Stronger performance:
• New Zealand’s victory testament to their ruthless ability to make the most of their chances
Sonny Bill Williams of New Zealand and Springbok captain Eben Etzebeth during the Rugby Championship 2017 match at DHL Newlands on Saturday in Cape Town. SA lost 24-25.
The Springboks did not win the match, but they won back hearts and minds with a colossal performance that took the All Blacks to the brink at Newlands on Saturday in one of the best Tests yet between the sides.
New Zealand’s 25-24 win was testament to their ruthless ability to make the most of their chances after individual Bok errors. In a game of minuscule margins, the All Blacks were that little bit more clinical.
Over 90 minutes (the first half ran to 50 minutes) the Boks were the better team. But New Zealand were good enough to hang in when they had to and pounce when the right moment arose as they beat the Boks for a 57th time in their 95th meeting.
It also gave the All Blacks a 100% winning record in the tournament for a second successive year and took their tally to 30 wins in 33 Rugby Championship matches with only two losses and a draw.
Despite the result, SA’s sixth consecutive loss against New Zealand, the word “rivalry” has been restored to the lexicon of contests between the two nations after the Boks lost 57-0 in Albany three weeks earlier.
The performance also gave a kernel of hope that perhaps something special is brewing in this Springbok squad.
The next challenge is finding consistency and matching this type of ferociously focused performance every time they take the field — a la the All Blacks. SA need to prove that this was not a once-off accomplishment, but rather the start of a trend.
The pack was brilliant, with hooker Malcolm Marx giving one of the finest individual performances by a Bok player yet. Loosehead Steven Kitshoff and captain Eben Etzebeth were not far behind, while flank PieterSteph du Toit, playing out of position, justified his selection.
The Lions hooker made four turnovers and 11 tackles as well as 14 ball carries. At times it felt as if there were three Marxes out there.
“They were quite brutal at that breakdown. I think Malcolm Marx made about 10 turnovers,” All Black hooker Dane Coles said with understandable hyperbole. “He played bloody well tonight. His lineout was good and he got some good carries and a lot of turnovers. He’s got a big future in the game.”
Kitshoff, who had a huge game himself in his first start after 18 appearances as a substitute, could not praise Marx enough. “Malcolm is my boytjie,” Kitshoff said. “He’s one of my good friends in the team and I’m really proud of him.
“He’s been playing 80 minutes for a couple of games in a row now and he’s absolutely a beast when it comes to the breakdown, carrying and defensive work. He’s going to have a long Springbok career.”
This performance was so many notches up on the Boks’ last outing against the All Blacks, it is hard to believe it was the same team.
“The difference was that they got go-forward over the gainline, and put us under pressure with big bodies coming at us,” All Black skipper Kieran Read said.
“They really kept coming, they’re a quality side when they get momentum and it’s hard to stem the tide when they get on a roll. We lacked a bit of intensity, while the Boks showed a lot, and that was probably the difference,” Read said.
Bok coach Allister Coetzee reiterated after the game that the 57-0 loss in Albany did not define his team. But by the same measure, the huge Newlands performance should also be seen as an outlier on the opposite end of the Bok spectrum.
Just as one abject performance does not define his team, neither should one excellent outing. The true measure of the Boks lies somewhere in between the two performances against the All Blacks this season. While this match is a superb example of what Coetzee’s team are capable of doing, they still lost a home match.
The All Blacks won after a punishing travel schedule while playing without key players such as lock Brodie Retallick, fullback Ben Smith, wing Israel Dagg and props Joe Moody and Owen Franks.
They also lost influential flyhalf Beauden Barrett and wing Nehe Milner-Skudder to injury in the first half.
Just for one magnificent afternoon, modern rugby’s global audience was treated to a throwback of the glory of a Springboks versus All Blacks Test in SA.
The occasion was special. It was the last time the All Blacks played the Springboks at Newlands, a ground steeped in history, although the old lady, as a spectator experience, is a spent force.
Not so the Springboks and South African rugby.
This was a Test that will be spoken about for a long time.
It was one that got away from the Springboks but don’t dismiss just how good these All Blacks are. You don’t lose just one in the last 30 Tests to Australia and SA if you don't know how to win ugly.
The All Blacks, in Cape Town, did it the hard way against a team whose forwards could not have produced a more powerful collective effort. Unfortunately the Bok backs, as a unit and individually, were not in the class of the forwards.
It’s a shame because the Boks were deserving of getting one more point.
Instead, history will record yet another Springbok defeat against the men in black; the 11th in the last 12 meetings, the sixth in succession and the fifth in the last six Tests in SA.
Somehow, Saturday’s onepointer was very different. There is seldom celebration in defeat but there was every reason to shout with joy about the manner in which the Springboks fronted the All Blacks after the 57-0 mauling in Albany.
All Blacks captain Kieran Read conceded his team lacked the necessary intensity at the start of the game but the World champions, Bledisloe Cup holders and 2017 Rugby Championship winners found the intensity and defensive resolve to repel the Boks’ last two minutes of attack to force a turnover to claim the win.
The match has been described all over the world as one of the game’s great Tests. And how world rugby’s most celebrated international rivalry needed something out of the ordinary to convince the doubters that there is still significance to a Springboks versus All Blacks Test.
On the evidence of the 90 minutes played at Newlands, there is again hope for the Springboks, and hope for the All Blacks that they have a traditional foe that can push them to the limit.
The All Blacks, to keep on improving, need SA, by way of just one example, to be strong.
It was interesting reading all the New Zealand reaction. The country’s rugby commentators were probably even more delighted with the Springboks’ display than the most patriotic South African.
New Zealand wants SA to be a force, just as much as most South African rugby supporters want the All Blacks to be vulnerable.
There is such rugby respect between the All Blacks and Springboks, but for this generation of New Zealand player, it needed an experience of why and not just a story from yesteryear. Those All Blacks who were at the coalface at Newlands now have their own story of what makes it so different, dramatic and delightful to beat a supercharged Springbok team in the Republic.
“Special night with the brothers in Cape Town. A Test we won’t forget for a long time. Respect to the Springboks and our South African fans,” tweeted All Blacks midfielder Sonny Bill Williams on social media.
Mark Reason, a veteran English rugby journalist now living in New Zealand, wrote: “Just to hear the stands of Newlands echoing with the roars of men long dead was enough to put a song in any rugby man’s heart. The All Blacks need SA to be great again and, just for one glorious day, the Boks were back.”
The Springboks were indeed back and present, with captain Eben Etzebeth and hooker Malcolm Marx never having played with such excellence and impact. Marx produced the most complete performance from a hooker I’ve written about in the past 28 years.
There was so much emotion and desperation in this Springboks performance — and rightly so from a team wanting respect from their supporters and opponents who are the best team in the world.
Respect is what the Springboks got post the final whistle, but they still didn’t get the result. For all the purple prose written and spoken of the Springboks’ response at Newlands to that awful night in Albany, defiance in defeat is to be respected and not revered.
If the Springboks were colossal in getting 24 points, what does that say about the quality of the team that left Newlands with 25 points?
All South Africans should delight in the Springboks’ display but equally demand that days like Saturday are not oneoff occasions borne out of desperation every five years.