The Best
England Crashes Out: Springbok fans chuckled with glee as England, playing at Twickenham, missed out on the play-offs for the first time in World Cup history.
Pool losses against Wales and Australia relegated the hosts to third place and denied them access to the quarter-finals.
During his tenure as Springbok coach, Jake White once explained that England’s staggering budget for supplements rivalled what other nations had to spend on their entire rugby programme.
Though they had muscles in all the right places, the Roses wilted as soon as they touched grass at the World Cup.
Japan torpedoes Boks: With rugby’s minnows making full use of increased access to intellectual property to close the gap on tier-one nations, everyone expected Eddie Jones might bring the best out of the Brave Blossoms; no-one believed that Japan’s best would be good enough to put three teams to the sword.
In isolation, the historic 34-32 win against the Springboks provided reams of material for future biographies, film scripts and motivational speeches. But even more impressive was Japan’s ability to produce that result, digest the magnitude of the achievement, and then regroup to beat Samoa and USA.
Damian de Allende: What makes Italy skipper Sergio Parisse such a special player is that he performs consistently well, despite an overmatched supporting cast. De Allende is in the same class.
During what was a disappointing Super Rugby season for South African teams, De Allende was the one constant, emerging as the attacker most difficult to contain (73 defenders beaten) and scoring two tries in the Stormers’ best performance of the year – a 32-18 win against the Waratahs in Sydney.
De Allende carried that form into the World Cup, inspiring confidence that South Africa still produces marquee backline players.
Loving Loftus: Western Province conceded a total of 17 tries in Pretoria, Bloemfontein and Johannesburg during the league-phase of the Currie Cup. Province fans grimaced when the 2014 champions finished third overall and thus booked another trip to the Highveld for a Blue Bulls semi-final.
Lauded all season for a flair-first approach, the Bulls quickly discovered that high-octane rugby and high-pressure situations don’t mix well.
In the second half, Cheslin Kolbe pounced on an attacking kick to score, and the Province dynamo then made the most of set-piece territory to complete the ambush, sending Jano Vermaak over for the win.
Salmaan Moerat: Many Craven Week stars melt from the proverbial heat in the kitchen which makes it ill-advised to get pumped up about a standout schoolboy’s pro prospects. Salmaan Moerat is an exception.
The Paarl Boys lock was the most fearsome tight forward at this year’s Craven Week, adding a belligerent edge to the Western Province team that annihilated the Eastern Cape’s brightest Under-18 talent with 95 unanswered points.
What separates Moerat from his peers is his demeanour; the kid has a gluttonous appetite for the rough stuff, and an appreciation of enforcer-play that is the hallmark of Test-calibre forwards.
The Worst
Rest In Peace: Rugby lost iconic players in 2015. All Blacks flanker Jerry Collins was killed in a tragic car accident in June; John Gainsford and Jonah Lomu passed away on November 18.
Gainsford, the imposing Springbok centre of the 60s, was 77, but Lomu was just 40 when he succumbed to complications related to a kidney condition.
Arguably the catalyst for rugby’s professional evolution, 19-year-old Lomu captured the imagination of a global audience by scoring seven emphatic tries at the 1995 World Cup.
His blend of speed and power remains the benchmark for aspiring finishers.
Kiwis call Heyneke’s bluff: Meyer should have trusted the plan that netted the Bulls three Super Rugby trophies, and then backed that blueprint to bring the best out of dependable tacticians such as Morné Steyn and Zane Kirchner.
Instead, Meyer babbled on about “accelerating” the attack, selecting Handré Pollard and Willie le Roux in the hope they would magically spark an attacking revolution.
They didn’t.
South Africa’s World Cup began with an embarrassing reverse against Japan and ended with Schalk Burger, 32, playing first-receiver in a loss against an All Blacks outfit that kicked the ball 47 times. The irony...
Rude to Paige: The Bulls No 9 was the most consistent tactical scrumhalf in the SA Conference.
However, in the absence of Fourie du Preez, Meyer went with Ruan Pienaar, a career-underachiever for the Boks, while Cobus Reinach, who shares similar traits to the tactically-fickle Francois Hougaard, also leapfrogged Paige on the Bok depth chart.
Any doubt that the Bok coach had an appalling blind spot was erased in the World Cup Bronze final when Paige, 26, spent all but three minutes on the bench behind Pienaar, 31, despite the Boks leading 24-6 for 30 minutes of the second half.
Size matters: The Stormers charged into battle with Super Rugby’s bravest, but smallest backline.
Damian de Allende and Kobus van Wyk were the only two backs who tipped the scales at more than 88kgs.
Meanwhile, New Zealand rolled out the biggest finishers in the competition and rag-dolled the Stormers backs. The Brumbies did the same to subject the Newlands faithful to yet another play-off implosion.
Nic Groom, Seabelo Senatla, Juan de Jongh, Dillyn Leyds and Cheslin Kolbe are supremely talented. They’re also not physically powerful enough to be fielded together as a combination, if you’re serious about winning a title.
The Currie Cup’s reputation is in tatters: How bad is it? Chief sponsors Absa Bank have pulled the plug on a 30-year association with the competition.
Slapdash defence was a prevailing theme this season; half of the teams conceded more than three tries per game.
The Lions, who won the Currie Cup title after scoring 52 tries in 10 league matches, while the Highlanders, Super Rugby champions, scored 58 tries in 16 league matches earlier this year.
Iron sharpens iron but the Currie Cup is no longer the anvil on which future Springboks are beaten into shape.
My quotes of the year:“It’s nice that Danny is tweeting about someone other than himself ... I enjoy his selfies a lot... He wouldn’t ever be a part of our team.” – Adam-Ashley Cooper responds to Danny Cipriani tweeting that no Wallabies were good enough to play for England. Australia eliminated England from the World Cup.
“Never believe the newspapers mate... I’m committed to the Stormers. I woke up this morning and looked up at Table Top Mountain, so I’m here.” – One week after declaring his commitment to the Stormers, Eddie Jones took an overnight flight to London and was unveiled as England’s new head coach.