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.
