Year of glory and shattered dreams....

This was the year dreams were made or shattered. And for South African supporters it was pure nirvana when the William Webb Ellis trophy was victoriously hoisted aloft by John Smit in Paris.

The Springboks' 15-6 win over the English was nothing to write home about as a spectacle, but the tactical battle and tension made the 2007 final something for rugby purist to soak up.

After the final whistle was sounded there was unbridled celebration all over southern tip of Africa when Jake White's outfit wrote a new chapter in Springbok lore, as his squad become only the second South African team to lift a World Cup after Francois Pienaar's Rainbow Warriors had done so in 1995.

White has said that the win was four years in the planning when he took over at the helm of the Boks in 2004.

Back then the Boks were sinking faster than the Titanic, after the disastrous 2003 campaign under Rudolf Straeuli when controversies like Kamp Staaldraad and Geogate wrecked the team's chances in Australia.

Assault

Four years later the Boks were ready to mount an assault and were not like lambs being lead to the slaughter.

White had identified a core group of players and stuck with them over his tenure.

Players like John Smit, Os du Randt, CJ van der Linde, Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha, Juan Smith, Schalk Burger, Fourie du Preez, Jacque Fourie, Bryan Habana and Percy Montgomery have played virtually every Test match in recent seasons.

While in-form players like Butch James, JP Pietersen, Frans Steyn and Danie Roussouw came into the World Cup reckoning after impressive Super 14 showings.

En route to the final the Boks beat Samoa, England, Tonga and US Eagles in the pool stages before being run close by an inspired Fiji side in the quarter-finals and then beating this World Cup's Cinderella story Argentina.

On the other end of the draw the English set about disposing of the Wallabies in a shock win and then proceeded to dump the hosts out of the tournament when they downed their old enemy, the French.

Probably the biggest upset of the competition had come in the quarters where the clinical All Blacks were sent home by the mercurial French.

With France having finished second to Argentina in their pool, the World Cup hosts had the embarrassing task of travelling to Cardiff for their playoff with the Kiwis.

And in true French fashion, when every scribe had penned their epitaph at the tourney, the Tri-Colours came back to stun the favourites and send the All Blacks out before the semis.

For New Zealanders there could have been nothing worse as their worlds have come crashing down after being consistently the best team over the past three years.

It's a sad reality, but in a World Cup it's the pressure of playing knockout football that triumphs and that's something that the Boks have mastered.

It will be interesting to see if the Boks retain similar structures and the same core group of players when the new national coach is appointed in the New Year.

With White choosing not to re-apply for his job and stepping aside, a successor is being sought.

Those in line for the post include incumbent Bok assistant Allister Coetzee, SA under-21 coach Pieter de Villiers, former Sevens coach Chester Williams and Blue Bulls supremo Heyneke Meyer.

The man tipped for the job is Meyer after he guided the Bulls to three Currie Cup and a Super 14 title.

There is no man with a better track record in the country and it would be hard for the SA Rugby bosses to ignore his credentials, after he assisted the Boks when Nick Mallet was coach in the late 1990s.

On the local front the Sharks have developed a squad capable of lifting the Super 14 title.

This year the coastal franchise fell at the final hurdle when they lost 20-19 to the Bulls in Durban after becoming the first South African side in the premier southern hemisphere to top the table at the end of the regular season and then host a final.

The Sharks were 60 seconds away from tasting victory when two failed touch kicks and some illegal play at a ruck, missed by the match officials, cost the local boys a win at the Absa Stadium.

Scorching

Instead it will be the memory of the scorching Habana scalding up the touchline before changing his direction and cutting a swathe through the Sharks cover defence to score near the uprights.

The conversion was a formality for Derrick Hougaard and the Bulls became the first SA side to win the Super 14.

Those forlorn memories have been cast to the back of the minds of the Sharks management, and Dick Muir has forged ahead with planning for next year's competition.

The Sharks have imposed a "local first" policy and will be relying on their incumbent stars along with a few youngsters, who came to the fore during the Currie Cup, and imports to mount their challenge.

The Sharks might have lost the services of Smit, James and Montgomery but with the likes of AJ Venter, Johan Muller, Brendon Botha, Odwa Ndungane and Adrian Jacobs around they certainly are not shorn of experience while Waylon Murray, Brad Barritt, Ruan Pienaar, Tendai "Beast" Mtawarira, Steven Sykes and Steyn are players that get better in every outing.