Rugby

Rewind and watch: How the Boks’ rush defence rattled All Blacks

It is a nearly a week since the Springboks beat the All Blacks 12-11 in the World Cup final in Paris last Saturday to claim a fourth title and still pundits and commentators are analysing how the Boks got the job done against arguably the world’s most attacking team.

The Citizen columnist Johan Ackermann wrote regularly during the tournament that no team would be able to deal with the Boks’ intensity over the 80 minutes, thanks mainly to their strong bench and their powerful rush defence.

‘Pressure’

Now former Irish international and now pundit Bernard Jackman has shown in a two minutes, 58 second clip just how potent the Boks’ defensive system is and how they rattled the All Blacks at every opportunity and from every phase of play during last Sunday’s final.

Head coach Jacques Nienaber, a specialist in defence, was the mastermind behind the Boks’ system.

“The All Blacks had no handling errors against Ireland (in their quarter-final win), but they had seven or eight (against the Boks) in this game … that’s not by chance, and it’s not down to the weather, but the pressure,” says Jackman in his analysis.

Jackman calls Pieter-Steph du Toit’s performance, which included 28 tackles in the match “phenomenal” and he adds “it’s phenomenal how they (the Bok players) throw themselves into tackles, but in a safe manner.”