Joel Stransky: ‘Springboks are the most brutal team in world rugby and hardest to beat’

Stransky scored a dramatic winning drop goal in extra-time of the 1995 World Cup final against the All Blacks, a moment so poignant and important to the new democratic South Africa, Clint Eastwood made a Hollywood movie about it. 

The Springboks and All Blacks kick-off their series at the self-same Ellis Park on Saturday, before further matches in Cape Town, Soweto and Baltimore in the United States on consecutive weekends. 

Stransky spoke to Flashscore about the All Blacks’ build-up, the Springboks’ strengths, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu at flyhalf and his own memories of beating New Zealand in the 1995 Rugby World Cup final.

What have you made of the All Blacks in the build-up to the series, including their games against the South African franchises?

Joel Stransky: The fact that we don't play against the New Zealand Super Rugby teams anymore means we don't always pay attention to their talent, players and style. We watch the Test side and get that top-end view, so to see their top 40 players or so playing against our franchises has been great. It is wonderful to have them on tour and it is building up to a wonderful crescendo with the first Test.

The first game against the Stormers was nothing really to write home about. I thought the Stormers were quite physical and gave a strong performance, even though they were depleted. The Sharks were abysmal in Durban. Granted, the conditions were tough, but I didn't think they showed much and if the All Blacks hadn't won by 60 points, they would have been bitterly disappointed.

I thought the All Blacks improved again against the Bulls. The Bulls were quite physical and showed some good signs early on, but were eventually well beaten by a New Zealand team that started to gel.

Their build-up has been good. They beat a depleted French team (in July), but their win against Ireland was a really good one and they played well.

What is more interesting for me is the style they are trying to play. They are openly talking about playing a faster, wider game, taking the contact points further out into the outside channels rather than around the fringes.

If you can get good, quick ball, that works. But if you don't, you have to go back to the physical game. The reality is that the game will still be won and lost in the physical battle, in the tight-loose and on the gain line. 

If you want to beat the Springboks, you have to stand up physically. That is their real acid test.

Do you think teams such as New Zealand are now looking for a specific formula to beat the Springboks, perhaps by speeding the game up and taking them on in wider channels?

It doesn't matter who the team is or how great they are, they are going to lose the odd game, and that applies to the Springboks. But we are a great side and have been for some time.

I don't think anyone expected us to win the World Cup in Japan, but we found a way and the players came to maturity a lot quicker than Rassie Erasmus had perhaps expected. Then we almost came unstuck in 2023 with those three one-point wins in a row. That was something special because when games are that tight, there is always a little bit of luck with the bounce of the ball, and it went our way three times.

But the brutal fact is that I think we are the most brutal team in world rugby. That is the nature of our game. Rassie picks warriors. Whether we are smashing the ball up, smashing the carrier backwards, or dominating in the scrum and maul, we are a physical force.

We dominate the gain line and that makes us incredibly difficult to beat. It doesn't necessarily always make it easy for us to win, but it makes us very hard to beat. To beat the Springboks, you have to do something special.

The All Blacks will probably look at the way Argentina have played against us at times. When we have lost, it has often been when teams have matched us physically, moved the ball into wider channels, generated quick ball and found space around our rush defence.

They also have to find a way to cope with our kicking game, which has been magnificent over the last six years. The kicking game isn't just about putting the ball up and contesting it. It is what comes afterwards – how you pressure the opposition, push them backwards, force them to kick back to you and fill the space. It is almost like chess.

If there is a recipe to beat the Springboks, the All Blacks will be looking at it. If you want to avoid taking our forwards on directly, you have to play wider and you have to play quickly. Teams that have done that successfully have found ways around us.

Rassie Erasmus has selected Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu at flyhalf this weekend. What do you make of that decision with Manie Libbok and Handre Pollard also in the squad?

Sometimes having so many options can make the decision more difficult. Do you simply pick the player you believe is the best player, or do you pick the best horse for the course? How do you want to play the game and who is best suited to playing that way?

It is not always easy when you have such a wide pool of talent and the players are quite diverse.

For me, I think he has picked the right guy. We know Sacha was poor against Argentina a couple of weeks ago, but it was his first game back after a lengthy period out of the game and I think he tried a bit too hard.

I imagine Rassie would have told him to be calm, make the guys around him look good and just play his game. Do the basics well.

How do you see the four-Test series playing out?

I think the first Test is quite a tough one to call. The All Blacks were good against Ireland and they have had a couple of weeks together in camp to bond, work on their game and play against the franchises.

Even though the provincial teams have not been at full strength, New Zealand have had a taste of the physicality that South African rugby brings. That is perhaps something they have missed in recent times without the 14- or 16-week grind of Super Rugby against South African teams.

I think this tour is massive for them because they will learn again what that physical battle is all about and how physical they have to be if they are going to win this series and then the World Cup next year.

The first Test is always a little nervy because you don't really know what to expect. In the same breath, the Springboks haven't played their full-strength side together for a few weeks. How quickly will they gel and come together?

Some players have been short of game time, including Eben Etzebeth and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, and there are other examples. You simply don't know how quickly each side will settle.

But having said all that, this is at home, it is the Springboks and it is a team with a burning desire to play for each other, their families and their country. There is enormous pride at stake against the great rival.

We have the weapons to beat the All Blacks and I think, at the moment, we would probably beat them seven or eight times out of 10.

I think the first Test will be tough, but I believe the Springboks will win it. Somewhere in the series, New Zealand might win one of the games. It could potentially be the Baltimore Test with the travel and everything that goes with that.

But I don't see them winning more than one Test. That isn't me being an arrogant South African former rugby player. It is simply that we have so much faith in this Springbok team because they are so difficult to beat and have so many weapons.

Looking back at your own experience and the 1995 World Cup final, what was it like facing such a formidable All Blacks team? 

They were a great side, but we were a great side too. We believed we could beat them.

We had beaten Australia, beaten France and conquered every hurdle that had been put in front of us. We undoubtedly believed we could win.

If you don't believe you can win, you're wasting your time even arriving at the stadium. If you don't believe, you will never come out on top.

We believed we could beat them and we had a Plan B if our main game plan wasn't working. We knew we had to combat certain elements of their game and, in particular, Jonah Lomu. We changed our defensive structure a little bit because of him.

But when you play any great side – and for South Africans the All Blacks, even at their weakest, are still a great side – they remain the great rival. That is why we have this wonderful rivalry and why everybody is so absorbed in this tour.

To run onto the field, face the haka and play against the All Blacks is still probably the greatest privilege for a Springbok rugby player.

It was like that in 1995 and it will be exactly the same for the Springboks now.