Rugby wish list for 2025

Now that the new year has been ushered in, we reveal what we would love to see come out of the South African rugby calendar in 2025.

Siya Kolisi with Springbok Women's coach Swys de Bruin. Image: SA Rugby website

Here’s our 2025 wish list for local rugby teams, including but not limited to the Springboks and Springbok Women.

Boks to flip the 30-year script against the All Blacks in Eden Park

Can the Springboks beat the All Blacks to end the Kiwis’ 30-year reign at Eden Park when they meet at this renowned venue on 5 September? YES.

Will the Springboks beat the All Blacks to end the Kiwis’ 30-year reign at Eden Park when they meet at this renowned venue on 5 September? Well, that is an entirely different question; one that’ll only be answered in due time.

Dating back to 1994, the All Blacks boast an insane 50-game unbeaten streak at Eden Park — 48 wins and two draws — but painting a more clear picture of New Zealand’s utter dominance at this venue is the fact that they have a 90% overall win rate at this ground, having lost just 10 Test matches there since 1921.

By contrast, post-isolation the Springboks have not been able to chalk up a single victory against the All Blacks at Eden Park with the closest they’ve come to upsetting the status quo being an 18-18 draw in 1994.

Although to be fair, the last time the Boks played a rugby Test at Eden Park was 12 years ago in 2013, so there hasn’t been all that much opportunity in recent years to break the All Blacks’ remarkable record at their fortress.

However, given the current status of both teams, this might be the Springboks’ biggest window of opportunity to a rare win on the enemy’s most valuable territory. The back-to-back world champions, under the tutelage of Rassie Erasmus, currently hold every piece of silverware available to them.

And on their way to achieving that feat, they’ve clinched four straight wins streak against the All Blacks.

Victory at Eden Park will not only underline this Springbok outfit’s status as the undisputed best team in the world and one of rugby’s all-time great sides, but it’ll also put the All Blacks further under pressure to proof that they are not – as many suspect – a declining dynasty.

Bok Women to reach Rugby World Cup playoffs

It’s no secret that women’s rugby in South Africa is not as strong as it could – and should – be and as a result the Springbok Women’s Test side is not as big a powerhouse on the global stage as their male compatriots, the Springboks.

And yet, despite the many challenges in their way, both on and off the field, the Bok Women qualified for the 2025 World Cup in May of 2024 already. Since then, they’ve been grouped in Pool D alongside France, Italy and Brazil.

Now, with two of those three pool opponents – France (4) and Italy (8) being ranked well above South Africa (12), playoff qualification will be no walk in the park, but it’s not entirely impossible either.

The Springbok Women are on an upward trajectory; and that is not a groundless statement, close observers of this team can verify this assertion. But a spot in the World Cup playoffs will endear them to the global audience and enhance their standing in the public eye as well as the corporate world, which could play a vital role in the growth of the women’s game locally in future.

If anyone can leads these Bok women to new heights, it’s Swys de Bruin, the man who has made a tangible difference since coming onboard last year.

SA team(s) to turn European Champions Cup on its head

The South African teams’ inclusion and continued participation in the European Champions and Challenge Cups remain a contentious point on both sides of the equator.

On home front, rugby chiefs and supporters are at odds with coaches about competing in these two competitions, while those on the northern side of the equator are firmly against the South African teams’ presence in what they deem as ‘their’ flagship club rugby championship. And of course the root cause of the division is down to the logistical challenges teams face in an already congested schedule which is compounded by rugby’s lack of a global calendar.

In the two completed seasons since their admission in 2022, no South African side has made it past the quarter-finals: the Sharks and Stormers in 2023 and the Bulls in 2024.

Incidentally, those are the same three local teams representing South Africa in this season’s Champions Cup campaign. Here’s to hoping at least one of them advance to the final, or better yet, go on to win the whole thing and be crowned champions.