Defining A Decade

1. Joost van der Westhuizen
2. Os du Randt
3. Joel Stransky
4. Pieter Rossouw
5. Mark Andrews

1. John Smit
2. Schalk Burger
3. Bryan Habana
4. Victor Matfield
5. Jean De Villiers

2018+ is Rassie Erasmus.

A coach, director of rugby, and waterboy.

Nie...naber. 

 Hennie Muller in the 50s…most exciting Paul Johnson

Frik du Preez in the 60s…..most exciting Jannie Englebrecht

Morné du Plessis in the 70s….most exciting Gert Muller

Danie Gerber in the 80s…..most exciting Danie Gerber

Joost….no question in the 90s….most exciting Bobby Skinstad

Victor Matfield…..in the 00s….most exciting Bryan Habana

Duane Vermeulen…in the 10s….most exciting Cheslin Kolbe

Have to agree with Mozart on his list. But   wonder if Naas Botha as the most recognise player and Danie Gerber as the most exciting. Danie Gerber was insanely good outside centre. Probably would have been a great had it not been for isolation

Whenever I think of the 80s I think of Naas. It wasn't my time, but looking back on Bok rugby, he stands out that way.

For me Joost was the man of the 90s and Schalk in the 00s. As for the 10s? I'm not sure. Jean was a prominent figure up until 2015, then you have the next gen. I suppose Thor ties those two generations as one of the first names you put down, especially in the latter part of the decade. Some good players, but I can't think of anyone else more fitting.

Going back to the 90s, I was never really convinced by Skinstad. Good player in his prime, no doubt, but not one to stand out in that way for me. Paulse was more exciting to watch for me. That one Bok who you knew was going to do something special. One of my first favourite Boks as a kid was Andre Snyman. The way he ripped England apart in 1997 was especially satisfying for me at a time where I really couldn't stand the Poms and resented being in England. Not an all time Bok, but a player I liked. Bridging generations from 90s and 00s? Probably Percy. 

Fourie Du Preez would have bee n a great in any generation.

But Os Du Randt is the ultimate memorable player in both 90s and 00s. In his younger days he use to play like an extra loose forward and would never forget how he pretty much carried 5 Ausie players on his back on his way to the try line. 

Jean and Schalc speaks massively about his influence and the players around him. 

Naas wasn't everyones favourite in the 80s unless you are a bulls fan. He use to get teased. Even Leon Schuster use to imitate him, but this guy could play and not just kick. He was criticised for not being  physical enough but doc Craven defended his style of play and said if you were that talented, of course you should do everything to protect yourself. 

So  definitely Naas in the 80s

So many great Springboks from the mid to late 1990s . . . apart from the ones mentioned above you can add Andre Joubert, Henry Honiball, Pieter Muller, Andre Venter, Gary Teichmann, Krynauw Otto, Percy Montgomery and Breyton Paulse. 

1997/8 specifically was a golden period for Springbok rugby when we won those 17 consecutive games against all comers including the Wallabies, the All Blacks and all the 6N sides . . . and then coach Nick Mallett bought into all the Bob Skinstad hype and everything turned to crap at the 1999 RWC where we ended up trying to win matches with Jannie de Beer drop kicks. 

"...and then coach Nick Mallett bought into all the Bob Skinstad hype and everything turned to crap at the 1999 RWC..."

In 1999 we got knocked out by the eventual champions...a Larkham drop goal in extra time...and then we beat the Allblacks for bronze...doesn't get any closer than that.

crap? I don't think so.

I was at that game at Twickenham. The extra time turned on a Jannie de Beer kick to touch that would have put us deep in the Oz 22, but  he just over cooked it by inches.  The Larkham drop was insane, to use a modern term.

Mallet got sucked into the Brumbies style, and tried to evolve the Boks into a fast rucking side which backfired. 1999 was where we fell behind the advancements in the game, which took a long time to correct, and still needs work. The Aussie defence was by some margin the best in the world and they were leading the arms race in rugby union with their knowledge of structures etc in league. I don't criticise Mallett for what he tried to do, but the implementation was poor and wasn't adapted to South African rugby culture. Jake was the bridge between the two, as evidenced by how well received he was in Australia and his success there. What a missed opportunity that was for the Wallabies!

Wehe, listen to the egg-faced fool now trying to pretend he said something else.

"I doubt any other player scored more"

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahahahahaha!

No I said I hadn’t checked….if you are going to quote me, provide the whole quote. Better yet, stay down…..you said:

‘ 1997/8 specifically was a golden period for Springbok rugby when we won those 17 consecutive games against all comers including the Wallabies, the All Blacks and all the 6N sides . . . and then coach Nick Mallett bought into all the Bob Skinstad hype and everything turned to crap at the 1999 RWC ’

……

Implying Skinstad only got involved at the WC. Whereas Skinstad was integral to the last half of the unbeaten streak.

LMAOFY&Y…..you never even remembered he played in the TN. Embarrassing.

No-one can argue with the inclusion of Joost in the 90’s. Such a brilliant player. 

I remember watching the 2000 and 2001 Currie Cup finals between the Stormers and Sharks. Epic games. Skinstad was sublime. I think he was a talent that wasn't fully utilised, but he was impactful for the Boks. I think the shift in world rugby, which caught all of South African rugby napping, was largely attributed to one big mistake by Mallett: Selecting Skinstad over Teichmann. It's a gross oversimplification of the problem, and one I sadly bought into as well. By the time the World Cup came around, the Boks were a thing of the past. Rugby changed mightily between 1995 and 1999, the largest shift in standard there has ever been. Mallett's Boks were lauded for that streak, and failed to see the dip in the road. The Bok fans were too pompous to see it too. Something I have brushed shoulders with too many times. Australia were simply the better team by far. Lets look at the centres: Muller and Fleck accumulated 9 and 27 metres; Horan 101 (3 clean breaks, 9 defenders beaten) and Herbert 20. The entire Wallaby backline accumulated 320m, which is almost the total of the entire production of the Bok starting XV! A couple of Boks with a lot of metres (Joost and Rossouw), and even offloads, but they weren't beating anyone and looked blunt. Skinstad was also under-utilised in my opinion. Caught between this shift, playing for a coach who grew increasingly irrelevant and out of his depth in the face of the dawn of this new age. He had skills, vision and athleticism. A complete package. Sadly, Erasmus was the preferred channel to work through. 

Skinstad was the most exciting forward to have played the game.
He was unfortunate to get a bad knee injury early on in his career, even sooner than Christian Cullen. 
It may even have been a car crash, not a rugby injury. Even Corne Kriege was in a car injury. 

Skinstad was in a motorcycle accident. True, it was a hindrance at the worst possible time. 

Bob was a fw