Springboks, All Blacks, France Lead Rugby Nations Championship After First Phase
by Devesh Jaganath | by Devesh Jaganath
South Africa Strengthen Position Atop World Rankings
Fair to say, the inaugural edition of the Rugby Nations Championship has been a tremendous success, having given the sport’s heavyweights meaningful Test rugby outside of the World Cup, while allowing emerging nations to pit their skills against the best around.
With the Southern Hemisphere Series now complete, the Springboks lead the way in their pool with a perfect three wins from three, followed by New Zealand, who are also unbeaten after the July internationals, while France have taken top spot in the North with two wins in their three games.
One of the biggest takeaways from the July fixtures is that, while many felt the Springboks might struggle to continue their dominance, Rassie Erasmus’ side firmly dismissed those concerns by reminding their opponents that physical dominance never goes out of fashion.
While other teams focus on speed, expansive attacking structures and quick ball movement, the Springboks remain masters of winning collisions, controlling territory, and pressuring opponents into mistakes before pouncing.
The point is not that entertaining, attacking rugby cannot succeed!
Rather, no attacking strategy can thrive when a team is constantly losing ground and being pushed behind the gain line. South Africa continues to dictate the physical and tactical terms of matches better than anyone else, and what makes them all the more scary is that they are doing so while bedding in young blood.
Rassie Erasmus Flexes South Africa’s Emerging Stars
The Springboks could hardly have asked for a better start to their 2026 international season. Across three Tests, they have faced three different opponents while constantly reshuffling their squad, yet the results have remained emphatic:
19 tries, 130 points scored, just 49 conceded, and 3 bonus-point wins.
After brushing past the Barbarians in a warm-up, South Africa opened their official campaign against England at Ellis Park. Despite having a strong squad, England were completely overwhelmed as the Boks ran in seven tries to claim a 42-28 victory, even without late withdrawals Eben Etzebeth and Siya Kolisi.
Erasmus then made 10 changes in a matchday squad featuring 13 players with fewer than 10 Test caps against a largely first-choice Scotland at Loftus Versfeld and romped to another 42-28 win despite the head coach acknowledging after the match that some players fell short of the required standard.
For their final match in Durban, Erasmus took his squad rotation to another level, making 18 changes to his matchday 23. Conditions made for a scrappy encounter, but South Africa completely controlled Wales en route to a 43-0 victory and top spot in the Southern Hemisphere standings.
To put into perspective just how formidable this Boks’ side is - Erasmus used 49 players during the month, including 43 in the Nations Championship, six of whom were debutants. Of the 69 matchday 23 spots available across those games, 26 went to players with fewer than 10 caps, accounting for almost 38%.
