Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
NZ NZ

Analysis: Dissecting the All Blacks game plan – their Springboks blueprint was on the money

By Ben Smith
The All Blacks game plan for the Springboks was on the money.

With 75 percent possession and 79 percent territory the All Blacks could not come away with a win after a mammoth defensive effort by the Springboks. However, with such a huge amount of possession we were able to see a lot of All Blacks attack and able to gain insights into how they thought they should break down the Springboks.

ADVERTISEMENT

There were many things the All Blacks did that proved to be successful that they will no doubt try again in Pretoria. The maul lineout drive from close range proved effective, as well as specific switch plays that targeted the Springboks biggest weakness – spreading numbers effectively across the defensive line.

The Springboks seem to be the most vulnerable re-loading after a set-piece. They don’t spread numbers efficiently on both sides of midfield rucks, often leaving front rowers all together to cover one half of the field and the absence of a sweeper system means they drop back three backs as a second line defence.

The All Blacks first two tries came from a second-phase play after a simple midfield crash, setting up the ‘axis’ to either play the same way or swing play back.

If they achieved a 2-second ruck, the All Blacks could exploit the mismatches they wanted as the Springboks scrambled to bring players around the corner.

This first phase set-up has Ben Smith (14) off his wing, lurking in behind Barrett at first receiver for the set-piece play.

ADVERTISEMENT

Smith runs his line as part of the simple crash play, but once the tackle is in the process of being made, he makes a beeline back out to his wing for a second-phase strike, setting up behind Codie Taylor.

The Springboks send all of their loosies around the corner, leaving their front row behind to set the short side defence.

Aaron Smith fires a long cutout to Codie Taylor who plays Smith on the outside with a no-look pop pass. Taylor fixes the last man on the edge, prop Steven Kitsoff (1), leaving a 5-metre lane for Smith to skin the Boks. Aaron Smith ends up with the spoils with an inside support pass from Ben Smith.

ADVERTISEMENT

The All Blacks created the mismatch against the front rowers but young winger Aphiwe Dyantyi (11) also plays a massive part. He is back in kick coverage and doesn’t move up to close down the play leaving the channel open.

He really shouldn’t be back there in this area of the field, but this is the Springboks defence system.

The wingers deliberately drop back as the second line of defence because their halfback, Faf de Klerk (9), doesn’t perform a ‘sweeper’ role. We can see him above circled in the front line. This is another fascinating part of the Springboks defence altogether (which we will also break down), but de Klerk is often in the front line leaving the wingers to cover chips, grubbers or half-breaks.

From the high shot, we see Dyantyi is not anticipating the possibility of a short-side play and is too deep and too stationary to do anything about it. Once Smith breaks away down the sideline he is left stranded as the last defender.

The All Blacks run the exact same play about 10 minutes later on the other side of the field but this time it is the All Blacks number 11 who is out of position and Jesse Kriel (14) anticipates the play perfectly and shuts it down.

After the first phase scrum play, we see the front row isolated on the short side with no help.

This time Rieko Ioane is nowhere to be seen, leaving Taylor without the ‘pop’ option whilst Kriel (14) has read the play and closes the space by making a great read. Ioane comes to the party late missing the opportunity, however, Kriel’s awareness would have made it much more difficult this time around.

From the high angle, we see the brilliant defensive work of Jesse Kriel, stalking the play and getting into a position where he can close it down. When Aaron Smith fires the ball back, he rushes up and closes down the space having anticipated the short side raid, which was an inverse of the exact same play.

This was one example of the type of switch plays the All Blacks used to target the Springboks off scrums. In the second half, they used a complex ‘tack’ play, switching the point of attack after a lineout.

With dynamo Damian McKenzie on the field at fullback in combination with Beauden Barrett, the All Blacks had two speedsters available to run a wide ‘tack’ play, with both players able to cover a large distance at a decent clip to swing play back.

They would run the switch on the third phase, playing a standard crash play from the lineout, followed by one pod around the corner before ‘tacking’ back to a big open side.

Here during the second phase, the pod of three is taking a carry after coming around the corner, whilst the players involved in the first phase crash are re-loading and will be integral to the third phase strike.

Barrett (10) and McKenzie (23) are still wide right, as if the play will come the same way to the right again, enticing more Springboks to come over. As the breakdown develops they will both run wide sweeping lines back to the left and play a double screen off Ardie Savea at first receiver, utilising their speed to create a numbers advantage.

Ardie Savea (20) takes it to the line with Kieran Read (8) short and Barrett (10) as the backdoor option on the first screen.

He kicks it out the back to Barrett where Goodhue (22) runs the second short line and McKenzie (23) runs the second backdoor option. The sweeping movement sets McKenzie away down the left-hand edge.

McKenzie is just brought down short of the line in another inspirational cover tackle from Warren Whiteley. From the front-on angle we see that McKenzie ends up running Ioane out of room, moving a bit too laterally allowing the Springboks defence to slide.

The All Blacks still created a scoring opportunity but had Barrett taken the short option of Goodhue, they may have been able to hold the defence longer to keep Ioane’s lane open. Given Ioane’s lethal finishing ability, even a late pass from McKenzie may have been enough for Ioane to work his tightrope magic.

After the Springboks clearing kick, they run the exact same three-phase ‘tack’ play again, with only a slightly different crash play on the first phase.

With the knowledge learned previously, Barrett hits Goodhue short this time but the Springboks do a better job of distributing numbers in the defensive line to stop the play.

The All Blacks switch plays continually found space in this game, opening up the Springboks defence with designed plays targeting the re-loading set piece off both scrum and lineout. In the first half, the All Blacks built a 12-0 lead of two second-phase strikes.

When they moved away from this and tried to use Barrett’s cross-field kicking late in the first half, they lost a bit of control and allowed the Springboks back into the match. One of the kicks that sailed out on the full gave back possession to the Springboks just outside the 22 that led to the Marx try.

For the Springboks, how they manage their alignment will be integral to stopping the All Blacks in Pretoria. They must not leave their most immobile forwards isolated on the edge or they can expect more traffic that way, while the All Blacks will again be looking for these opportunities and should persist if they find it is working again.

The All Blacks blueprint for this game was on the money they just weren’t able to cash in enough when the opportunities presented.

ADVERTISEMENT

Join free

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | Episode 6

Sam Warburton | The Big Jim Show | Full Episode

Japan Rugby League One | Sungoliath v Eagles | Full Match Replay

Japan Rugby League One | Spears v Wild Knights | Full Match Replay

Boks Office | Episode 10 | Six Nations Final Round Review

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | How can New Zealand rugby beat this Ireland team

Beyond 80 | Episode 5

Rugby Europe Men's Championship Final | Georgia v Portugal | Full Match Replay

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
Jon 24 minutes ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

31 Go to comments
j
john 3 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

15 Go to comments
A
Adrian 4 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

15 Go to comments
T
Trevor 7 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
FEATURE
FEATURE Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby? Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?
Search