Former Springboks assistant coach Dick Muir has hailed the progress made by the South African national team under director of rugby and coach Rassie Erasmus.
Muir, who was part of the South African coaching staff alongside Peter de Villiers from 2008 to 2011, has enjoyed watching the national side’s turnaround.
“I think a lot has to be said about what Rassie Erasmus and his coaching team have done with the Springboks,” Muir told KweséESPN.
“It’s absolutely amazing to the see the turnaround that there’s been, and it’s great to see that the Boks are back.”
The last-minute defeat by the New Zealand All Blacks at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria did not take away from the progress made, and highlighted the wealth of talent within South Africa, Muir said.
“To put two really good performances together like we did against the All Blacks [was impressive].
“Yes, we did come a little bit short … we can point fingers at each other as to who did what and what went wrong, but the beauty is that we’re competing against the best and if you get things slightly wrong, you’re going to pay for it.
“We challenged the best, and that’s what it’s all about.
“I think, again it epitomizes the fact that we have such great rugby players in this country, and when everyone is pulling in the same direction things seem to go in the right direction.”
Muir, now assistant coach with the Sharks’ Currie Cup team in Durban, was pleased also that the Springboks’ had drawn sellout crowds for their last two matches of the Rugby Championship, in Port Elizabeth and Pretoria.
“When you look at the enthusiasm there was at Loftus because the Bok team is doing well, it’s great to see.”
Now the Springboks head to Europe for Tests against England, France, Scotland and Wales, and the likely colder and wetter conditions will call for a different game plan.
“You can’t fight the conditions.” Muir said.
“You’ve got to play the conditions and they kind of stipulate as to how you can play. I think we’ll see the guys play a bit more of a wet-weather game.”
Muir believes the South African squad is more than capable of playing the different conditions.
“The beauty is that our players are very adaptable and they’ll be able to handle themselves over there.”