2009, South Africa's Springboks Year

With one game remaining in the year, 2009 has been a great year for South African rugby, in particularly, the Springboks.

The Super14 earlier in the year, seemed like it was going to be a race between two South African teams, but the early pace setters, the Sharks, faded towards the end of the competition, and the team from Durban failed to make the play offs.

The Bulls, however, were their usual dangerous selves.

Boasting the world's best players in ever position, it was going to be difficult to stop the men from Pretoria. Not even seven–time champions, the Crusaders could stop them in their semi final in South Africa's capital.

With a majority of the Bulls in the Bok squad, it seemed as though they would just carry on their beatings at the international level.

Ahead of a British and Irish Lions tour, a British journalist asked Victor Matfield, Bulls captain and Springbok vice captain: "Can you get any better? Tell me you can't get any better."

He didn't like the response from the big lock. And neither did the Lions. The first test was a described as an unbeliavable test match. The young Tendai Beast Mtawarira proved a handful for the experienced veteran Phil Vickery, and the England prop, capped 73 times by England, was taken off the field early on.

The Boks won 26-21.

The second game was a much tighter affair, with the boot of Morne Steyn winning the game, and the series, with a drop goal late in the game.

The game was to be marred by controversy as Bakkies Botha and Schalk Burger were handed suspensions.

The Lions however, won the third test as some of South Africa's more established players were not available.

Then it was time for the Tri Nations. New Zealand, as usual, was the favorite as they'd won it for four consecutive years, and were seeking a fifth straight win.

The Boks however, had other things in mind, and beat everyone and everything in sight. They became the first team in history to record three consecutive wins against the All Blacks.

The title was won in Hamilton, which left the last game between Australia and New Zealand nothing but a game about pride.

The end of year tour was much different. This Bok side left South African shores rated as the greatest national rugby team ever, and unbeatable. But the first test was lost to the French, a side South Africa has not beaten in France since 1997. The game was a classic  close encounter between two top sides, the only two teams to have beaten New Zealand this year.

But, the game will probably not be remembered for the rugby.

Rather, for the highly intoxicated Rastafarian man who sang the South African national anthem before the game. A rendition of Nkosi Sikelela iAfrika that was deemed embarrassing, and played a part in the performance of the Boks.

The South African flag had also been flown upside down, which has left others to believe that the French intended to intimidate the World champions before the game had even started.

The following week, the Boks beat the Nick Mallet coached Italians, and are now all that awaits are the Irish at Croke Park in Dublin.

It's been a great year for the Springboks. Not only have they reminded everyone why they're the World Champions, they've silenced a lot of critics, and proved to the world that South Africa is the home of rugby.