These are lekker times for SA rugby

These are particularly special times for South African rugby, on the field and in relation to sponsors. The good news story can’t be told enough. Repeat it please.

Sunday braais and lunches, for as long as I can remember, have always involved some form of rugby discussion, especially in the Test season.

There have been many dire afternoons when the beer didn’t taste as good because the All Blacks had blanked the Boks 57-0 in New Zealand; Australia blanked the Boks 49-0; England had smashed the Boks 53-3; Argentina had done the Boks in Durban; Italy had beaten the Boks in Italy; Ireland had walloped the Boks 38-3 in Dublin; and even Wales were dishing out beatings to the Boks in Cardiff.

Scotland got in on the act at Murrayfield and France claimed wins that were previously elusive.

Sponsors retreated en-masse because of boardroom woes, lack of transformation and a crumbling South African landscape.

And of course there was the infamous 2003 Kamp Staaldraad.

There have been some awfully dark times since the Springboks’ return to international rugby in 1992. South Africans and the world knew just how dark those days and nights were because of the saturated media coverage of the ills in the sport.

And rightly so.

But things are very different now, and if there was no hesitation to throw the bricks, there is no crime in picking up the pom poms and doing the cheerleading.

South African rugby, on so many levels, is getting it right, on the field and off it.

The Springboks are the leading team in Test rugby, back-to-back World Cup winners, and Bok coach Rassie Erasmus, through astute talent identification over the past eight years, has put together a group of 80-plus players competitive enough, in skill and pedigree, and young enough, to give South Africans confidence of continued success at winning World Cups in Australia in 2027 and the US in 2031.

Commercially, South African rugby has never been as pursued as it is now. Sponsors want to be associated with the Springboks. They want to be a part of the pathways, through the national junior squads, to the Sevens and to the women’s game.

The demand is because so much has been done right on the field, showcased through the results, with the Springboks winning successive World Cup titles, a British & Irish Lions series, a Rugby Championship and losing just two Test matches (both by a single point) in 13 starts last season. This has all been achieved since 2019.

Commercially the gains have been as impressive, as has the renewed sponsorships and introduction of new sponsors.

The All Blacks eight-match tour to South Africa next year is going to be monumental and the Boks’ return to New Zealand in 2030 for eight matches, including a three-Test series, will be as big in global interest. Then there’s the 2027 and 2031 World Cups, the return to South Africa of the British & Irish Lions in 2033 and so much more internationally and within the context of the Champions Cup and Vodacom United Rugby Championship.

These are good times in South African rugby, and they are lekker times to braai on a Sunday and talk rugby because that beer tastes so much better. They are cool times to be on social media talking rugby.

The Boks are No 1 in the world and they are No 1 among all Tier 1 nations in commercial strength and financial health.

A therapist who doubled as a skills and life coach once said to me the most important sessions with his clients were the ones when things are going well; not the crisis sessions. He said the celebration sessions were about giving thanks with clarity because it positively influenced the mind to create an even better success story.

South African rugby is in that celebration space right now, and it is important to share in that celebration — especially if you were invested enough in the Boks to have been there in those darkest of Saturdays.