All Blacks great: ‘This is an embarrassing week for South African rugby’
Springboks dejected as Wallabies celebrate and former All Blacks star Israel Dagg.
Former All Blacks star Israel Dagg is expecting a backlash from the Springboks after they were “embarrassed” by the Wallabies at Ellis Park.
South Africa succumbed 38-22 to Australia in Johannesburg despite going at over a point a minute during the first quarter.
The Boks imploded as the brilliant visitors firstly showed tremendous fight to stay in the contest before playing some spellbinding rugby after the break to rip their opponents apart.
“38 unanswered points at Ellis Park, I could not believe my eyes with what I saw at the weekend,” Dagg said on Sport Nation’s Scotty and Izzy show.
Rassie’s selection
Rassie Erasmus’ big selection calls did not pay off for the Boks. They went with Manie Libbok at fly-half in order to implement an expansive attacking game, but he failed to regain control of the match when the Wallabies fought back.
South Africa also chose a 5-3 bench, ditching the much vaunted ‘Bomb Squad’ tactic which has served them so well in the past.
However, Handre Pollard has come in at fly-half for the game in Cape Town and they have reverted to the 6-2 split.
“They’re going back to the Bomb Squad, they got beat up, they got embarrassed. This is going to be an embarrassing week for South African rugby,” Dagg said.
“They’re going to eat some humble pie because they’re now ranked third in the world. They’re going to be angry.”
All Blacks greats: Rassie Erasmus’ ‘dogs–t’ summary is ‘quite light’ as Springboks ‘fell off cliff’
Dagg was joined on the show by co-host and presenter and pundit Scotty Stevenson, who agrees that the Boks will be focused on revenge and could kick-start another period of dominance.
Springboks ‘great reset’
“The danger of that is that this is now a great reset, isn’t it? That is going to make them a tough assignment in Cape Town,” Stevenson said.
“There is no reason to think that Australia can’t repeat the dose, but ultimately, they’re not going to fall into that trap again.
“Rassie Erasmus said: ‘Look, the coaches have got to take some of the blame as well because we wanted that team to try everything, even when it wasn’t on’.
“They’ll go quickly back to their DNA, that’s for sure. I don’t mind the innovation, and we know everyone thinks Rassie’s a genius, but ultimately they were found out by playing some old school, traditional footy. Which is quite extraordinary at Ellis Park.
“I’m the first to admit this, I just did not pick that, I did not see that coming. At 22-0 up, I’m thinking, ‘here we go’, and to concede 38 unanswered points at altitude, that is something I can’t remember seeing from a South African side.”
Amidst all the fallout from a South African perspective, Dagg also wanted to pay tribute to the Wallabies and believes that it points to a potentially competitive Bledisloe Cup later this year.
“I’m just so happy for Rugby Australia and the Wallabies. I’m nervous as well because there’s a big trophy that’s on offer later this season, but how great is it to have a competitive Australian team that could potentially push the All Blacks right to the very end,” he added.
