Thanks but no thanks, the All Blacks do not need to copy the Boks
The Springboks have not found a foolproof recipe for World Cup success that the All Blacks need to follow under Scott Robertson.
The Boks are a tough, gritty, resilient side that work hard and bring a relentless defence and rely on a healthy dose of luck. The games with them are nearly always close.
After riding their luck through two knockout wins over France and England, they were spoiled by fortuitous circumstances for a third straight game.
The 12-11 win in the final over New Zealand came against a team down to 14 men for a combined 64 minutes after Frizell was sin-binned for falling on the leg of an opposition player and Cane was red carded for a rising tackle.
Losing hooker Bongi Mbonambi to injury for the match was indeed a massive blow, South Africa’s lineout turned to a malfunctioning mess with flanker Deon Fourie throwing, but the undeniable absence of a player for 80 per cent of the World Cup final had a much greater impact.
The All Blacks played a man down for the majority of the game but still nearly won. That’s everything you need to know. One side had to cling on for dear life against an undermanned opponent, the other only lost due to their own mistakes, irrespective of the cards.
The night’s events unfolded with one side on the receiving end of some fantastic good fortune in the first half.
The Frizell incident cost the All Blacks a cheap three points inside two minutes and a man off the field for 10 minutes.
The second three-pointer for South Africa came after a sustained period of attack that deservedly won a penalty when Ethan de Groot didn’t roll away.
The third was a dubious call on Ardie Savea that Barnes admitted on the mic he “didn’t see the replay”.
It was by all accounts a textbook pilfer, hands on the ball with body weight supported by feet. The clean couldn’t disrupt Savea’s position. Instead of an All Blacks penalty, it was three more cheap points for South Africa.
Six of the first nine points were leprechauns’ gold, most teams would have loved to got those. By this point the rugby gods had blessed this side more than they deserved.
Minutes earlier the bounce of the ball gave South Africa a big break when Jordie Barrett’s chip kick found an empty backfield inside the 22.
The ball bounced out of the path of the leading chaser Ardie Savea, into the path of fullback Damian Willemse, seemingly saved by divine intervention.
The bounce of the ball cost the All Blacks a definitive two points, possibly four, with the rather straightforward conversion. They settled for a penalty goal.
But the coup de grace was still to come, Sam Cane’s first red card as a professional player that handed the Springboks an early Christmas present.
You see many of the innocuous moments that saved the Springboks’ bacon in Paris were largely out of their control. They had no sway over the bounce of Jordie Barrett’s chip, Sam Cane’s tackle height or Barnes’ view of Savea’s poach.
So when you look at what to copy from South Africa’s plan, you might as well buy some ladybugs, horseshoes, a four-leaf clover. Anything else that you think might bring the same amount of incredulous luck that this team was blessed with.
How many rabbit’s feet do you need to own for a TMO to operate outside their jurisdiction and overturn a try past four phases? Or for Mo’unga and Jordie Barrett to miss two potential lead-taking kicks? Or for a time-wasting warning to not go punished on a scrum feed?
Sure, every team would rather be lucky than unlucky, but to copy South Africa’s approach based on three one-point wins that could have fallen any way is totally senseless.
Jacques Nienaber now holds one of the best coaching record against the All Blacks in recent memory, with four wins from seven since his time as “head coach” from 2021-23. Rassie Erasmus finished with one win from four in his short stint as official head coach from 2018-19.
They have re-ignited the rivalry to be competitive, but combined they have five wins from 11, still less than a 50 per cent win rate against the All Blacks despite winning two Rugby World Cups.
They haven’t been able to post a winning record over the All Blacks and now Robertson is supposed to copy them? Spare us.
New Zealand rugby made the mistake of chasing South Africa’s style a long, long time ago, adopting 10-man rugby and becoming obsessed with size and power up front to match theirs.
The 1937 shock loss at home to the Springboks led powerbrokers at the time to believe the falsehood that 15-man rugby wouldn’t beat South Africa again.
It was an identity struggle for three decades until the 1967 All Blacks broke the shackles, taking the world by storm with attacking rugby and re-finding the national identity.
Over the professional era the All Blacks have dominated South Africa. The overall record is 44-1-19 in New Zealand’s favour since 1996.
1998 and 2009 are the only years since where the Springboks have been able to hold the All Blacks winless.
Thanks but no thanks, New Zealand does not need to copy South African rugby.
Comments on RugbyPass
Danny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
35 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
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