Damian Willemse’s unfortunate groin injury, which has sidelined him for five months, means there is no choice for Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus to make on this northern hemisphere tour when it comes to the pedigree and history of Willemse and the red hot form of Aphelele Fassi.
Often, the universe makes the call, intervenes and ensures the rugby ecosystem flows.
Fassi has grown as a rugby player in the past six months. His form in the Rugby Championship was irrepressible and he returned to the Sharks with the swagger of a Test international.
Willie le Roux, 97 Tests into the tail end of his career, may get a start or play from the bench in November, but on form the No 15 jersey belongs to Fassi right now.
Fassi, like everyone who has come before him, knows there is never ownership of a jersey, but there is a custodianship of the jersey.
The goal and ambition of any player is to leave the jersey stronger than when inherited. In this current crop of Springboks, that is easier said than done because Those who have gone before in the past six years have made it damn healthy.
The Boks play Scotland next Saturday, then England and finish off with Wales in Cardiff. Oh for a final flurry in Dublin against Ireland to challenge for a northern hemisphere Grand Slam!
Fassi’s form in the Rugby Championship was irrepressible and he returned to the Sharks with the swagger of a Test international
This squad has done it all: Back-to-back World Cup title wins, a Rugby Championship win the year after a World Cup win, a British and Irish Lions series win, victory against every team they have played.
But a Grand Slam? The schedule has not allowed for it. An opportunity missed for sure.
Handre Pollard, the Springboks World Cup-winning kicking machine, spoke this week of what defines the greatest and he emphasised consistency. He acknowledged the achievements of the 2019 and 2023 Springboks World Cup winners, but he said they still needed to match the All Blacks of 2011 and 2015.
His point was not who would beat who in the fantasy match, but he spoke of Richie McCaw’s All Blacks’ consistency in the period from winning the 2011 World Cup and winning the 2015 World Cup. In between the All Blacks lost three Tests, all away from home, that four-year cycle.
Those All Blacks won the Rugby Championship in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. They won the Bledisloe Cup every one of those years and they never lost a Test on the November northern hemisphere schedule.
This is what Pollard refers to and this is what drives the Boks. They are eight wins from 10 in the year after the World Cup. Their two defeats were both by a point. They won the Rugby Championship and beat the All Blacks twice in succession in South Africa and beat Australia twice in succession in Australia.
This is what makes a team great. Backing up win after win.
What Pollard points out is that the 2011 World Cup-winning All Blacks did win four successive Rugby Championships and then backed it up with a World Cup win at Twickenham against the Wallabies in the final.
En-route they beat the Boks 20-18 in a thrilling semifinal at Twickenham.
Pollard played that game and kicked five from five to keep the Boks in touch. He, more than anyone, can speak about the virtues of those All Blacks and his own Springboks.
The Boks this week arrive in Edinburgh red-hot favourites to torch everyone they play up north.
And rightly so.
They are so good now, they have so much talent and they have so many good players not on tour because of injury.
The Boks have their best available on tour, which is a statement of their intent, and they have Fassi leading the charge from fullback. It promises to be a scintillating November.
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