Your favourite Springbok

Who is your favourite Springbok, and why?

I will go first.

Schalk Burger.

He was and still is the epitome of both a Springbok and a Super Hero.

On the field, he never stopped. Not for 80 minutes. He continually lead the tackle count. He was as hard as nails but also had some good soft skills. Opponents feared him.

He has the same kind of heart that PSdT has.

Off the field, he has always been a gentleman and family guy. He always has time for fans and friends alike and he’s very humble.

… and coming back from near death - to don the green and gold again, makes him a real super hero.

He’d have clocked over 100 caps were it not for his illness.

Probably Kolbe for me.

I'm a sucker for an underdog and his skinning of FagGirl in the WC final is simply legendary.

I remember watching him at U20 level and how crazily he was stepping people. Then, not only did he convert that into success in the test arena but added some of bravest defence we've ever seen from a guy his size and high ball skills that such a short has no right having.

Henry Honiball for me.

He changed the way the Springboks played and for the one and only time I can remember (until Sacha) we had a flyhalf whose first instinct was to run the ball rather than kick it.

I've said this before but Nick Mallett's decision to persist with Jannie de Beer in the semi against Australia in the 1999 RWC after his drop kick heroics against England in the quarterfinal, rather than picking Henry Honiball who had finally recovered from his injury in that tournament, that for me remains one of the worst selections of all time and the one thing I find it hard to forgive Mallett for . . .other than the dropping of Gary Teichmann.

What could have been . . .

Fair play Plump

Henry was amazing.

dunno if he played enough to warrant legendary status in my books.

I just want to clarify, the question is "favourite" Springbok rather than "best" Springbok.

Henry Honiball remains my favourite Springbok ever.

I’m torn on this one.

I think it would be Joost……for obvious reasons.

Also have to give a honourable mention to Percy Montgomery…great hair and fantastic name :)

Hey cunce

Did ya miss me?

Where's the resident List A Celebrity gone?

Lovely fuckin thread too I might add.

I've always loved the Springboks though the Roo's are my first love... after my missus.

My favourite player has to be Bakkies Marksfield. We feared that cunt. Word on the street was he was like 2 players in 1.

Wish we could breed some balls like you cunce do.

He was the envy for over a decade here in Wollongong.

My favourite player has to be Bakkies Marksfield. We feared that cunt. Word on the street was he was like 2 players in 1.

Looking at that name, I think he was two players in one.

Three players actually, it could be Bakkies, Victor or Marx.

Pretty damned good name for a Springbok though . . . Bakkies Marksfield. I'd pick him just on his name.

Andre Esterhozen the one and only….two players in one….Springbok

mozart….official member of the Andre Esterhuizen Legend’s Club.

Jarhead needs to send us some of that wallaby droppings he's smoking so we can dream up some more rugby Frankenstein monsters.

Pieter Roussouw after my gramps said I ran like him.

It as Carel Dup, then Scalla took over, then Habana...then Kolbe, but PSDT took things to a new level...the grit and determination he brings to the park is phenomenal...the greatest Bok of my lifetime...pure distilled guts and glory.

"mozart….official member of the Andre Esterhuizen Legend’s Club."

We are legion!

For me it would be Duane Vermeulen, he had such skill, pace and absolutely sheer force and presence. To me his is also the real captain of our last two World Cup wins and you can always see him rallying the troops. The fact that he played until he was 37 and still performed at the top. He should have been a bok sooner rather than later due to Meyer not wanting to select him and it took him a while to find his way in the bok team, but he was the complete loose forward and could bust tackles, off load or just get stuck in over the ball and win a number of crucial turn over. The only Kolisi ever made it in the team was because Vermeulen covered both their roles as well as filling the void of his poor leadership. Watch those games where the boks do badly in the game, Kolisi has his hand on his hips and look dazed where Vermeulen has the boys under the sticks and given them what for.

Frans Steyn was another player that I liked and I don't think any young player comes near to the impact he had. I'm still waiting for Willemse to show up and I have not seen a match winning performance from Willemse what I saw from Steyn. 19 years old, drop kicks galore, taking on defence and cutting the field up. Massive boot and not afraid to get stuck in. He fell out with a few coaches namely Meyere and De Villiers but when Rassie came back he showed his value on how to be a team man and very happy to contribute. We lost so much of his talent because of poor coaching.

I liked Honiball, fantastic player but couldn't kick.

Kolbe is up there and I had my doubts whether he is bok material as he looked like another fragile player that didn't know how to tackle but could run, often made poor decision but I think he matured when he went to France and came back a different player. However, think he is losing some pace now but he is incredible for a small player and very similar in the Matt Gitau mould.

I think it would be hard to get all of our favourite players in the same team across generations.

Danie Gerber and Naas Both were world class. Naas doesn't get enough praise especially they way he use to kick

Ja, KC, Thor is definitely in my top 6...should have mentioned him too... difficult to choose between these great players.

Ja Draad, we will endlessly battle over who are the greatest. However I belief SA biggest problem was never the player talent but the coaching and administration not being professional enough for many decades and the power of the clubs, especially in WP land and hence why Moerat always finds a way into bok contention.

We had some great props in the past, hookers, etc. Os was amazing, Uli Schimdt, Marx, Bismark. We should almost ask who are your favourite players in all positions?

Then that Sharks / Bok Backline of Hannibal, Muller, Snyman, Slap Chips, Percy, Paulse, Terblanche were all amazing. De Wet Barry and Joubert had a purple patch for a couple of seasons and shredded the all blacks backline back in the day.

But we could never build continuity and then again, we played against a very strong NZ and Australia team that had Larkham, Latham, Gregan etc. I think rugby was better back in the day come to think of it now.

Wilco Louw, Malcolm Marx, Ox, Frans Malherbe, Os du Randt, Eben, Thor, Juan Smith, Jaques Fourie, Heinrich Brussouw, Jasper Wiese, AE, Kurtlee Arendse, Handre Pollard, Faf de Klerk, Franco Mostert, Canan Moodie, Sacha, Kwagga Smith, RG, Johan Grobbelaar, Elrigh Louw, Cameron Hanekom, Bongi, Percy Montgomery, Joost, Fourie du Preez, Pieter " Slap Chip" Rassouw etc.etc.

Everytime I thought of a Favourite Bok, another one popped into my head...

True

It's difficult to pick one.

And that's the point...

Haha, Dave would've ripped me a new one with "powderpuff" on my list.

There is only one for me as I hate all the rest but for some reason Schalk Burger gets a pass, Highlight of watching an ABs vs Boks test back in the day was when he was on the field.

I'll try to put what I think were the best boks that comes to mind. I might miss a few

1. Os, Ox
2. Bismark, Marx
3. Malherbe, Louw, Koch
4. Bakkies, Etzebeth
5. Bekker, Matfield, RG
6. Burger, Brussouw
7. Venter, Juan Smith, PSDT
8. Vermeulen, Teichman, Danie Russouw
9. Fourie Du Preez, Joost, Pienaar
10. Pollard, Naas, Honnyball
11. Habana, Pieter Russouw, Kolbe
12. Jean De Villiers, De Wet Barry, Ander Esterhuizen, Pieter Muller
13. Jacque Fourie, Danie Gerber, Andrew Snyman
14. Carel Du Plesis, JP Pietersen, Breyten Paulse, Arendse , Chester Williams
15. Montgomery, Frans Steyn, Andrew Joubert

The players from 70's and 80's are hard for me to remember. Even though Uli Schidt pop up a lot, I think was more a Vaal player and provincial than ever a real springbok. I remember watching high light reels of Gerber and Naas and watch some of Naas highlight recently he had some serious pace and could get his backline moving. Wasn't just a kicker, but that was style of the bools at the time. I really like the bok / sharks team of the mid 90's with Teichman and Hannibal. But for me our best modern centres were Jean De Villiers and Jacque Fourie, they were both big and fast, just think Jake White style wasn't great for them.

I put Chester Wiliams in there, the guy was a great servant of rugby, pity he passed away and I would never forget him playing in Super Rugby against Auckland or which ever team Lomu was in and he dived so low, like a torpedo to skittle Lomu over. Fantastic player and very under rated but also injuries plagued his latter years.