Beware of Boks with self-belief
There was a general feeling that I had completely lost my marbles after I wrote last week that beating the All Blacks in Wellington shouldn’t be seen as mission impossible for the Springboks.
With New Zealand having only lost once in 52 home test matches since 2009, how was it possible I could remotely think that this Springboks team could beat the All Blacks?
Ahead of the test, it was the No 1-ranked side in the world against No 7.
However, having worked with the Springboks during last year’s Rugby Championship campaign, I knew the players would be quietly confident after the one-point defeat at Newlands.
After talking to the boys in the dressing room after the Cape Town test, there was a distinct feeling that we were better than the All Blacks on the day.
Although the result didn’t swing in our favour, the performance gave the players the belief they could beat the All Blacks in the near future. I saw something in the players’ eyes at Newlands, which told me that the possibility of defeating the All Blacks in Wellington wasn’t a thumb suck.
As a professional coach, when you try to motivate a team ahead of a match, you deliver your best speeches and illustrate your points via video analysis.
However, no amount of coachspeak can create belief among a player group.
The trick is in fact when the players themselves feel it on the field and have tangible results to back up their inner-belief.
As Handre Pollard said postmatch, relief has now turned into belief. There is genuine belief and a sense of confidence among the Springboks players that they can defeat the All Blacks, who aren’t invincible.
The reason why it’s generally so difficult to beat the All Blacks is because their conversion rate – the ability to turn field position and line breaks into points – is the highest in the world.
However, it was the perfect storm for the Springboks as they matched the All Blacks in terms of the physical stakes, their defence was heroic – they made 235 tackles – and the home side was unusually profligate.
You just have to look at how many times the All Blacks got scrum field position in the Springbok 22 and struggled to convert.
As a case in point, when Willie le Roux was off the field having been sinbinned, New Zealand had a scrum five metres from South Africa’s line and failed to convert said opportunity, which is very unlike Steve Hansen’s team.
The All Blacks are still a better side than the Springboks because their players boast far more test caps and experience than their South African counterparts. However, the one thing you can now never take away from the Boks is the belief that every time they take to the field against the All Blacks, they can come out on the right side of the scoreboard.
The All Blacks really respect the Springboks because they understand rugby and know there is immense potential within South Africa.
The rivalry between the two countries may have been one-sided in recent times, but the fact the All Blacks selected their best team in Wellington – making nine personnel changes from the Pumas test – shows that the All Blacks believe the Springboks remain a power in world rugby.
The All Blacks rate the Springboks, and the latter must start believing in their own abilities because they are actually a good rugby side that just needs to grow.
The men in green and gold are not yet the finished product, but it was an unbelievable effort and result on Saturday.
After beating the All Blacks in their own backyard, the Springboks cannot afford to let this wonderful opportunity slip.
Wellington could prove to be the turning point for the Rassie Erasmus coaching tenure, but it has to be utilised optimally.
Confidence is a brittle commodity and Erasmus can no longer afford to mess with the confidence of the players by chopping and changing the side.
It’s important that he now builds on this breakthrough by way of consistency in selection.
* South African Brendan Venter is a 1995 Rugby World Cup winner and a former assistant coach of the Springboks.