The Springboks have not won the Rugby Championship since 2009, back when it was the Tri-Nations. If they are to buck that trend, which players need to step up?
The Boks kick off their campaign against Argentina in Durban this Saturday, before heading to Mendoza for the return fixture on August 25.
South Africa will be looking for victories from both of those games, but they are the only side in the competition to have lost to Argentina at least twice, so it won't be easy going.
If they win those games they can make a challenge for the title - but which players need to make an impact in order for the Springboks are to make some waves in the 2018 Rugby Championship?
Malcolm Marx
Malcolm Marx is the best hooker in the world on current form, and if New Zealand's Dane Coles returns from injury in time to face the Springboks, the battle between the pair will be a titanic one.
Marx scored more tries than any other forward in Super Rugby this season, crossing the whitewash 12 times in 16 appearances. In fact, only Ben Lam, George Bridge and Taqele Naiyaravoro scored more tries than Marx in the southern hemisphere competition in 2018.
The Germiston-born forward had an 89.2% success rate in lineout in the same competition, while his 27 turnovers were bettered by only one player in Super Rugby - Lions team-mate Kwagga Smith with 31 steals.
The 24-year-old Marx missed England's tour of South Africa in June due to injury, so he will be eager to show Rassie Erasmus what he can do. In Marx's absence, Bongi Mbonambi proved invaluable against Eddie Jones' side, and there is still the matter of Bismarck du Plessis and Schalk Brits potentially waiting in the wings.
Marx's stand-out trait is his power, it's what allows him to break tackles and get over the ball effectively at the breakdown, and the Boks will be hoping he's at his barnstorming best in the Rugby Championship.
Siya Kolisi
Siya Kolisi has 31 Test caps to his name, and in June became the first ever black captain of the Springboks. It's a move that truly appears to have brought the South African squad closer together.
The appointment of Kolisi as skipper won Erasmus plenty of praise from the South African press, but the Bok coach shrugged it off, saying it was a selection of merit rather than one of political motivation.
The 27-year-old flanker is an integral figure within the Stormers camp, hugging his team-mates after running on the field ahead of every game, and he has taken that element of camaraderie into the Bok setup.
But it's not just his influence as a leader that makes him important to the team; he was sensational against France in the 2017 June series, and joined Duane Vermeulen in leading from the front against England in June.
He played openside flanker in that series, but it appears that Erasmus will be moving him to the blindside in the Rugby Championship, which will open the door to Bath's Francois Louw to play fetcher for the South Africans.
"I've always thought he was a stronger counter-rucker," said Erasmus of Kolisi. "With his lineout ability, he's an excellent option at blindside flank. It will be nice to build a back row around a player like Siya."
With Vermeulen missing the competition due to commitments in Japan, Kolisi's responsibilities will be increased over the next months, but recent history shows he won't struggle to meet them.
Willie le Roux
There were several good performances from South Africa's overseas players against England, with Vermeleun getting his side on the front foot and Faf de Klerk and Willie le Roux setting the attacking tempo. It was the first bit of international rugby that Le Roux had tasted since 2016, and he made sure not to let the opportunity pass him by.
Erasmus had handed debuts to S'Bu Nkosi and Aphiwe Dyantyi on the wings in the first Test, so Le Roux had a lot on his plate in terms of marshalling South Africa's threat out wide, but if you look at the stats, it was a job to which he's well suited.
Nobody set up more tries than Le Roux in the Premiership last season, putting his Wasps colleagues over the line 21 times - and the next best was Danny Care with 14. The 28-year-old was in the top five overall in terms of metres made (1229m), clean breaks (31) and offloads (22 - tied with Mike Brown which was fifth-best in the competition).
So in terms of someone who makes territory with the ball and gets the best out of the players around him without it, Le Roux is a perfect fit for South Africa's attack. Aside from putting other players into space, Le Roux also scored a crucial try against England in Johannesburg, the score which gave the Boks a half-time lead after trailing 24-3 earlier in the game.
Le Roux's impact is more fleet-footed than that of Marx and Kolisi, but he is equally important to South Africa's ambitions in the Rugby Championship this season.