Former captain lauds incredible state of Springbok rugby

The double-World Champions are currently in (another) golden age of Springbok rugby. The Boks have just returned from a successful start to the Rugby Championship, where they scooped the full allotment of ten points to top the table.

In grading the two-match tour Down Under, the Boks barely put a foot wrong in the two comfortable wins over the Wallabies. New attacking flair was backed up with stout defence and several new faces earned valuable experience. Other than tries, what more could management ask for?

Speaking on the Boks Office podcast, hosted by former Bok hooker Hanyani Shimange, de Villiers pointed to the incredible depth coach Rassie Erasmus is creating and what that means within the squad.

"Complacency is not something you will see in the squad at the moment," said the former Bok captain.

"If you get selected and you don't perform, you will be replaced. And you'll be replaced by someone who is probably just as good as you. There's so little to differentiate between players. It's the best shape that South African rugby has ever been in."

De Villiers also gave credit to the coaching staff for expanding the Boks' attacking Game. Assistant coach Tony Brown's fingerprints are all over the new-look backline, who are creating space with ease.  

"We've evolved," added de Villiers.

"We've got way more threats from an attacking point of view, so much more variety. So defending against the Boks is far more difficult.

"But then we always have the capability of reverting back to our traditional strengths like we saw on the weekend [against Australia] with the maul. So it makes us extremely dangerous. Added to that, the depth that we have is impressive."

The Springboks are back on home soil for two tantalising clashes against the All Blacks on 31 August and 7 September.

READ MORE: Rugby Championship: All Blacks name squad for back-to-back Bok clashes