Former All Blacks dissect the capitulation against the Springboks

Saturday’s mouth watering contest between the Springboks and the All Blacks was always going to be a physical battle, and after 40 minutes, you would be forgiven for thinking the game was going to go down to the wire at Sky Stadium.

But Rassie Erasmus’ side had other ideas, putting on an absolute clinic to score 36 unanswered points against Scott Robertson’s All Blacks in Wellington.

It was the All Blacks’ second loss of the year out of seven games, steering down the barrel of two difficult fixtures against Australia, who will be fired up after the weekend’s loss to Argentina in Sydney.

Robertson and his coaching staff will have a week off to prepare and reassess what went wrong in Wellington, before hosting Joe Schmidt and the Wallabies on September 27 at Eden Park.

Former All Black Justin Marshall has had some time to reflect on the Test match in Wellington, but he tells The Breakdown that he’s now feeling glass half full.

“Digesting it was important, because straight away you’re reacting when you see that result and then there’s a frustration element, but there’s also like, wow, impressed with what the Springboks produced,” Marshall said on Sky Sport.

“Then it’s like, well, how were they allowed to do that? Or were they just that good? And then it’s like, right, It wasn’t all that bad and I’ve kind of entered into this day with my glass half full, to be honest, which is not like me.

Marshall strongly believes that the Springboks and Rassie Erasmus surprised the All Blacks with their game plan in Wellington.

“Because look at the end of the day, I felt that the Springboks ambushed the All Blacks in the way that they played. I don’t think that they suspected that they would have the ambition to play that much.

“Yeah that that back line could play, but I didn’t think that they would play as much as what they did and all of a sudden they were chasing the game, particularly in the second half.

“I feel that we in the first half still created a lot and put them under a lot of pressure.”

Despite the end result, former All Black centurion Mils Muliaina says he was confident after 40 minutes and that as soon as the visitors started to win the high ball battle, they gained momentum.

“Yeah, I think if you look at the first 40 for me, I would have been confident as well. I was definitely confident for the All Blacks would come out and continue to play the way they did, and to see if South Africa were willing to sort of hold on.

“Eventually, it sort of ended up the other way and I think where the Springboks got it right is they were they played an expensive game, but then they mixed it up with the stuff that they always sort of talk about, and that’s in their DNA.

“They won the high ball, then that gave them a bit more confidence and as they continued to grind, they eventually sort of started to gain that confidence.

“The All Blacks just couldn’t find an answer and that’s probably the most disappointing part, is that they threw everything at them and I still thought that 15 minutes to go that we could have an answer, but it just didn’t come.”

Rugby Championship

P

W

L

D

PF

PA

PD

BP T

BP-7

BP

Total

1

Australia

4

2

2

0

11

2

South Africa

4

2

2

0

10

3

New Zealand

4

2

2

0

10

4

Argentina

4

2

2

0

9

Former All Black first-five Aaron Cruden gives credit to the Springboks for what was a near-perfect second half performance, but also explains that some of the rugby by the home side in the first half was some of their best.

“You do have to give credit where it’s due and the Springboks were outstanding, I thought they played with power, accuracy and precision, even from the mindset from the first kick off, putting it high, down the middle.

“I thought they just bought an element to the game, which to me, I think the All Blacks were expecting, but as the game grew on and the momentum started to shift their way that the All Blacks just couldn’t handle it.

“The ball movement that the All Blacks were playing with was was some of the best we’ve probably seen from them this season. But the shift out of the changing room at halftime was all with the Springboks, and they just rolled home in the end.”