[imagesource: AFP]

The Springboks remain undefeated since November 2, 2019.

Sadly, due to circumstances well beyond our control, that’s the last time we played a test match, but it was a rather important one which ended with skipper Siya Kolisi and coach Rassie Erasmus hoisting the Webb Ellis Cup.

Day 556 of 1 449 as world champions, and New Zealand rugby scribe Ben Smith is clearly still salty about his side failing to win the World Cup.

Writing for RugbyPass, in an opinion piece headlined ‘The notion that the Springboks are the world’s best is nothing more than an illusion at this point’, Smith accuses the Boks of ducking competition and hiding since that famous day in Yokohama.

Some excerpts from his article:

They are rightfully World Cup holders, but this era of Springboks rugby hasn’t proven to the world they are anything but a good side who won the World Cup with a helpful schedule.

The first world champions to lose a game in the World Cup tournament and win it, after about a year of playing well. The last calendar year with a full slate of games against tier one opposition in 2018, the side finished with a 50 percent win rate.

He goes on to say that we backed out of the 2020 Rugby Championship when we could have played, which ignores the set of circumstances COVID-19 dealt us, the quarantine period we would have required to compete, and so on.

He continues:

The Springboks have ducked competition and hid since winning the World Cup, trying to prop up an illusion that this side is the best team in the world instead of making that a reality with a bold 2020 campaign…

The rugby world is watching, waiting for this so-called best team on the planet to front up. They’ve had the rankings frozen for them to try and preserve that aura that only exists in their own mind around holding the number one ranking.

I mean, you can see where this is going.

Smith does say the World Cup victory was “well-deserved, albeit aided by fortune”, but then goes on to say “there wouldn’t be a top five international team that believes the Springboks are the best team in the world.”

At this stage, I must also play devil’s advocate and say that he makes some valid points in the article, and he may have been spurred into action by unnecessarily arrogant reporting from certain rugby scribes in South Africa (“South Africa’s giants will tower over Gatland’s hobbits”, for example).

Still, it was all too much for Rassie.

SA Rugby’s director of rugby kept things short and sweet on Twitter:

This always made sense to me: A lion doesn’t concern himself with the opinion of a sheep.

— Rassie Erasmus (@RassieRugby) May 10, 2021

Nailed it.

Rassie’s daughter, Carli, couldn’t help but get a chirp in, too:

Dad I have a better one: bees don’t waste their time explaining to flies that honey is better than shit 😉

— Carli Erasmus (@CarliErasmus1) May 10, 2021

If ever you needed another reason to cheer for the Boks against the British & Irish Lions, remember Smith’s words.

We don’t need to win by 20 points, either, although we’ve been known to do that on the big stage before.

[source:rugbypass]