As Victor Matfield would repeatedly say during his days of captaining the Springboks, in order to beat the All Blacks or win any rugby match for that matter, the important thing is for a team to have a game plan – but more importantly, that game plan must be executed to perfection.
Rassie Erasmus and his coaching staff had, and did both, a plan and execution when they pulled off that famous win against the ‘old foe’ in their own backyard a few weeks back.
The Boks based their game plan on defence, neutralising the All Blacks’ ruthless counter-attacking and running play.
The stats said it all, 226 tackles made by the Boks compared to New Zealand’s 46, and 25 per cent possession for the Springboks compared to the All Blacks’ 75 per cent.
That mattered little at the end of the day of course as the men in green and gold triumphed in the most important stat: New Zealand 34-36 South Africa.
My biggest take away from that humdinger in Wellington is the Boks had possibly broken that mental inferior complex they’ve had whenever the opponent was dressed in all black, having last beaten them in 2014.
Which takes me back to my main point.
With the monkey off their backs coupled with renewed belief and home ground advantage, the Springboks can complete the whitewash with similar tactics deployed in Wellington – but with more possession on attack.
I can’t fault the Boks on attack despite the defence being the standout key because they did take every scoring opportunity on offer with five tries. But testing the All Blacks’ defence more is important because it just serves to improve the South Africans’ chances to victory.
More possession will also mean less energy exerted, compared to tackling anyway. Making tackles in access of 100 are simply not sustainable.
My other takeaway from the reverse fixture is that although the All Blacks’ weakness of not having a plan B when their attacking style doesn’t yield their desired outcome as it so always does, their other weaknesses were not exposed enough – and the only way to find their other weaknesses is by putting them under pressure and have them defend more.
Let me take nothing away from the Boks as they reminded the world they’re the only nation that can defeat the All Blacks in New Zealand.
And they are certainly the only side capable of whitewashing the Kiwis in a season. They can do it again. Like the Adidas slogan goes, impossible is nothing. –
Follow us:
For more #hyperlocal news at your fingertips, visit Benoni City Times, Springs Advertiser, Brakpan Herald, African Reporter and Kathorus Mail.
