Springboks assistant coach Mzwandile Stick and captain Salmaan Moerat joked last week that South Africa’s famous biltong is responsible for the amount of quality lock forwards currently fight.
While biltong is quite an expensive delicacy, quality locks in this country seem to be a dime a dozen. Money doesn’t grow in trees, but you look up at your nearest Bluegum tree, you may well find a two-metres tall bruiser who can tackle your lights out.
On Saturday, in the comfortable Rugby Championship win over the Wallabies, the Springboks ran out with arguably their third or even fourth-choice lock combination.
Moerat and Ruan Nortje would probably feature in most countries’ starting teams, but yet in South Africa they have players such as Eben Etzebeth, Franco Mostert, RG Snyman, the injured Lood de Jager ahead of them, while the Lions’ beast Ruan Venter is also still waiting in the wings.
The two 26-year-olds, Nortje and Moerat, however, are seen as the next generation of great Springboks locks, with the likes of Etzebeth, De Jager and Mostert already on the wrong side of 30.
Nortje is happy to bide to his time, knowing that he might even not make the matchday squad once the Springboks return home from Australia to face the All Blacks on home soil in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
“Obviously in South Africa we have world class quality locks. I’m not saying I’m unlucky or anything, I’m just playing in a time where there are brilliant locks around,” the Bulls captain said.
“I’m just trying to my best to perform and get myself in the mix.”
Getting yourself in the mix is one thing, but staying in the mix is another issue with the amount of talent coming through. Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus is in a position where he can pick and choose and rotate at will. So tomorrow is not guaranteed for anyone ... so to speak.
The great Victor Matfield is one South African lock that stood the Test of time, the most capped Springbok with 127 Tests before he hung up his boots after the 2015 World Cup.
Matfield was the man of the match in 2007 World Cup final, producing one of the best lineout displays in the history of the showpiece event in the win over England. He and big bruiser Bakkies Botha are also egarded as one of the best lock combinations of all time.
Etzebeth is poised to overtake Matfield after earning his 124th cap against the Wallabies on Saturday.
“We are privileged in South Africa with the amount of talent that we have at our disposal,” Matfield told IOL Sport.
“Every year we see a new crop of locks coming through, and it seems like every year they are stronger and faster than the previous bunch.”
The All Blacks are currently going though a rebuilding phase following the retirement of greats such as Brodie Retallick and Sam Whitelock in the second row. However, they don’t seem to the quality the Boks have in reserve.
The absence of South African teams in Super Rugby could definitely be a factor, because the newbies coming through don’t face the same sort of physicality their predecessors had to deal with when facing those teams.
But Matfield says it’s deeper than that. While there are great talents on both sides of the Indian Ocean, South Africans are maybe just built different.
“They have big boys in Australia and New Zealand, but we seem to get more out of our locks. We have the same athletes, but our boys have the heart to go with the talent that you need at Test level,” Matfield explained.
“Our guys aren’t scared to go into those dark places when things get tough, and embrace things like mauling, which is a very difficult art.
“Our skill level is also very high. Look at a guy like RG Snyman, there are international centres who don’t have his running and offloading skills.
“A like Ruan Nortje’s work-rate is unbelievable, just like a Franco Mostert. A guy like Salmaan Moerat brings that hard edge, which Eben Etzebeth has delivered his whole career.”
According to Matfield South Africa’s schoolboy rugby system lays the foundation for our locks to develop a lot faster and from a younger age.
Some schools in South Africa probably have a bigger rugby budgets than some of the smaller professional unions, and kids get identified by scouts who travel all around the country to find talent.
“Our schools rugby is extremely strong. There aren’t a lot of countries who can boast the structures and how competitive our schools rugby is,” said Matfield.
“Guys get identified at 15, 16 and they go into good programs for their development. This is key, because in the old days guys who came from the rural areas only got into a gym at 19, 20 years old.
“Guys are ready to play play professional rugby a lot earlier, and they develop into international players earlier and have more time to improve.”
So, the answer to the question is probably more than just, biltong.