Andrew Austin: This is a golden age of Springbok rugby

Springbok coach Pieter de Villiers' problem is who to leave out. Photo / Getty Images

What Graham Henry would give to have Springbok coach Pieter de Villiers' selection headaches.

The Boks may have won two Rugby World Cups, but history would suggest that the last time South Africa had this much talent was in the early 1980s.

Those were the days of exciting runners like Danie Gerber and the Du Plessis brothers, Carel and Michael.

The forwards were not too shabby either, with Schalk Burger snr and Hennie Bekker (the fathers of Stormers' stars Schalk and Andries) and talented opensider Rob Louw.

The big problem with that team was that it did not play much thanks to apartheid.

De Villiers' team has plenty of opportunity to play, but the burning question is who does he leave out.

In the early 2000s the ball-handling skills of South African rugby players were embarrassingly far behind their Australian and New Zealand counterparts.

It was a sensitive subject in the republic, with former Springbok coach Nick Mallett getting lambasted for daring to suggest this.

How things have changed. Now South Africa sits in a remarkably similar position to New Zealand in the late 1990s, before the Northern Hemisphere drain began.

There are simply players to burn. An interesting exercise is to look at the really talented players who will probably not play for the Springboks this season.

Take the Stormers' No 8 Dwayne Vermeulen. In any other era a big, strong hardrunning loose forward like him would be a dead cert for the Boks.

Unfortunately for Vermeulen, looming large ahead of him is the athletic, rangy figure of Sharks No 8 Ryan Kankowski, who himself cannot hold down a regular Bok spot because the freakish Pierre Spies has made that position his own.

Another No 8, Joe van Niekerk, is getting huge praise in France where he is playing for Toulon, but apart from this one-off test against Wales next month, he probably won't feature when the Bulls and Stormers players return to the test team.

Shaun Sowerby, who has just won the Heineken Cup final with Toulouse, is another one just not in the frame, even though he probably would have played 80 tests for France by now if he had not played one test for the Springboks many seasons ago.

The list is endless. Saracens hooker Schalk Brits has been consistently one of the best players in the English premiership, but he would be the fifth choice Springbok rake at best, even with Bismarck du Plessis injured.

Halfback is another area brimming with talent. Michael Claassens, who is a star for Bath, does not even warrant a glance by the Springbok selectors - he is simply not good enough. Also why bother with a journeyman when you have Fourie du Preez, who is arguably as close to the perfect halfback.

Don't even get me started on lock. Victor Matfield is without peer. Or is he? The aforementioned Andries Bekker, who is the tallest ever Springbok at 2.08m in his socks, could overtake Matfield as the top Springbok lock at next year's World Cup.

But how did this sudden explosion of talent happen. As the saying goes, it took 10 years to become an overnight success. Well, South African rugby players took 10 years to suddenly become skilful.

The key is probably the Super 14 and Tri-Nations battles against Australian and New Zealand players.

It is also no surprise that this depth of talent comes at a time when the top two teams are the Stormers and the Bulls, who meet on Sunday in the Super 14 final in Soweto.

As the wily old Doc Danie Craven used to say: "If Western Province [the Stormers] and Northern Transvaal [the Bulls] are strong, then South African rugby is strong."

Whoever wins this Saturday (probably the Bulls), it is now up to de Villiers and the Springbok management to use the talent at their disposal wisely and build steadily towards next year's World Cup.

As things stand Rugby World Cup 2011 is the Springboks to lose, so don't bet against them becoming the first team to win back-to-back World Cups.

* Andrew Austin is the Herald's chief reporter and a South Africa-born Springbok fan