Jacques Nienaber gives Springboks' brutally honest six out of 10' for 2021

Springbok head coach Jacques Nienaber rated their international season as a six out of 10, despite a historic British & Irish Lions series victory at home last winter.

The Boks won a turgid series against the Europeans 2-1 that was marred by SA Rugby director of rugby Rassie Erasmus' controversial referee video, which ended in him copping a lengthy World Rugby ban.

On the field, the Boks dispatched Argentina twice at home in the Rugby Championship before being outclassed twice by Australia Down Under.

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Nienaber's men also traded blows with New Zealand, winning one and losing one against the old foe.

They could have finished the year with a clean sweep in the end-year tour were it not for a Marcus Smith-inspired England at Twickenham in their final Test of 2021.

"If I have to be brutally honest and give us a point out of 10, I'd probably give us a six," said Nienaber on SA Rugby's podcast.

"If you look at the 'achievables' we set out before the year started, the British & Irish Lions was a big focus for us. And defending the Rugby Championship was one of the things we set out for ourselves.

"I don't know when last we had an end-year tour when we didn't lose a match, so that was the objective.

"And the fourth objective was to see if we can't finish the year as world number one again after we started the year there.

"We ended up achieving half of [the targets]. Beating the Lions was big for us because of how big it is because it's something that happens once every 12 years.

"I thought we were up and down in the Rugby Championship, and then we narrowly lost out to England in the end-of-year tour.

"Somehow, we still ended number one in the world."

The Boks will host