By Lucky Vince Pienaar
The Springboks won, yes, but that was expected. It was the way they did it that was spectacular.
Not only does it look as if Rassie Erasmus has embraced a new style of play, but it is the implementation that was breathtaking. There was not a single player, from the tight forwards to the flying wings, who did not bring spectacular ball skills to the game.
Again, Australian commentators have jumped on the bandwagon of proclaiming that coaches from other countries, such as coach Joe Schmidt, who is a New Zealander, are destroying Wallabies rugby. Others have gone as far as saying this is the worst Australian team “of all time”. Neither of these statements is correct. The reality is that the Springbok team made them look absolutely second-hand.
Those unfortunate youngsters in their yellow jerseys simply fell apart under the onslaught of the Springbok juggernaut. The Boks’ relentless commitment to scoring points was devastating. It just never stopped.
One hopes that next week, those same youngsters (and hopefully Schmidt won’t break the team’s spirit further with too many changes) will find it in their hearts to perform a lot better when they play the second match in Perth this weekend.
➤ The All Blacks have come in for a lot of criticism after Saturday’s loss to Argentina, and it is mostly, but not entirely, justified.
The All Blacks, as they do, let six early points go to waste when they went for lineouts in the hope of scoring tries—which could have cost them the match, but they didn’t play as badly as people are suggesting.
TJ Perenara and Damian McKenzie’s poor performance behind the scrum was fatal. Scott “Razor” Robertson has appealed to New Zealand Rugby to keep an open mind—and they had better be open-minded right now and find a way to get Richie Mo’unga back from Japan. McKenzie, the man they call D-Mack, has not made the step up, and Razor, and the All Blacks, badly need Mo’unga back in the team right now.
But the real problem is that Razor has failed to bring back the fighting spirit of the All Blacks.
The men in black lost because the Argentinians wanted it more. Felipe Contepomi instilled in his players a burning desire to win. They were up for it from the first whistle.
The All Blacks lacked the fire. It is the very same problem the New Zealanders had at the World Cup under Ian Foster, and it is the reason why they lost to Argentina.
It’s tragic that only 25,000 spectators turned up to watch the mighty All Blacks in a Test match on home soil. If that is not a massive flickering red light for New Zealand Rugby, then nothing is. (By contrast, the tickets for the Springboks match against lowly Portugal in Bloemfontein sold out within hours.)
Where we stand right now, there is only one team in the Rugby Championship. Hopefully, that will change this weekend.
Pictured above: Springboks during their win over Australia.
Source: Springboks/X
