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Coetzee wants repeat of Wallabies 'dog fight' against All Blacks

By Tom Webber
Ross Cronje during South Africa’s Rugby Championship draw against Australia

South Africa coach Allister Coetzee is aiming to drag New Zealand into another “dog fight” after clawing back a 10-point deficit before drawing 23-23 with Australia in the Rugby Championship on Saturday.

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The Wallabies took a 20-10 lead early in the second half of the clash at nib Stadium, but the Springboks turned the match around through Malcolm Marx’s try and eight points from the boot of fly-half Elton Jantjies.

Bernard Foley’s penalty 10 minutes from time saved a share of the spoils for Australia, but Coetzee was delighted by the fighting spirit shown by his team in sodden conditions.

The Springboks coach is hoping similar weather in Albany next weekend when they take on the All Blacks – who have won all three of their matches – can lead to a repeat performance and keep their dreams of victory alive.

“[There were] two good sides who were really desperate tonight and you could see that things had to change, whatever plans you had with the weather conditions it allowed it to become a bit of a dog fight and we adapted well,” Coetzee said in a post-match interview.

“I’m really pleased with the fact we could claw ourselves back into the Test match from 10 points behind in the second half, so I’m proud of this team we’ve got. Things that we’ve worked on have paid off.

“We let ourselves down in the first half with a little bit of indiscipline, we do concede a bit of yards against Australia but once they get in your half you need to stay out of the rucks and I think there we could have done better.

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“In general, I’m really pleased with this – you’re never pleased with a draw, but I’m pleased with the result.

“The mindset was different this year. In terms of the past we’ve been thinking about the All Blacks way too early and forget about a tough and a good Wallabies side.

“Next week is a different challenge all together. We have to up our discipline, keep the physicality and it will be similar weather I think next week and we had a taste of how we should be able to change the game into a dog fight.”

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Jon 9 hours 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”?

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