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Top 15 Springbok tries of 2025

The Springboks took no prisoners and reached peak potency this season, writes Quintin van Jaarsveld as he selects the 15 best five-pointers the back-to-back world champions scored in 2025.

Siya Kolisi and company ran in 89 tries in their dominant 2025 campaign. Eight of those came in the record 54-7 win over the Barbarians in Cape Town.

Since that season-opening clash was not a Test match, the Boks officially scored 81 tries this season, matching the record held by the 2007 Boks.

However, the current golden generation of Boks did it in 14 Tests, while the 2007 World Cup winners played 17 Tests that year. Rassie Erasmus’s men averaged 5.8 tries per match this year, whereas Jake White’s team averaged 4.8 tries per game in 2007.

Whether they played in their iconic Green and Gold or white away strip, the South Africans produced pearlers aplenty, none more so than these 15 terrific touchdowns:

15: Mr 360

The sensational Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu pulled an outrageous 360° dummy out of his bag of tricks to dupe Pumas captain Julian Montoya and complete his hat-trick.

14: Manie Magic

Manie Libbok summed up the situation in a flash after he scooped up a wayward offload, stepping two Argentinian defenders and chipping the ball over a third to dot down.

13: Power And Panache

One of 11 unanswered tries the ruthless Boks racked up in their record 73-0 wallowing of Wales in Cardiff, it showed the power of their scrum and panache of their backs, with Ethan Hooker making it look easy after Damian Willemse’s sweet chicken wing offload.

12: Perfectly In Sync

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Cheslin Kolbe could not have been more in sync as the former’s perfectly-weighted crosskick found the latter at full tilt to start South Africa’s second-half destruction of the Pumas in Durban.

11: Dynamic Duo

Japan learned the hard way that you don’t kick to Cheslin Kolbe as he sliced clean through and chipped ahead for a flying Kurt-Lee Arendse to grab and slide over.

10: Off To A Flyer

Despite the torrid Cape Town conditions, the Jesse Kriel-led Boks ran in eight tries against the Barbarians, the pick of which being this blinder by Kurt-Lee Arendse.

9: Ricky Reinach Strikes

Shades of Ricky Januarie and his iconic match-winning try against the All Blacks in 2008, Cobus Reinach sniped through from a ruck, chipped over Damien Penaud, and dotted down to spark the Boks’ comeback win in Paris.

8: Full Blast

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu showed good vision and blistering pace to kick into space and pick up the ball on the fly en route to racking up an unbelievable 37 points against Argentina at Kings Park, the most by a Bok in a single Test, breaking Percy Montgomery’s previous record of 35 against Namibia.

7: Oh Boy!

The Boks left the New Zealand commentators in disbelief as they put the All Blacks to the sword in Wellington, Man of the Match Damian Willemse slicing through and linking up with Grant Williams, who stepped and fed Andre Esterhuizen, who powered over.

6: Smells Like Teen Spirit

Taking a page out of Paul Roos Gymnasium Under-14 B team’s playbook, the Boks manufactured a lineout in the middle of the field, from where Grant Williams sniped and found Canan Moodie, who flexed his muscles to score.

5: Fast Start

The Springboks got off to a fast start against Australia in the tournament opener, scoring three quick-fire tries – including this cracker finished off by Andre Esterhuizen – before things went horribly wrong for them.

4: Killing King Kong

The Boks got a giant gorilla off their backs when they beat Ireland 24-13 to end a 13-year drought in Dublin and made their intentions known right away with this stunner, finished off by Damian Willemse.

3: A Green And Golden Nugget In Nelspruit

Breaking the Georgian line with an electrifying run, the lightning-quick Grant Williams set this gem in motion, with good handling leading to Canan Moodie powering over.

2: Off the Hook

After a brilliant break from a fearless Ethan Hooker, in his first Test start, from inside his 22, a trademark Manie Libbok crosskick found Pieter-Steph du Toit, who offloaded brilliantly for the omnipresent Kwagga Smith to finish.

https://twitter.com/BokScrum1211/status/1966885418873614699

1: To Infinity And Beyond

A monster scrum laid the platform, and Siya Kolisi stormed ahead before Andre Esterhuizen fired a beautiful ball to Cheslin Kolbe, who stepped Leroy Carter to score the try that set the Boks on their way to a record 43-10 win over the All Blacks in Wellington.

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Quintin Van Jaarsveld is a former MDDA-Sanlam SA Local Sports Journalist of the Year and a former three-time Vodacom KwaZulu-Natal Sports Journalist of the Year. Formerly the sports editor and Outstanding Journalist of the Year award winner at The Fever Media Group, deputy editor at eHowzit, editor at SARugby.com and senior staff writer at Rugby365.com, he boasts over 15 years’ experience and is currently a freelance sports writer.

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