All Blacks are hardly special anymore, says former Bok coach

Never shy of airing controversial views, former Springbok centre and assistant coach Brendan Venter is at it again.

In his regular column for Stuff.co.nz, the 1995 World Cup winner boldly states that “nothing is exceptional anymore with the All Blacks”.

It has indeed been a week of soul searching for world rugby’s No 1 ranked team after they lost 9-16 to Ireland last weekend as question marks abound over their continued dominance.

And while they’ve only lost twice in 2018 to date – the Springboks memorably beat them earlier this year in Wellington – Venter provides a pretty decent argument for pondering whether they’re losing their aura.

“Having suffered their second defeat of 2018, some are saying that the All Blacks have lost their shine. Their argument is that teams now believe that they can beat the men in black having seen South Africa and Ireland do so,” he wrote.

“There is no way you can examine the All Blacks’ current lapse of form and debate it away. Over the last six months, the All Blacks have definitely stuttered.”

He continued: “Whenever I coached against and analysed the All Blacks, you couldn’t put your finger on what they do but the bottom line was that they just did everything better than everybody else. What has happened now is that they are not doing everything better – all departments are a bit off – and in the process they have become like any other team.”

Yet Venter also issues a stark warning to the All Blacks’ opponents, especially since Steve Hansen’s troops have a reputation of learning from their lessons better than most.

“When they rediscover their mojo they will be tough to beat,” he wrote.

“Some will suggest that the All Blacks’ aura of invincibility is gone but I believe the bad news for the rest of the world is that the All Blacks will come back stronger from the setbacks they have endured.”

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