It’s remarkable to track the progress of the Proteas over the past 12 months.

They were in that twilight zone between despair and desperation a year ago. Ranked seventh in the Test rankings, they were the easy-beats of the circuit. The coach, Russell Domingo, looked out of his depth and the players weren’t performing.

We weren’t to know it at the time, but the team needed settling. A raft of world class players had shuffled off and although new faces emerged, they were still new. With that newness came lingering uncertainty and doubt. The World Cup, too, crippled the team. Only in years to come, when time inspires perspective, will we know how damaging that grubby episode was.

But the storms have now passed. The team has found its voice under captain Faf du Plessis, whose happy-go-lucky demeanour disguises a man as ruthless as he is resilient. His fighting instinct has been latched onto by the team.

Others, too, have stepped up, like Kagiso Rabada and Dean Elgar, while Vernon Philander is simply magnificent, the man to go to war with.

None of this has occurred in a cocoon. Domingo identified new talent and encouraged a liberal attitude to the game. He wants his team to play with freedom and daring.

His imperturbable personality has also been key. Even when the pressure was white-hot, he played it cool. He never panicked or strayed from his mission. This is a rare talent for when the team is doubtful and looks inward.

The metamorphosis of the Proteas is instructive as a parallel to the hole the Springboks find themselves in. Surveying the rugby landscape, all the world is in thrall to Eddie Jones’ England and New Zealand continue to be the standard bearers for excellence. Ireland and even Argentina are beginning to flex their muscles.

The Springboks, by comparison, look spent, like the Proteas did a year ago. The international season was shambolic, reaching its nadir against Italy when the team’s failings were exploited by dogged competitors.

This came on top of unexpected recent losses to Japan, Ireland and Wales and a humbling record home defeat to the All Blacks.

The obvious question to ask is whether the decline is terminal. Perhaps the external pressures that attach themselves to the Springboks have become too much to bear. Coach Allister Coetzee has more to worry about than simply his game plan. It’s got to be hellish operating under the burden of a weak currency, political pressure and competing provincial interests.

His job won’t get any easier, but at least he now knows what he’s dealing with. He’ll have learned a whole lot in year one, not least how impossibly difficult the job is. He often looked like a rabbit in the headlights, but is unlikely to make the same mistakes twice. We hope.

He could do worse than seek Domingo out for a quiet beer. He finds himself exactly where his contemporary was a year ago, unloved and on the outer. The Proteas, like the Boks, lacked energy and drive.

Du Plessis’ unlikely appointment to the Proteas’ high table was a master stroke. He got them firing again.

Coetzee also needs to find himself a go-to captain, as Domingo did. Adriaan Strauss opting out last year was a damning statement, but it’s also true that he never looked entirely at ease. He’s a powerful figure, highly regarded in Pretoria especially, but the team never evidently gravitated towards him.

Given the need to energise the team, Coetzee must hand the captaincy to someone with youth and vigour and ability. Handre Pollard is the obvious call, for he is a man to build a team for the 2019 World Cup around. He’s a proven force internationally and he enjoys the respect of his teammates.

And Coetzee must set his stall out early. The Super Rugby coaches have to be brought on board and his planning has to kick in pre-season, unlike last year when he received a late call-up.

Of course the mood around the Boks is sour, but the Proteas have demonstrated the virtues of critical thinking and reinvention. The template is there. The Springboks must grasp it.

It’s time for that beer. – © Sunday Tribune