With 14 days to go until the launch of the 2023 Rugby World Cup, SARugbymag.co.za looks at the greatest right wings to wear the green and gold at the tournament.
JP Pietersen
Arguably the greatest right winger to play for the Springboks, JP Pietersen enjoyed a fruitful decade-long Test career.
Having made his Test debut in 2006, Pietersen was selected for the 2007 World Cup at the tender age of 21, but made his impact felt in France, scoring four tries, including a brace in the memorable 36-0 win over England in the pool stages. Two years later, Pietersen added Lions Series and Tri-Nations winners medals to his collection.
Pietersen played the last of his 70 Test matches in 2016, finishing his Springbok career with 24 tries.
Cheslin Kolbe
The man who forever changed the perception of diminutive wingers in Test rugby. It took a move away from the Western Cape to France for Cheslin Kolbe to get his opportunity with the Springboks, but once he made his Test debut in 2018, there was no going back.
In his first Test start, Kolbe scored an intercept try to help the Bok stun the All Blacks in Wellington and he would establish himself as the ultimate big-game, big-moment player in the Rassie Erasmus era. Even though he has played just 25 Tests for the Springboks, he already has a World Cup, Rugby Championship and Lions Series win to his name.
Breyton Paulse
The original ‘Pocket Rocket’, Breyton Paulse laid the path for the likes of Gio Aplon and Cheslin Kolbe with electrifying performances on the right wing. In his debut international season in 1999, Paulse helped the Springboks claim a World Cup bronze.
When the backflipping speedster hung up his boots just before the 2007 World Cup, he had won 64 Test caps and scored 26 tries.
James Small
The ultimate larger-than-life player, James Small was a prolific try scorer, but was perhaps better known for being South African rugby’s first superstar. Tales of Small’s heroic defence opposite giant winger Jonah Lomu in the 1995 World Cup final continue to this day and he would remain a key player for the Springboks until his final Test in 1997.