If you?re still slightly dazed after Saturday?s dismissive destruction of the All Blacks, then you?re not alone: across South Africa, people are still shaking heads in smiling disbelief, and wondering what exactly happened on an extraordinary evening in Durban. Outside of World Cups, we know New Zealand as a dangerous, powerful outfit that simply doesn?t get steamrollered ? and yet the Springboks reduced them to the merest of mortals. Which leads to the question that?s slipping increasingly into rugby debate: just how good is this Springbok team?

The team that took a bow on Saturday night is more complete than the one which won in Paris, and the comparison that?s gaining most currency is with Nick Mallett?s record breakers. It?s subjective escapism to weigh up teams from different eras, but what does carry weight is the simple fact that the comparison is being made, and that this particular side merits a place in our discussion of great Springbok XVs. And that, in turn, is all the more exciting when you consider just how much there is to come from the current South African team.

That the 2009 All Blacks are not amongst New Zealand?s finest vintage is unquestionable ? Stephen Donald is no Dan Carter, the selectors don?t have a clue what?s happening at scrumhalf, and never as an All Black line-out been so woeful (Chris Jack will be rubbing his hands gleefully at Newlands). But it is still a team with marquee players, a strong coaching unit, and the fierce pride that every New Zealand team thrives on. They might have been poor on Saturday, but it was more a reflection of the pressure created by the Springboks, than any inherent Kiwi weakness.

And key to that pressure was another startling performance from this year?s rugby find. Heinrich Brussouw possesses one of rugby?s most priceless talents, and as an exponent of the dark arts in the bottom of rucks and mauls, he gave the poster boy of loose forward thievery an unexpected lesson on Saturday. Never before has Richie McCaw been so comprehensively outplayed; if the art of scavenging had become neglected in South Africa in recent years as large, ball-carrying loose forwards were in vogue, then Brussouw made a strident call to arms for his fetching brethren.

One stellar performance amongst many, mind. Is there a better (or stronger?) hooker than Bismarck Du Plessis in world rugby? Can any lock pairing in recent memory touch the Botha/Matfield team? And after watching from the bench for far too long, can you begin to think of a reason why Jaque Fourie shouldn?t start every game for the Springboks, as the most complete player in a strong and impregnable backline? And then there?s Morne Steyn...

Written off as a one-dimensional kicking flyhalf in the stereotyped Bulls mode, Steyn illustrated in the Super 14 that he?s more versatile than he?d been given credit for ? Wynand Olivier?s resurgent form this year has in no small part thanks to the distribution and support from the man inside him. Yes, the boot is lethal, both at goal and tactically, but he?s more than just a point man for a wet contest again the All Blacks ? and riding Saturday?s wave of confidence, he?ll only get better from here.

And so too, one suspects, will the Springboks. The defence was monumental and the play stifling on Saturday, but in different conditions there is more to come creatively from South Africa, and the leadership of John Smit and Pieter de Villiers, who can take as much pride as any of the players for current success, is the catalyst to take this team even further forward. A gloomy Monday in New Zealand, certainly; in South Africa, anything but. A different challenge awaits at Newlands on Saturday, but it?s the Wallabies who?ll be sleeping uneasily this week.

  • Contact Dan at dan@metropolis.co.za