The Springboks are world champions and will be for at least another three years. The Stormers have won the United Rugby Championship (URC) and been runners-up in the two completed seasons of the tournament. And now the Bulls have a better-than-even chance of winning the URC for the first time to continue South Africa’s rise as the pre-eminent force in world rugby.
Being world champions is one thing – but the next step for the Springboks is to dominate between World Cups. For that to happen, the supply chain must be strong. The success of the Bulls making the URC final, beating a Leinster team with 21 Ireland internationals in the semis, provides a powerful link in that chain.
Garry Ringrose of Ireland is smothered by the Boks during the Rugby World Cup 2023 pool match at Stade de France in Paris on 23 September 2023. (Photo: Christian Liewig- Corbis / Getty Images) Bok coach Rassie Erasmus can choose 23 high-quality players at any given time, but for the Boks to continue to dominate, the competition for Test places must have at least three viable options in every position. And South African rugby is close to completely colouring that depth chart.
It’s telling that the Boks will go into their opening Test of the season against Wales at Twickenham on 22 June, missing many frontline players, but still able to put a quality team on the field. Bulls players obviously won’t be eligible for the Wales Test because they will be involved in the URC final against Glasgow Warrior.
