Top 100 Men's Players: Bok stars fall short of Top 10 ranking
SPOTLIGHT: Two Springboks have been included in RugbyPass’s latest batch of their Top 100 men’s players in 2025.
Cheslin Kolbe and Ox Nche, arguably two of the best in the world, come in at 13th and 11th, respectively.
It says something about the qualities of a player that even in a non-vintage year, he warrants a place in World Rugby’s Dream Team. Kolbe, the man with nitroglycerine in his boots, remains one of the sport’s great force multipliers: a showstopper who can turn static ball into a line break, pressure into points, and mismatches into mayhem.
Even when opponents think they’ve contained him, he slips through fractures that didn’t seem to exist a moment earlier. He adds value without the ball too, making sharp defensive reads and showing aggression when chasing high balls, belying a frame that should not be able to do the things he routinely does. DG
No prop had ever been nominated for World Player of the Year before Nché’s name was rightly included on this year’s shortlist.
And even though Nche only played 434 minutes of rugby – a mere 36% of the Springboks’ time on the pitch – his recognition as one of the sport’s most influential figures barely raised an eyebrow.
What Nché gives South Africa in those minutes is extraordinary: unrivalled scrum dominance, explosive carrying, and an almost mischievous sense for momentum-shifting interventions.
He doesn’t simply win scrums – he dials up the emotional temperature of games, bending contests towards the Springboks the moment he crouches down.
See the ranking from 20-11 below:
* You can now view the list and the explanations, as Rugbypass gradually releases more players: Top 100 Men’s Rugby Players 2025.
20 Will Jordan
19 Dan Sheehan
18 Caelan Doris
17 Jordi Barrett
16 Jamison Gibson-Park
15 Damian Penaud
14 Tadhg Beirne
13 Cheslin Koble
12 Maro Itoje
11 Ox Nche
