By Gregor Paul
Victor Matfield is one of the strong men of South African rugby but his powers may be on the wane by 2011. Photo / Getty Images
Wishful thinking, maybe, but the Springboks look bang on track to be a spent force by 2011.
They will come to Hamilton this week a good bet to win and yet, should they register a third successive victory against the All Blacks, no one in New Zealand should be fooled into being too gloomy long-term.
South Africa are imposing right now. They are a side crammed with experience. They have mentally strong characters. They have set-piece control and are playing with confidence to well-learned patterns that dovetail nicely with the current rules.
If the World Cup were next month, throw the mortgage on them. But it's two years away and South Africa may well be a side in decline by then. They could be unravelling in the home straight the way the All Blacks have so regularly managed.
Everyone knows the All Blacks have had a bad habit of playing their best stuff between World Cups; that they peak a long way out and come into World Cups on a gradual decline.
Whatever the result this week, the All Blacks - hard as it may be to believe - are a better long-term bet than the Springboks. The All Blacks have ample room for growth. The Springboks have reached their summit and surely can't sustain their position for another two years.
This is a golden era for the Boks and while we will hear from those within the squad reasons why it is only the beginning, it feels like it could be the beginning of the end.
After this campaign Frans Steyn will join Racing Metro in Paris and Jean de Villiers will head to Munster. Losing them will not be catastrophic for the Boks. It will disrupt them, though; begin the process of eroding the current side.
That's the danger for the Boks - bit by bit they will lose something and struggle to replace it. The balance of a side in peak flow is more precarious than one still climbing.
De Villiers has more than 50 test caps. When fit, he's the rock of the Springbok midfield - the constant to the variables in the No 10 and No 13 jerseys.
Steyn is the natural heir apparent to de Villiers but he's had enough of the whole pillar-to-post treatment and fancies a wad of cash and the bright lights of the Champs Elysees.
Once de Villiers and Steyn are gone, the Boks will have a problem jersey, something New Zealanders know all about having experienced extended dramas trying to find a centre over the years.
There are, however, much bigger icebergs drifting towards the Boks than those two departures.
The critical axis is formed by John Smit, Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha. These three have almost 250 caps between them. The two locks have played together more than 50 times - most of which have also been with Smit at hooker. Is it any wonder the Springbok lineout is so good, so polished, so precise?
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