Tamati Ellison details All Blacks' defensive refinements for Boks

In round two of the Rugby Championship, Los Pumas exposed some flaws in the All Blacks‘ high-ball game, winning possession consistently through contestable kicks from halfback Gonzalo Garcia and playmaker Santiago Carreras.

Will Jordan was beaten to the punch by the Pumas’ outside backs, who chased hard and were put in positions to compete against the Kiwi fullback. Much of the same is expected this week against the Springboks, who have named marksmen Handre Pollard at 10 and Grant Williams at No.9.

With South Africa delaying their team naming until Thursday, New Zealand coaches didn’t have the luxury of knowing Pollard would be selected over the more mercurial attacking talents of Manie Libbok or Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu. However, like many fans, assumptions may have been made.

All Blacks defence coach Tamati Ellison sat down with RugbyPass to discuss the adjustments needed to ensure the struggles of the Buenos Aires Test are not repeated at Eden Park.

“You look at the data and you look at the games we’ve played against them in recent years. You look at what they’ve brought from an attacking perspective,” he explained.

“They went to the air against us last year, so prepping for that is important, putting pressure on the foot of all their kickers is another key aspect.”

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Signalling it’s a team effort and emphasising the need for forwards to stop opponents kicking on their terms, Ellison then turned his attention to the backfield cover.

“I think the continuous improvement around attacking the air, being first off the ground, gives you the opportunity of being higher than the opposite. Putting people in that position, if that ball isn’t won clean, whether that’s their kick or our kick.

“And making sure we get adequate reps. Like you’d have seen last year, when you could probably look after the catcher a little bit more and put some protection around them, that’s now changed, so it’s adapting to the current rules and making sure we’ve given the boys reps so they can go and own the air.”

Another area that hurt the All Blacks was discipline, not just with the three yellow cards they received, but also with the offside line. Errors from astute veterans like Ardie Savea contributed to a disjointed performance that saw Los Pumas apply scoreboard pressure via penalty goals.

Ellison said there were a couple of factors that caused the All Blacks’ offside issues.

“The Argentinians play with some shape. If you look at the English Test, I think they got a sin bin in the first 20 minutes for having five offsides. So, they move you around a lot, and they try to use the ball a lot, in hand.

“So that’s one part, to continue to adjust, to see the ball, so you’re clearly on side. And the other part is winning the collision. When you’re going forward with your two shoulders, it’s a lot easier to see the ball and be clearly on side.

“With collisions, you’re having to continuously adjust, but first and foremost, you go forward with your tackle, you see the ball, and you’re clearly on.”

The former All Black assessed a well-tuned edge in All Blacks camp this week, saying the energy has “definitely been building” after a rest week between rounds two and three of competition.

“When you have a performance that you’re not proud of and you don’t have a game the following week, that energy builds, and the important thing is we really direct it in the right places.

“There’s a genuine edge after any performance when you haven’t had a game that following week.”