New Zealand's flanker Josh Kronfeld smiles as he runs with the ball during practice 29 October 1999 at Croshorne, southwest of London, as the All Blacks prepare their Rugby World Cup semi-final match against France, 31 October at Twickenham FILE. With South African rugby continuing to grow in strength and depth, it’s seen New Zealand fall behind the Springboks, and it’s something that former All Blacks flank Josh Kronfeld has lamented. Seen here: Kronfeld during his playing days in 1999.
Image: Olivier Morin/AFP
Since the South African teams left Super Rugby to join the United Rugby Championship in the 2021/2022 season, it’s left something of a gulf in New Zealand and Australian rugby.
With South African rugby continuing to grow in strength and depth, it’s seen New Zealand fall behind the Springboks.
While that may be somewhat of a subjective statement, the Rugby Championship which concluded at the end of the September was far less debatable.
The Springboks ran out emphatic winners by eight points over New Zealand. It also broke the four titles in a row the All Blacks had won.
It was also the second time the Springboks had won the Rugby Championship, in its current form since Argentina entered the competition in 2012.
Of course the Springboks also won the Rugby World Cup in 2019 and 2023, as their domination over the last five years is generally undisputed - unless you’re Irish and view the World Rugby rankings as definitive of the champion rugby side on the globe and not the William Webb Ellis trophy.
For New Zealand, it must have been painful to see their great rivals continue to reach new heights, led by Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus and his innovative approach to the game.
Former All Blacks flank Josh Kronfeld told Jackpot City just how much the SA teams leaving Super Rugby has impacted his nation.
“It’s more the fact that in the past maybe we’ve always had competitions that are building into the All Blacks season that are the pinnacle of that international club scene. With the South Africans moving on to the English set up, it's a massive divide,” said Kronfeld.
“A massive ingredient has been taken away from us. I think that's played a bit of a significant role and then on the flip side, there's a lot of teams that have really tried to grow and build across the world.
“I think the gains that you can make as an individual team are smaller against the gains that can be made for other teams. If you're already sort of at a high level, the gains for that total finesse are small increments, but growing from where your base is up to that high level, that's easier to do.
“I don't know if I've put that in the nicest way for England but I think we've always managed to find that new little 10% edge and I think it's getting more and more difficult each season. Each World Cup cycle we see a growth and I think probably the significant growth that would come out of this last World Cup was the design of the bomb squad. I've never seen it before and it's worked incredibly well.”