All Blacks happy to leave midweek games behind as pivotal Soweto Test beckons

The All Blacks won’t be second-guessing their “optimistic” blueprint as the Greatest Rivalry Test series charges onward into its third week, despite the team falling short in Cape Town.

The Springboks chipped away at the scoreboard throughout the Test, scoring points in all three quarters of the match while New Zealand struggled to find a footing to begin both halves.

Falling behind by seven points early was a quick blow for the visitors as Jesse Kriel crashed over. The powerful outside centre exploited a half-gap in the defence in just the first minute, a fault Springbok captain Siya Kolisi would also expose in the 37th minute for his try.

All Blacks forwards coach Jason Ryan described his side’s early woes as “disappointing” when speaking with media the morning after the Test.

“I thought we didn’t quite start the Test match with the intensity that we wanted to,” he reflected. “I think right from that first kickoff, they put us under pressure. In the lineout, they mauled a penalty and went straight to the corner.

“It just felt like we were on the back foot from the start a little bit and lacked a bit of momentum. There are different parts of the game where we got better, and some that we’ll need to tidy up.

“A couple of lessons there, but I think you can see the character and the resilience of the team from where they were to still potentially snatch a draw, and we probably would have been okay with that. But disappointed that we didn’t get across the line there.”

The New Zealand lineout operated at 83 per cent, a completion rate that flattered the visitors given how messy the Springboks made their wins, and the maul defence also took a backwards step from last week’s performance. Ryan acknowledged there were some issues to resolve at set-piece time, giving credit to South Africa’s veterans for their efforts.

“We missed a couple of roles in that lineout, and that really cost us, and then they got momentum,” Ryan said, before highlighting the maul defence’s faults.

“We were like two seconds too late in two areas, and then they got a bit of a corner, and then they kept it in there. Once a maul starts, it’s hard to stop it. So we needed to be a little bit earlier there. And then it’s a fine line because in the last Test we went too early, so we’ll just have to train that a lot better this week.”

The team will have more time to dedicate to the coming Soweto Test now that they have played the last of their midweek games against South Africa’s URC sides. The relief of preparing for just one match per week couldn’t come at a better time for Ryan and company, who say the third Test of the series is “right up there” with the most important of their careers to date.

“Last week, I think, was really different because I said to (Neil) Barnes after the Tuesday training on the bus, ‘mate, we got a game tonight’. So that was a different preparation week,” the coach added.

“But this week coming is, yeah, it’s going to be big. And it’s going to be right up there. The World Cup’s a World Cup, but I think this one at this ground, where there’s 90-plus-thousand, is going to be up there…

“I still think we’ve got to trust the optimistic approach that we want to score tries. It’s a risk-reward game, I guess, the offload side of it: the risk is they get seven (points), the reward is we might get seven. And we saw that right at the death.

“But we can still be smart. I think around our game management and how we can respect the ball; it’s so hard to get, and you’ve got to look after it when you’ve got it.”

The All Blacks improved in both the turnovers conceded and penalties conceded metrics in Cape Town, but still handed South Africa too many opportunities, with Cheslin Kolbe yet to miss a penalty kick in the series.

The performance has left accuracy and discipline as a primary focus again heading into the third Test.

“Little things become big things in Test matches, especially when you’ve got two exceptional rugby teams that pride themselves on getting those little things right,” said Ryan.

“But I think heading into this next Test, having a full week will be pretty unique for us to actually prepare and not have a midweek game or not have other guys doing separate trainings. We’re all together, so a good chance to connect and tidy a few things up.”