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Has it really been that long? With the Springboks on their way to World Cup glory once more, we take a nostalgic look back to 1999 when the Boks were gearing up to take on Wales to defend their title.

These were the days before the marketing guys thought it a good idea to portray the boys as a marauding bunch of green Hulks – although that advert made us want to tackle the student dig’s fridge every time it came on, so it worked.

This throwback was more in the vein of “Get out of the way”, and if you look closely you can recognise a few of our pre-middle-age heroes in all their 20-something glory. Even Namaste Bae, Rob van Vuuren, features in the advert. This was obviously during the Twakkie days and way before he began chugging kombucha.

The best part has to be a youthful Rassie Erasmus leading the charge through the surf with the ball in hand. We like to imagine he was already thinking about this Saturday’s semi-final as he crashed through the surf with a teenage Stefan Terblanche and Hennie Le Roux in tow.

Enjoy the blast from the past.

[source:facebook/realrugby]