Kiwis fancy the Highveld

Test matches living up to the romantic ideal of free-running, fast-flowing rugby are few and far between these days, but All Blacks captain Kieran Read (above) reckons today’s clash with the Springboks at Loftus Versfeld could provide just that sort of spectacle.

Past encounters between the sides on the Highveld support his notion. The last time the two sides met in Pretoria, back in 2006, the All Blacks won 45-26. Since then, it has only been the game the next weekend in Rustenburg that has been a cagey affair, the Springboks edging home 21-20. The winning team on the Highveld has scored at least 27 points in every meeting thereafter, many of them pulsating affairs.

“Both teams have shown a willingness to attack and although it’s been a few years since we’ve played at altitude, it always seems to be a pretty ding-dong battle and this Test match is building nicely to be the same. Both defences will have improved from Wellington, they leaked 34 points and we conceded 36, so that was a pretty open game. The Boks will certainly be better and we’ll have to find more ways to break them down,” Read said yesterday.

The All Blacks have certainly shown a preference for the hard and fast conditions that occur on the Highveld. Being the best-conditioned team in the world, they are also able to cope better than all other visitors with altitude and have usually upped the tempo in the final quarter to pull clear in the tight matches.

The Springboks will have to find a way to slow them down, whether through in-your-face defending or by denying them quick ball at the rucks, which is where Francois Louw’s selection at No 8 has raised some eyebrows in the visitors’ camp.

“With loose trios there are always slightly different variables, but Louw is a traditional fetcher, he gets over the ball, he’s physical and a nuisance at the breakdown. But if we can win more gain-lines then we can negate that effect.

“Altitude is a factor for both teams, but we’ve acclimatised through the week and we just have to push through,” Read, New Zealand’s most-capped No 8, said.

The Boks will certainly be better and we’ll have to find more ways to break them down.

Kieran Read