Springboks have ABs’ number
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.