Bok Shock: Springboks bounce back to stun All Blacks on Gold Coast
What a difference seven days makes.
Just a week after the Springboks drew the ire of almost every rugby player, coach, fan, journalist, commentator, analyst and pundit for their dire style of play, the South Africans threw the kitchen sink at the All Blacks in their quest to redeem themselves for last Saturday’s 19-17 defeat in Townsville.
They did just that as the Springboks emerged with a 31-29 win in front of a near-capacity crowd on the Gold Coast as the reigning world champions won back the respect they lost in their recent string of losses.
That’s because rather than opting to kick at every possible opportunity and trying to slow the game down with needless or pedantic medical checks, the Springboks decided to actually have some fun with ball in hand and match New Zealand’s attacking intent.
The result was a far better-quality test match, one that was far more fitting for last week’s 100th test match between the two nations rather than this week’s 101st clash.
Both teams had moments of brilliance throughout the encounter, and, after signalling their intent to run the ball more often in the opening stages of the game, the Springboks were the first to strike through Damian de Allende after the All Blacks fluffed their lines deep inside their own 22.
Lukhanyo Am scooped up the loose pill and flung a Benji Marshall-esque flick pass behind his back into the clutches of Sbu Nkosi, who then showed great composure to draw the defender and put de Allende over in the corner.
That piece of play alone contained more razzle from the Springboks than the entirety of last week’s clash, but it didn’t take long for the All Blacks to respond.
Seven minutes later, it was Sevu Reece who registered New Zealand’s first try after he latched onto a pinpoint cross-kick from Beauden Barrett, who appeared to take on defence coach Scott McLeod’s message earlier in the week that the South African wings tend to jam in on defence.
That’s exactly what Makazole Mapimpi did, which gave Reece plenty of space out wide to field the ball and beat the oncoming covering tackle from Duane Vermeulen to slide over by the right-hand corner flag.
A penalty apiece to Handre Pollard and Jordie Barrett made the score eight-all after 24 minutes, and it was a real ding-dong battle between the two sides before the next try was scored.
A clearing kick from Springboks fullback Willie le Roux, who endured a torrid time under the high ball and made some poor choices with ball in hand, gave the All Blacks a lineout near halfway.
The @Springboks have snatched victory from the All Blacks and reclaimed their World No.1 ranking on the Gold Coast in the most dramatic fashion
Credit: @StanSportAU | #RSAvNZL pic.twitter.com/a02pSA4s2J
ADVERTISEMENT— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 2, 2021
After referee Matthew Carley told off a South African staff member for giving the assistant referee a piece of his mind, the All Blacks struck with a beautifully-crafted set piece move.
Beauden Barrett broke the line with a direct, incisive run before firing a reverse offload to Rieko Ioane, who showed immense balance and strength to stay on his feet in the midst of a few South African tacklers, before feeding Ardie Savea to score near the posts.
It was a cracking piece of play that was complemented shortly afterwards when Scott Barrett redeemed himself for a silly piece of ill-discipline early in the first half that nearly gifted the Springboks three points.
By swatting the ball into the hands of Brad Weber from a lineout close to the South African tryline, Barrett effectively assisted the diminutive halfback’s fortuitous try as he scampered away down the sideline to give the All Blacks nine-point buffer as half-time beckoned on the horizon.
South Africa’s deficit could have been slashed had hooker Bongi Mbonambi finished off what would have been a barnstorming try midway through the first half, but his outstretched attempt to score was ultimately ruled short of the line by a matter of centimetres.
That proved to be Mbonambi’s most significant piece of play throughout the encounter as he and his fellow front rowers were all subbed off a minute-and-a-half before half-time in a surprise tactical decision by Springboks head coach Jacques Neinaber.
Likewise, the All Blacks could also have added to their lead if Anton Lienert-Brown had enough pace to beat Nkosi’s covering tackle and cap off Jordie Barrett’s electric run through the middle of the field in the closing stages of the half.
However, a penalty goal to Pollard on the stroke of half-time was the only addition to the 20-14 scoreline at the break.
Further changes were made by the Springboks at half-time as veteran fullback Francois Steyn was thrust into the action in place of le Roux, and the 34-year-old provided South Africa with masterclass kicking display.
Steyn made up for a desperately unsuccessful attempt at a 50/22 by succeeding with his second attempt in the space of just a handful of minutes, and the latter attempt was crucial as it laid the platform for the Springboks to score their second try of the clash.
Why didn’t NZ kick it here? ?#RSAvNZL #RugbyChampionship pic.twitter.com/usYuGklXbt
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 2, 2021
The lineout inside New Zealand’s red zone enabled the Springboks to build pressure deep inside Kiwi territory, and, after a multitude of phases, the South Africans picked out Mapimpi to score untouched on the left wing.
That play swung the momentum in South Africa’s favour, and although Pollard missed the ensuing conversion, he had landed a penalty just five minutes after the break, meaning the Springboks had edged in front by 22-20.
A further three points was added by replacement playmaker Elton Jantjies near the hour-mark, and the All Blacks began to face a kind of pressure they hadn’t come across all year.
It showed as well, as Beauden Barrett’s attempt to replicate his cross-field kicking exploits failed spectacularly when he pick out a heavily-marked Rieko Ioane from inside his own 22, only for the ball to sail into touch on the full.
Not long after that, replacement hooker Asafo Aumua gave the ball away far too easily from a set move at the lineout just five metres from the opposition tryline – one of many problems the All Blacks encountered against the Springboks at the set piece.
It wasn’t until Steyn was penalised for a late charge on Jordie Barrett while in the process of a clearing kick that those nerves began to settle as the Kiwi fullback drilled a penalty through the posts from about 45 metres out.
That made the scoreline 25-23 with 12 minutes to play, and New Zealand’s fortunes continued to turn when a dubious refereeing call saw Steyn penalised for not rolling away from a spot tackle on Damian McKenzie in spite of the fact he had won the ball while making the tackle and still on his feet.
Up stepped Jordie Barrett, who continued his clutch goal-kicking form to nail a relatively easy penalty kick from about 30 metres out to give the All Blacks a one-point lead five minutes from full-time.
However, from the re-start, a failed kick for touch by Richie Mo’unga allowed Vermeulen to charge upfield, and as soon as he was taken to ground, the Springboks were handed an advantage for a breakdown infringement.
Jantjies slipped into the pocket and nailed a long-range drop goal to give the Springboks the lead once more in what could easily have been the match-winning score.
That was until a piece of Jordie Barrett aerial magic from the ensuing re-start won the All Blacks the ball back, and, just seconds later, an error by Franco Mostert gifted the Kiwis yet another chance to steal the match at the death.
This Ardie Savea try celebration ? #AllBlacks #Springboks #RugbyChampionship pic.twitter.com/VWSyX0cthh
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 2, 2021
In eerily similar circumstances to last week, Jordie Barrett again lined up another shot at goal, this time from a bit further out and on a harsher angle, to swing the ball just past the inside of the right-hand post.
That should have sealed the result, but the Springboks had one last defensive piece of brilliance up their sleeve as Vermeulen timed an entry into a breakdown to perfection to steal a penalty with 10 seconds on the clock.
With his massive boot, Steyn could have perhaps taken the shot at goal from his own 10 metre line on the angle, but he instead decided to boot for touch, with the ball landing inside the Kiwi 22.
The Springboks then set their rolling maul and marched their way upfield before Herschel Jantjies spun the ball wide as the South African backline tried to pierce New Zealand’s defensive line.
While they couldn’t do that, New Zealand’s overeagerness cost them dearly as their entire defensive line was pinged for being offside.
Carley had no hesitation to blow his whistle and hand the Springboks a penalty right in front of the posts, and Elton Jantjies did the honours by slotting the ball through the posts three minutes into injury to hand the Springboks one of the most exciting, exhilarating and unexpected comeback wins in recent memory.
Springboks 31 (Tries to Damian de Allende and Makzaole Mapimpi; 4 penalties to Handre Pollard, 2 penalties and drop goal to Elton Jantjies)
All Blacks 29 (Tries to Sevu Reece, Ardie Savea and Brad Weber; conversion and 4 penalties to Jordie Barrett)
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments