A number of players grabbed their chances over the course of the season.
The Springboks celebrated a third straight fantastic season of dominance with a thumping record win over Wales in Cardiff to close out their 2025 campaign in style over the past weekend.
It saw the reigning double world champions end the year with an impressive 13 wins out of 15 games, with one of those positive results a non-Test against the invitational Barbarians side.
The Boks took a bit of time to get going, after starting off on an unsteady note, with a few unconvincing wins in the Tests in June and July, before losses against the Wallabies in Cape Town and All Blacks at Eden Park meant they had five wins and two losses to their name at that stage.
But a record victory against the All Blacks in Wellington kick-started a brilliant eight match winning run over the rest of the season, that saw the Boks secure back-to-back Rugby Championship titles, and go on an unbeaten end-of-year-tour to the UK and Europe.
Here are the key moments from their season:
Highs
The Springboks had a number of highs over the year with some top results against major teams.
Arguably their biggest win was their record 43-10 hammering of their fiercest rivals, the All Blacks, in Wellington, which was their biggest victory in New Zealand and overall, eclipsing their 35-7 win over them at Twickenham in 2023.
A 67-30 smashing of Argentina in Durban was also a highlight as Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu broke the record for most points by a player in a single game, which helped put them ahead in the race for the Rugby Championship title, which they later secured.
On their end-of year-tour they managed to put together some mightily impressive performance and some superb results, with their 32-17 win against France in Paris with 14-men a standout effort, while their forward dominated 24-13 win over Ireland in Dublin was also good, and they ended the tour with a 73-0 crushing of Wales.
Lows
The Boks started the season rather shakily and were in a spot of bother at one stage, before turning things around in quite dramatic fashion.
An unconvincing 42-24 win over a weakened Italy team at Loftus, in which they lost the second half, was followed up with another game of largely missed opportunities against the same opponents in Gqeberha, as two late tries helped them seal a 45-0 win.
Their worst performance was, however, saved for the start of the Rugby Championship, despite being heavy favourites against the Wallabies at Ellis Park. They crashed to a an almost unbelievable 38-22 defeat, after initially racing into a 22-0 lead after just 19 minutes.
They also suffered a disappointing 24-17 defeat to the All Blacks at their fortress Eden Park, where the Boks had hoped to break the hosts’ incredible unbeaten record.
Winners
There were a number of winners and losers among the players over the course of the last few months.
World Rugby Player of the Year Malcolm Marx, powerhouse props Ox Nche and Wilco Louw, rising flyhalf star Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, exciting young talent Ethan Hooker, lock Ruan Nortjé, utility back Canan Moodie and fullback Damian Willemse can consider themselves big winners after some great performances.
Thomas du Toit also grabbed his chances later on in the season; the Boks’ scrumming performance in 2025 a real high point. André Esterhuizen also became rugby’s first “hybrid player” and enjoyed an excellent all-round season.
Losers
The losers include Bongi Mbonambi, Willie le Roux and Makazole Mapimpi, who found themselves sidelined for most of the year and are seemingly being phased out of the Bok system, although Mapimpi might be allowed to reach his 50-cap milestone next season. Vincent Koch’s Bok days are also over.
Handré Pollard, who will still be a regular in the group heading into the 2027 World Cup, has had to accept he is possibly the third choice No 10 in the group behind the impressive Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Manie Libbok, while lock enforcer Eben Etzebeth, who endured a mixed season on the field, closed it out with an eye gouge against a Welsh player and faces a lengthy ban.
Jan-Hendrik Wessels also missed out on the November tour because of a lengthy ban, but he will likely be back next season.
