Boks in a sentence

Crucially however the All Blacks made seven line breaks to the Boks’ five‚ while the men in black beat 35 defenders to the Boks 28.

After a crushing defeat like the one the Boks experienced, it often feels as if it’s all doom and gloom.

After a positive start to the season with a thumping win over the Wallabies and having sent a large contingent of players to New Zealand early to make sure they were fresh for the match, the Boks will be bitterly disappointed with this result.

All the talk beforehand had been about how Ireland would cope with the Boks’ 7-1 bench split.

Before the Bok scrum gave them traction at a slippery Stade de France the Boks looked in real danger of being knocked out.

But if we thought Marshall was everywhere at once, what about the effort of the Springboks’ Makazole Mapimpi, identified by Sky Sport’s lead commentator Grant Nisbett as playing on the wing, centres and flyhalf for the Boks, simultaneously.

But this was to the detriment of the franchise sides that had their best players unavailable for those two months, which is a problem they have at the start of the season as well, due to the Boks being in Rugby Championship action.

Daily news update: R350 grant ultimatum, Boks’ World Cup weapon, and ANC to work with DA?

Etzebeth will captain the Boks against New Zealand this weekend.

He coached the Boks between 1993 and 1994 and was the driving force behind Natal's transformation from B-section contenders to Currie Cup winners.

He will be looking to take that superb form into the final against the Boks.

However, this year Libbok has started in three of the Boks’ games at flyhalf, while Willemse only started the All Blacks game in the No 10 jersey.

It’s still a mystery why the Boks took four scrumhalves to the World Cup.

It’s the All Blacks’ slick handling and up-tempo game against the Boks’ power and intensity, built on their forwards and powerful bench-sitters, who’re likely to have a huge influence on the game in the latter stages.

Kleyn continued: “When you get called up to the Boks, there is an onus on you to do your country proud.

Kurt-Lee Arendse scored a hat-trick of tries in a dominant showing by the Boks.

Mtawarira earned more caps for the Springboks than any other front-row forward, playing his 117th and last game when the Boks lifted the Webb Ellis Trophy in Yokohama in 2019.

Once again it was Montgomery who did the damage with the boot, scoring 12 of the Boks’ points.

One of the players who will likely be playing his last game for the Boks, although he hasn’t officially announced it yet, is legendary eighthman Duane Vermeulen who will be eager to end off on a high.

Pollard nervelessly raised the flags from near the halfway line as the Boks profited from another scrum penalty to snatch a late win in their World Cup semifinal against England at the Stade de France.