'I had honest chats with the coaching staff about my physicality and my defence'

Star full-back Aphelele Fassi tells Harry Latham-Coyle how he fought his way back into the Springboks side this year

- Harry Latham-Coyle

Even in a year that has contained so many Springboks success stories, one tale stands out. At the start of 2024, few would have forecast that Aphelele Fassi would have figured quite so prominently in South Africa's evolution. Yet come the close of a season in which the full-back went undefeated at international level, Fassi has a place of relative permanence in the Springboks backfield.

Talk about seizing one’s opportunity. It looked for a time as if Fassi would be a case of unfulfilled potential, his first taste of Test level in 2021 brief. Nearly three years out of the side followed as injuries struck, with Fassi only able to watch on as Rassie Erasmus’s side built in his absence to another glorious World Cup crescendo. But good things come to those who wait.

“It was quite a surprise when I got back,” Fassi admits as he reflects on his return. “I’ve tried to enjoy each and every moment while I’m with the back-to-back champions. I want to learn from them.”

An international recall only came about thanks to some tough conversations that left Fassi questioning if he was cut out for the highest level. In his first stint with the Springboks, Fassi lacked the defensive and controlling qualities that South Africa demand of their full-backs; a free electron outside of the strong nucleus driving their dominance. Physically, he was found wanting, too. “He took a little bit of a beating,” Erasmus remembered recently of the young full-back’s bruising first spell in the side.