A nail-biting finish saw Herschel Jantjies pip Tonderai Chavhanga in the second round of this poll series, but did he have a better Springbok debut than Schalk Burger?
Jantjies eased past Habana in the first round, before sneaking past Chavhanga by the barest of margins in round 2.
His next opponent, a two-time South African Rugby Player of the Year with 86 Bok caps and a World Cup medal, Schalk Burger’s Springbok career started brightly.
Making his bow against Georgia in the 2003 Rugby World Cup, Burger came off the bench to replace Joe van Niekerk with the South Africans leading 36-19. Burger wasted no time getting stuck in, putting in a big hit on Georgia’s No 5 lock that turned into a scuffle after.
READ: Boks lock in fixtures for 2023
Burger went on to make plenty of powerful runs in the game, proving difficult to bring down as he ran over his opponents, but his crowning moment came in the final moment of the match.
Five metres from the Georgian try-line, Burger broke off the back of a steady scrum and burst his way over for the score as hapless defenders tried to stop him, sealing a 46-19 victory for the Boks.
Jantjies started his Bok career in the best way possible: two tries on debut against Australia in the first round of the 2019 Rugby Championship.
READ: Etzebeth named SA Rugby’s best of 2022
The Stormers scrumhalf scored his first Bok try after a flying Sbu Nkosi spotted him on the inside and unselfishly fed the ball to the debutant to go in under the posts.
Jantjies was also pivotal in the lead-up to Lood de Jager’s try, as he brilliantly collected a chip-kick from Pieter-Steph du Toit to go a metre short of the line, but he wasn’t denied later on as he darted round the back of a ruck to score his second.
Photo: Twitter/@Springboks