New Zealand rugby to suffer more than the game in SA
t was perhaps apt that the resumption of the rugby rivalry between SA and New Zealand should coincide with this country’s admittedly sobering debut in the United Rugby Championship (URC).
Initially there was concern at the prospect of SA dropping the more regular contact with the Kiwi way of playing, but this past weekend confirmed the rethink on that subject that has been happening in my mind for some time. The reality is that it is probably going to be New Zealand more than SA that is going to suffer.
On the evidence of the Pro14 rugby I watched last season, and the quality of the Champions Cup, which the local teams are all now vying to be a part of next year, SA players and coaches should gain from being part of competitions that demand such adaptability and present the varied challenges that playing in the URC does.
Yes, the standard of New Zealand franchise rugby is high, and it is fast paced and exciting. But there are enough good Kiwi coaches coaching in Europe for the SA players to still experience what it is like to play against their high-tempo rugby. And there was certainly nothing lacking in the tempo provided by the likes of Leinster and Munster in their decimation of the Bulls and Sharks respectively on the opening weekend of the URC.
New Zealand regional rugby provides an entertaining product for television viewers, but it is much the same thing all the time. The Australians play similar rugby, only not as well as the Kiwis do. In Europe you get more of a cross-section of styles and templates, and more of what I have started to call real rugby.
Real rugby is what the All Blacks confronted for the first time in ages when they snuck to their fortunate win against the Boks in Townsville at the weekend. Let’s call it real Test rugby, as distinct from the type of rugby they play when Australia are their opponents.
There were probably many South Africans who wished their team ran the ball more. While it is true the Boks desperately need to evolve their game to a point where they do more with the ball they win back from contestable kicks, there is a good reason the Boks provide much more of a contest for the All Blacks these days than Australia do. They understand the folly of trying to play New Zealand at their own game.
Perhaps the Wallabies, who have an astute coach in former Waikato Chiefs mentor Dave Rennie, will start adjusting that soon too. They definitely made a U-turn in their playing style when they played and beat the
Boks over successive weekends. They kicked 28 times in the Brisbane game and they made fewer than 70 passes. That is light years from the usual Wallaby approach, and yet they won comfortably against the world champions. As Bok coach Jacques Nienaber put it: “They beat us at our own game.”
But what Australia don’t have is the physicality of the Bok game, and it was that physicality that forced the All Blacks out of their comfort zone at the weekend. There were a lot of people saying after Townsville that the All Blacks were off their game because of the high number of balls they spilt in contact.
Yet that is often the case when they play the Boks. The passes that stick against the Aussies don’t stick against the Boks because of the pressure placed upon them and it is just a different sort of rugby they end up facing.
In that regard, it was interesting to note the change in tune of All Black coach Ian Foster. When the Boks beat the British & Irish Lions, he described the Bok playing style as boring. After Townsville he changed that opinion to “ruthless”. Which is about right.
England were also ruthless when they destroyed New Zealand in the 2019 World Cup semifinal, and this is really my point when I say that the Kiwis might get hurt by having less exposure to SA rugby. Particularly if, as we understand is going to happen, the Boks leave the Championship to join what would become the Seven Nations.
Playing only among themselves or against weak Australian opposition at franchise level isn’t going to help New Zealand rugby, and the All Blacks aren’t going to be helped in their readiness to play the real Test rugby they need to play to beat the likes of England by having less contact with the Boks.
With the exception of the Lions, the local teams all had harrowing wake-up calls in their first games in the URC. But there is no denying the quality of the opposition they faced and as they get more used to the different challenges, they will adapt, learn and grow. The Kiwi players, exposed to styles of just two countries as opposed to the multiple nations and styles you get in the URC and Champions Cup, won’t have the same level of growth opportunity.