All Blacks great: Springboks ‘on another planet’ as ‘mini Jonah Lomu’ typifies historic victory

Former All Blacks star Israel Dagg has lavished praise on the Springboks after their remarkable performance in the 43-10 triumph in Wellington.

South Africa went into the game off the back of a 24-17 defeat to New Zealand at Eden Park but, after making mass changes to their backline, they responded superbly.

Rassie Erasmus‘ men scored 36 unanswered points in the second period to record a stunning success and put themselves back in the Rugby Championship equation.

The Boks’ brilliance

The inquest into the All Blacks‘ record loss has already begun, but Dagg initially focused on the brilliance of the Boks.

On Sport Nation’s Scotty and Izzy show, he was asked by presenter Scotty Stevenson about the clash on Saturday and what changed from Eden Park.

“The conversation is, what is going on with this team? You dominate at Eden Park and then you go to Wellington and you get your arse handed to you by a Springboks side that had made six changes to their backline,” Stevenson said.

“Vastly more inexperience in the backline than the New Zealanders. I’m struggling for answers as to how we can see that sort of shift in a week.”

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Dagg preferred to pay tribute to the Springboks, who inflicted the biggest-ever defeat on the All Blacks at the weekend, eclipsing the 35-7 loss to the same side in 2023.

“First of all, I want to pay respect to South Africa, that was by far the best power-speed game, with skill sets to boot, that I have seen from any nation,” he said.

“Some of the tries, some of the runs, the impact. You think when you’re playing rugby and you have pivotal injuries, so when I saw some of those injuries happening to South Africa, I’m like, ‘here we go, this is a time to turn the dial, put the pressure on’.

“That bench that came on, wow, they were even better than the starters.”

Manie Libbok’s ‘clinic’

South Africa dealt brilliantly with setbacks as Manie Libbok impressed after coming on early for Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, while Dagg also praised Grant Williams for his display.

Williams is usually a scrum-half but, following Cheslin Kolbe’s injury, the 29-year-old had to move to wing.

“Manie Libbok comes in and runs an absolute clinic, you’ve got Damian Willemse in a centre position, where he hasn’t played a hell of a lot, who’s running around like he’s the best 12 in the world,” Dagg said.

“You’ve got Grant Williams coming on and playing wing, and was putting in some footwork and bravery on like a mini Jonah Lomu.

“I was thinking holy hecka, these guys are on another planet.”

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