

If the Boks win their remaining matches in 2026, they will break the record for consecutive Test victories. But given what we’ve seen in recent seasons – with Erasmus rotating his squad regularly and balancing the team’s short-term goals with their long-term ambitions – a perfect season seems highly unlikely.

That said, South African fans may have cause to celebrate a “perfect 10” if the Boks extend their winning streak this weekend. DM