When the desire to “f**k them up” becomes a calling card for Rassie Erasmus’ South Africa, size inevitably matters.
The refrain was a constant theme of the Springboks behind the scenes documentary, Chasing the Sun.
One of the oldest cliches in rugby’s long book of hackneyed platitudes is that the Springboks are bigger and meaner than everybody else. It is a sentiment which has seen some pushback in recent years.
Speaking at an Irish Times live event prior to the 2024 Six Nations, current Leinster coach Jacques Nienaber – one of Erasmus’ partners during South Africa’s World Cup golden era – offered an interesting line on the 2023 clash between the Boks and Ireland. According to the defensive guru, across the matchday squad, Ireland were actually bigger on average than the Springboks.
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Come again?
There’s only one way to put this to the test. But if Nienaber was right and South Africa don’t enjoy a genetic advantage over every opponent, then maybe being the biggest, baddest kid in the playground is not their not-so secret sauce.
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Finding reliable figures for player size is notoriously difficult. Some sources list Ireland’s Ryan Baird around the 105kg mark. Others have him up at 113kg. Player weight can fluctuate on a day-to-day basis, such is the physical exertion of a professional rugby match. Baird himself has spoken about burning calories even while on the golf course.
Some teams have the heights and weights of players listed on their website, others don’t, making reliable analysis somewhat tricky. Even then, some of the ‘official’ sources must be questioned. South Africa’s own site has locks Jean Kleyn and Franco Mostert listed at 2.03 and 1.98 metres tall respectively, while the former apparently weighs in at 125kg, the latter 106kg. Now, while Mostert does give up five centimetres to the Munster man, and more height generally equals more weight, is it really plausible that Kleyn has nearly 20 kgs on his compatriot despite their positional similarity?
Take the following figures with a pinch of salt. Then another. One more for good measure. Based on what we can find from reasonably reputable sources, just how big are the Boks?
In a nutshell, very. When they last played Ireland in that 2023 Rugby World Cup pool game, South Africa had eight players weighing over 120 kgs in their matchday 23. Ireland had one: Tadhg Furlong. Frans Malherbe has at times in his career been recorded as over 140 kgs. That’s at least 15 kgs heavier than Ireland’s heaviest man, Furlong again.
From 1-23, the Boks had an average height of 185.4cm and 106 kgs that evening in Paris. Ireland’s equivalents were 188.4cm and 104kg. On average, Ireland were taller, but South Africa were heavier, which might explain (at least in part) why Nienaber suggested Ireland had some sort of size advantage.
In the starting forward pack, the discrepancy increases. South Africa had an average weight of 116.4kg. Ireland’s figure was 111kg. On the bench, where South Africa named seven forwards, they had an average weight of 112.4kg to Ireland’s 106.3kg (the Boks infamously named seven forwards among the replacements, compared to Ireland’s five).
The only reason the overall numbers are closer is due to the size of South Africa’s backs. Under Erasmus, the Boks have selected a series of diminutive, agile yet powerful athletes. Not in the centre, though, Damien de Allende (189cm/106kg) and Jesse Kriel (186cm/98kg) still adding significant oomph.
When South Africa lost to Ireland in 2023, four members of their starting backline weighed in at 80kg or below: Kurt-Lee Arendse, Cheslin Kolbe, Mannie Libbok and Faf de Klerk. All four are no taller than 180cm, meaning height plays a big role here. Ireland only had one player at 80kg or below – Jamison Gibson-Park.
In the back three, Ireland had a significant size advantage. James Lowe is in the region of 17cm and nearly 30kg heavier than opposite number Kolbe, while Mack Hansen has close to 10kg on Arendse.
That was two years ago, it should be said. South Africa are infamous for freshening up their squad between World Cups. But have new players led to any difference in size?
When South Africa played Italy last week, it won’t surprise many that Erasmus’ motley crew were on average 1.8kg heavier. That advantage was actually only 1.2kg in the starting pack – Italy also have a series of diminutive backs, Ange Capuozzo listed only at 79kg. The bench is where the size damage was done, the Boks’ margin increasing to 5.2kg heavier per player.
A fortnight ago, when beating France with just 14 players for most of the contest, South Africa gave up a size advantage. Their averages were 188.2cm and 105.8kg per player to France’s 188.4cm and 106.1kg.
Even in the starting pack, France had a weight advantage of 119.1kg to 116.9kg. Emmanuel Meafou’s 142kg of bulk, quite literally, does a lot of heavy lifting. They also had 138kg Romain Taofifenua on the bench. South Africa’s heaviest forwards were prop Thomas du Toit and lock RG Snyman, both 130kg.
Once again, though, the bench is the real point of difference. Both sides picked six forwards, but South Africa were 2.4kg heavier to a man than the French.
All of which leads towards a somewhat unsurprising conclusion. South Africa are not necessarily always the ‘biggest’ team in a given match, but more often than not they supply the larger athlete off their bench. It is in keeping with the focus placed on that area of the game by Erasmus and co, their ‘bomb squad’ approach sees an advantage among the replacements, even against opponents like France who, at least the last time they played, were larger from 1-23.
It’s not that South Africa are always bigger than their opponent on any given day – although that does happen more often than not – it’s a case of having a greater quantity of larger men and an attitude conducive to using as many of them as possible, even if that risks leaving the backline short of cover. Hence Erasmus’ tinkering, turning nominal centre Andre Esterhuizen into a backrow/centre hybrid.
South Africa have plenty of big men, perhaps more so than most other countries. Crucially, though, they are the most inventive with how they use as many of them as possible.
