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This one will be painful for the Springboks to watch back.
The All Blacks had no right to win the match based on the first sixty minutes, but did, while the Springboks will have to learn the cruelest of lessons after a poor showing in the last quarter, effectively gifting the visitors the match with a terrible bench performance.
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The Springboks had strangled the All Blacks into a six-all stalemate at halftime, using clinical territorial kicking and defensive pressure to keep them deep in their own half. In a staggering reversal of the Wellington test, the Boks had over 70 percent possession and territory.
In the second half, they gained ascendancy by breaking the All Blacks early through Jesse Kriel. When his centre partner Damian de Allende scored another under the posts in the 51st minute it looked like the Boks would make a statement, having the All Blacks totally outmatched at 23-6.
The first blip occurred directly after the restart, when Codie Taylor exposed some feeble ruck defence during transition after a Faf de Klerk box kick, scampering away to put Aaron Smith over.
The Springboks responded very quickly with a return try to Cheslin Kolbe alleviating concerns, restoring the 17-point lead at 30-13 with a quarter to go.
This is where South African stomachs will churn.
Eben Etzebeth and Francois Louw collided with each other, spilling the kickoff and immediately returning the ball to the All Blacks. From the ensuing scrum, they get penalised, handing away more metres. From the five-metre lineout maul, the All Blacks spread wide and Rieko Ioane scores in the corner to give them a sniff at 30-18.
Unfortunately for the Springboks, fullback Willie Le Roux left the field for an HIA in the 65th minute and never returned, leaving them without the experience required in the dying stages.
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Pushing for a game-clinching try only 2-metres from the tryline in the 66th minute, Francois Louw was turned over by Ardie Savea after replacements RG Snyman and Vincent Koch failed to effectively clean out.
Still holding a 30-18 lead, Faf de Klerk was substituted with eight minutes left, taking South Africa’s two key experienced players off the field.
Immediately after, Pieter-Steph du Toit and replacement hooker Mbongeni Mbonami were penalised for a lifting tackle, giving the All Blacks another lineout maul from the five. They went 13 phases of one-out running before Scott Barrett crashed over with five minutes remaining, putting them within striking distance at 30-25.
The All Blacks had to exit from the kickoff, giving the Springboks back the ball on their own 40 with three and half minutes remaining. It was now down to a one-possession game, where one mistake could decide the outcome.
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On the very first phase, RG Snyman threw a speculative offload to no one that Handre Pollard had to clean up and take into contact. On the next phase replacement halfback Embrose Papier tried to run from the base by himself.
The lack of composure was alarming, with helter-skelter play putting the Springboks out of control.
The kicking from the first half that pinned the All Blacks into the corners and soaked clock by playing for set-piece was apparently not in the thought process.
The next phase three Springbok forwards – Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi and RG Snyman – failed to protect the ball-carrier Vincent Koch, leaving him exposed to Ardie Savea who came up with another big-time penalty. Richie Mo’unga nailed a 60-metre touchfinder down to the five-metre line, giving the All Blacks the ultimate chance to snatch the victory.
Ardie Savea scored from a pick-and-go with sixty seconds left and Richie Mo’unga kicked the winning conversion as time expires.
This would be a Houdini-act if not for the fact that the Springboks not only handed the keys to the handcuffs around the All Blacks’ wrists, they unlocked the cuffs for them.
To give the All Blacks three possessions from the five-metre line, which ended with 19-points, is a capitulation of the highest order.
The Springboks bench completely failed the side, with nearly all reserves coming up with inexcusable errors. With le Roux not recovering from an HIA assessment, taking off Faf de Klerk ended up being a disastarous decision, leaving the side short of composure and decision-making.
Just when Springbok rugby looked so good, it turned so bad.
The pain of this gut-wrenching loss could possibly outweigh the euphoria of the win in Wellington. The All Blacks ‘could’ve’ won at the Cake tin, but they should never have been able to win in Pretoria.
Comments on RugbyPass
Well that’s the contracts for RG and Jordie bought and paid for. Now, what are the chances we can persuade Antoine to hop over with all the extra dosh we’ll have from living at the Aviva & Croke next season…??? 🤑🤑🤑
2 Go to commentsWow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
2 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
14 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
2 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
2 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
4 Go to commentsThe greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
18 Go to commentsJake White is a brilliant coach and a master in the press. This is another masterclass in media relations and PR but its also a very narrow view with arguments that dont always hold water. White wants his team to win, he wants the best players in SA and wants his team competitive. You however have to face up to the reality of a poor exchange rate and big clubs with big budgets. SA Rugby cant compete and unless it can find more money SA players will keep leaving regardless of Springbok eligibility and this happened in 2015 - 2017. Also rugby is not cricket. Cricket has 3 formats and T20 cricket is where the money is at. When it comes to club vs country the IPL is king but that wont happen because the international calendar does not clash with the club calendar in rugby. So the argument about rugby going down the same path as cricket is really a non-starter
18 Go to commentsNZ rugby seem not to have learnt anything from professional rugby. Super rugby was dying and SA left before they died with the competition. SA rugby did a u turn on their approach to international players playing overseas and such players are now selected for Bok teams. As much as each country would love to retain their players playing in local competitions, this is the way the world is evolving my friends. Move with it or stay 20 years behind the times. One more thing. NZ rugby hierarchy think they are the big cheese. Take a more humble approach guys. You do not seem to have your players best interests at heart.
3 Go to commentsBeaches? In Cardiff? Where?
1 Go to commentsHe is right , the Crusaders will be a threat. Scott Barrett, ( particularly), Fergus Burke , Codie Taylor, ( from sabbatical) etc due back soon for the Crusaders. There are others like Zach Gallagher too. People can right the Crusaders off, Top 8 , here we come !!
1 Go to commentsWe will always struggle for money to match the other sides but the least the WRU can do is invest properly in Welsh rugby. Too much has been squandered on vanity projects like the hotel and roof walk amongst others which will never see a massive return. Hanging the 4 pro sides out to dry over the last decade is now coming back to bite the WRU financially as well as on the pitch. You reap what you sow.
1 Go to commentsWhat do you get if you cross a doctor with a fish? A plastic sturgeon
14 Go to commentsWhat happened to feleti Kaitu’u? Hasnt played in a while right?
1 Go to commentsGregor I just can’t agree with you. You are trying to find something that just isn’t there. Jordie Barrett has signed until 2028. By the end of that he would have spent probably 11-12 years on Super Rugby and you say he can’t possibly have one season playing somewhere else. It is absurd. What about this scenario, the NZR play hard ball and he decides to leave and play overseas. How would that affect the competition. There seems to be an agenda by certain journalists to push certain agendas and don’t like it when it’s not to their liking. I fully support the NZR on this. Gregor needs to get a life.
3 Go to commentsHope he stays as believe he can do a great job.
1 Go to commentsMake what step up? Manie has a World Cup winner’s medal around his neck and changed the way the Springboks can play. He doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone. The win record of the Boks with him in the team is tremendous. Sacha can be wonderful and I hope he has a very succesful Bok career, but comparing him to Manie in terms of the next Bok flyhalf is very strange. Manie is the incumbent (not the next) and doing pretty incredibly.
4 Go to comments00 😍 U
1 Go to commentsSabbaticals have helped keep NZ’s very best talent in the country on long term deals - this fact has been left out of this article. Much like the articles calling to allow overseas players to be selected, yet can only name one player currently not signed to NZR who would be selected for the ABs. And in the entire history of NZ players leaving to play overseas, literally only 4 or 5 have left in their prime as current ABs. (Piatau, Evans, Hayman, Mo’unga,?) Yes Carter got an injury while playing in France 16 years ago, but he also got a tournament ending injury at the 2011 World Cup while taking mid-week practice kicks at goal. Maybe Jordie gets a season-ending injury while playing in Ireland, maybe he gets one next week against the Brumbies. NZR have many shortcomings, but keeping the very best players in the country and/or available for ABs selection is not one of them. Likewise for workload management - players missing 2 games out of 14 is hardly a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Again let’s use some facts - did it stop the Crusaders winning SR so many times consecutively when during any given week they would be missing 2 of their best players? The whole idea of the sabbatical is to reward your best players who are willing to sign very long term deals with some time to do whatever they want. They are not handed out willy-nilly, and at nowhere near the levels that would somehow devalue Super Rugby. In this particular example JB is locked in with NZR for what will probably (hopefully) be the best years of his career, hard to imagine him not sticking around for a couple more after for a Lions tour and one more world cup. He has the potential to become the most capped AB of all time. A much better outcome than him leaving NZ for a minimum of 3 years at the age of 27, unlikely to ever play for the ABs again, which would be the likely alternative.
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