What Rassie’s risky business says about the Springboks

An Airlink Embraer E195 jet has no business skimming the roof of a sports stadium. Nor does a rugby coach have much business changing his team less than 48 hours before kick-off, let alone replacing an entire front row an hour before the opening whistle. Yet both things happened in Cape Town.

South Africans do things differently when the stakes rise. Risk is not always a red line. Sometimes it is an invitation to create something special.

The planes passed perilously close to the stadium. Rassie Erasmus’s side then staged a narrow escape of their own, absorbing an All Blacks comeback before holding on for a seven-point victory that kept the series alive. In South African rugby, the result is often its own absolution.

The response began with an explosion. Maybe Jesse Kriel barrelling over mere minutes after the opening whistle was a consequence of all the difficult conversations and quiet introspection over the past seven days. Maybe this really is a team that needs something to prove. Whatever the motivation, they were magnificent.

They were also more direct. The midfield had been strangely peripheral in Johannesburg, with too much responsibility placed on Jasper Wiese to provide momentum on his own. This time Damian de Allende and Kriel were central to the plan. They carried with intent, looked for contact and, crucially, kept South Africa moving forward after the first collision.

Fixture

Internationals

South Africa

33 - 26

Full-time

New Zealand

All Stats and Data

In Cape Town, the threat arrived from several places. This was not just about making metres. It was about distributing the burden. A team becomes one-dimensional when one player is repeatedly asked to be the battering ram. Wiese was still used as a blunt instrument, but he was no longer the only one. De Allende and Kriel carried with greater purpose, while the forwards complemented the midfield rather than compensating for its absence. The violence had shape.

The change at the breakdown was just as important. South Africa were not necessarily faster than New Zealand, but they were far more aggressive. They attacked the ball instead of merely arriving at the ruck and trying to secure it. Last week it felt as if they tried to prise the New Zealand ruck loose with a scalpel. This time they went in with a machete.

Malcolm Marx was the clearest expression of that menace. He was unreal, a walking cheat code. The hooker seemed to appear wherever New Zealand thought it had secured possession. His steals altered the mood inside the stadium. Every turnover told the All Blacks that the next phase could not be taken for granted.

Kriel added two turnovers of his own, and South Africa won five in total to New Zealand’s two. In Johannesburg, the equivalent figures had been 14-5 in New Zealand’s favour. That statistical reversal captured the difference between the two Tests.

New Zealand still produced moments of brilliance. Their first-phase attack was outstanding, particularly when they found a way around a rush defence that moved at a higher tempo. Cam Roigard, Leroy Carter and Ardie Savea all scored tries that showed how quickly the All Blacks can turn a narrow gap into a genuine attacking opportunity.

South Africa’s rush defence did much of what it was supposed to do, compressing the field and closing options. But the missed tackles – 39 of them – remain a concern, even if advocates of this frenetic defensive system will argue that some risk is unavoidable.

New Zealand deserve credit for making South Africa work so hard. The difference was that the Boks no longer allowed one weakness to become another. A New Zealand break did not immediately become a South African error. They scrambled, reset and waited for the next moment. It felt familiar, like they remembered who they were.

Their lineout provided another form of control. South Africa won all nine of their throws, while New Zealand won 81 per cent. Eben Etzebeth had his best game for some time and was formidable at the set-piece, giving the Boks a dependable source of possession.

There was still discomfort in the way New Zealand’s long kicking game pinned South Africa back. The Boks spent too long starting attacks from deep. But their own kicking strategy was better judged. Cobus Reinach’s box hoists were more accurate despite the difficult conditions, and Ethan Hooker bossed the skies.

The victory did not put a lid on Dave Rennie’s moaning in his post-match press conference. The All Blacks coach suggested that South Africa were “walking around” at scrum time, having already raised concerns with World Rugby. There may have been a technical point buried in there, but by the time Rennie repeated it publicly, it sounded like a coach trying to influence the next referee before the next whistle had been blown.

Erasmus was having none of it. “We’re not fucking walking around,” he said. “We’re scrumming through.” It was crude, theatrical and entirely on brand. Rennie wanted the argument heard. Erasmus wanted to own it. The scrum became another contest South Africa dragged into its preferred territory: physical, emotional and impossible to separate from the noise around it.

South Africa also treated the scoreboard with the seriousness the occasion required. They took their points. Cheslin Kolbe kicked four penalties and three conversions, contributing 18 points.

New Zealand scored four tries to South Africa’s three, yet the Springboks won 33-26. They had less possession and territory, but they were more ruthless when the chances came.

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu played his part. He was still inventive, producing a wonderful raking kick towards Kolbe in the corner in the first half and a long pass to Hooker that sparked some much-needed go-forward in the second. But he was less mercurial and less individualistic. He did not try to turn every possession into a personal audition.

And then there was Siya Kolisi. He forced me to eat a large helping of humble pie. I wrote him off too quickly. His return was not merely symbolic. He carried with authority, defended with bite and scored the try that gave South Africa their valuable half-time cushion. His influence was not always loud, but it was unmistakable. Not for the first time, he made a doubter look pretty foolish.

The final quarter offered one last warning. New Zealand had 66 per cent possession in the last 10 minutes and reduced the deficit to seven points through Savea. South Africa were suddenly defending survival rather than control. Yet they held their nerve. Cameron Hanekom’s late turnover ended the final threat.

The Springboks were not flawless, but they corrected enough. They shared the carrying load, attacked the breakdown, trusted their set piece and took their points. This is the bargain they make with danger. Their 2023 World Cup run was built on three one-point knockout victories, and survival has become embedded in their identity.

That makes them thrilling and faintly terrifying in equal measure. They do not simply flirt with risk; they tether themselves to it.

On Saturday, an Airlink jet came perilously close to the stadium roof. South Africa then came perilously close to allowing New Zealand back into the match. In both cases, disaster was avoided at the last possible moment. For now, the planes are airborne and the series is alive.