Springboks have ABS’ number
Some people will focus purely on the result and brush aside the magnificent Springboks performance in Pretoria.
For me, it was the best Springboks showing in the last five years. The All Blacks were ready for the Boks after Wellington, they were well prepared and yet for 70 minutes, I have never witnessed the All Blacks as comprehensively outplayed as they were.
In a complete role reversal from Wellington, the Springboks enjoyed the lion’s share of possession and territory and dominated in every single area. I had never before seen the All Blacks dominated by any team as much as they were against the Springboks at Loftus. I hadn’t witnessed the All Blacks look that average in my life.
It’s a credit to the Boks because you make another team look average. When the All Blacks carried the ball they made limited progress and, for most of the match, appeared devoid of ideas on offence. In contrast, when the Boks carried they made metres and their attack was penetrative. They made 165 more metres than the visitors and beat 11 more defenders.
However, instead of playing multiphase rugby the Bok strategy was to kick the ball into the corners. The chips and grubbers from Faf de Klerk, Handre Pollard and Willie le Roux throughout the match weren’t actually exits; they were semi-attacking kicks. South Africa kicked the ball on the All Blacks’ 10-metre line, with the whole plan being to change direction.
Traditionally, the All Blacks win the old-fashioned way. They dominate the territorial stakes, put your lineout under pressure and capitalise on your mistakes.
However, in Pretoria, they could neither boss the opposition lineout nor gain territorial ascendancy. Historically, the All Blacks contest lineout ball and get a high percentage of it back. However, this time they didn’t.
They missed Brodie Retallick because he is an amazing lineout exponent. However, they still had quality individuals Kieran Read, Sam Whitelock and Scott Barrett.
But for the majority of the test, the men in black couldn’t get their hands on the ball in the right areas because the Boks were brilliant from a tactical perspective.
However, the reality is the All Blacks won and the question is, was it a case of the Springboks choking, the All Blacks’ amazing fightback ability or was it maybe just as simple as poor substitutions from Boks coach Rassie Erasmus?
I’m sure Erasmus will acknowledge the substitutions he made were not well thought out. In the final 10 minutes of the match, the Springboks made five substitutions compared to the All Blacks’ one permanent switch.
In the 73rd minute, Embrose Papier replaced de Klerk, Bongi Mbonambi swapped with Malcolm Marx and Tendai Mtawarira came on for Steven Kitshoff with six minutes to play.
It has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of the players that came on and is instead down to the fact it’s nigh impossible to come on and make a difference straight away.
Rugby is a game of flow and feel and in the first five minutes, as a starter or reserve, it’s difficult to catch your breath. Thereafter, you are able to get into the game and play well. In my opinion, Erasmus should have brought the aforementioned playing personnel on with 20 minutes remaining in the test because they would then have made an impact like modern-day finishers are supposed to.
While the men in green and gold ultimately came up short on the scoreboard, having beaten the All Blacks in Wellington and dominated the topranked team in Cape Town and Pretoria, one could argue that South Africa have stumbled on a way to beat New Zealand.
When the Boks overcame the All Blacks three times in a row in 2009, the All Blacks went out and purposely changed the way their wings played. They selected fullbacks in the wing berths and made an art form of the aerial contest.
As much as other teams will now study how to beat the six-time Rugby Championship winners, the All Blacks will go away and examine what South Africa did.
The All Blacks possess an exceptionally good coaching staff and they will be looking at how to address the chinks in their armour to stay ahead. The All Black coaches will say: ‘‘How do we get our hands on the ball in the right areas? What happened and why did we allow the South Africans to win the territorial game so comprehensively?’’
The big thing about the most recent Springboks performance against the All Blacks is that the rest of the rugby world will look at it and take hope. For such a long period of time, the All Blacks were far ahead of the chasing pack, but I cannot stress enough how crucial belief is within a sporting context.
Now it’s not a fluke anymore. After the Newlands test, you could argue it was a one-off and that the belief from Cape Town carried the Springboks in Wellington. However, it’s now three consecutive matches in which the Boks have gone toeto-toe with the All Blacks and that will engender a tremendous amount of belief. Forget the result in Pretoria and the All Blacks’ bounce-back ability for a moment, for a long time South Africa had New Zealand’s number tactically and physically at Loftus.