All Blacks hero gives Greatest Rivalry verdict on ‘confident character’ Ruben Love and explains how ‘no secret’ Dave Rennie era is ‘hugely different’ from Scott Robertson
Ruben Love in action last Saturday in Cape Town and, inset, 2011 All Blacks hero Stephen Donald
Rugby World Cup-winning hero Stephen Donald has given his seal of approval for Test rookie Ruben Love to continue to wear the No.10 All Blacks shirt in South Africa despite the return of Richie Mo’unga to the international fold.
The 25-year-old made his 2024 debut under Scott Robertson, but he has come into his own in the role since Dave Rennie took charge this year.
Last Saturday’s second Test versus the Springboks in Cape Town was Love’s fifth successive start at fly-half in his 10-cap career and Donald, who kicked the winning points in the 2011 World Cup final versus France in Auckland, is backing the youngster to retain the jersey for this weekend’s third instalment in Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry.
A veteran of the 2019 and 2023 World Cups, Mo’unga became eligible again for Test selection on the South African tour following his recent return to club rugby in New Zealand after a three-season stint in Japan, but Donald has seen no reason for Rennie to change his fly-half even though the Springboks levelled the series at one-all with last weekend’s 33-26 win at the DHL Stadium.
“There’s so much talk about it from clowns like us…”
Asked for his verdict on Love’s performances as the All Black No.10, Donald told the KOKO Show: “I reckon Ruben just keeps, for me, getting better every game. There’s no doubt with Richie back, he will be involved at some point, but Ruben has been going awesome and his goal kicking’s great.
“The pressure that he’s on taking on the Boks four weeks in a row, but also the fact that Richie’s back and I guess there’s so much talk about it from clowns like us that, you know, he just keeps fronting. From the outside looking in, he is that sort of confident character and he’ll probably just keep rolling out.”
The All Blacks took the lead in the four-Test series with their 33-16 win in Johannesburg on August 22 and they went on to make three changes to their second Test starting XV, two of which were due to injuries in the front five of their pack.
Donald suggested that, with the second Test starting team emerging relatively unscathed from the DHL Stadium clash, he doesn’t foresee any changes when Rennie announces his XV on Thursday for this Saturday’s third Test in Soweto.
“I don’t think they had as many dings as they did in that first game, so if they’re all available, you just keep going really because, I don’t know, they’re one try off and we know that you can’t always get your own way against teams who are going as well as the Boks are at the moment,” he said.
“They were always going to respond and as much as I tried to wind it up and say we’ll win 4-0, we’re probably never going to, so we’ll take 3-1… I’ve said All Blacks by 15 every week, so I’m not changing. We’re undefeated in Jo’burg, so we’ll go again.”
Fresh from last Sunday’s hike up Table Mountain with former teammates Richie McCaw and Dan Carter, Donald lauded the quicker style of All Blacks play under Rennie compared to what materialised in the two years Robertson was in charge of the team.
“It’s hugely different actually,” he said when asked to compare how New Zealand have played under the different coaches. “They’re playing to their strengths. It’s no secret. I guess they’re trying to play as fast as they can and yeah, they lost at the weekend, but they lost trying to do what they’re trying to achieve.
“I guess for me that looks like they are just trying to play as quickly as they can. They threatened all the time. They’re not just folding into traditional sort of footy where you know in this part of the third you do this, and that turnover ball they look good.
“So I guess the easiest way to explain it is they’re playing to their strengths; they’re playing like New Zealand fans expect them to do, whereas in the past we’ve got a bit obsessed about thinking this is how you win Test match footy and you’ve got to do this and that.
“They’ve got more of a licence, and it’s not necessarily the structure of the past where different parts of the field mean you got to kick here or what have you. So, loving what they’re doing.
“Obviously, a good team like South Africa try to stop it as much as they can, and we talked about the physicality and the breakdown, but they live off quick breakdown. Like, (Cam) Roigard, Love and Jordie Barrett, once they get it gone. It’s awesome to watch, so really positive about the style.”
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Reflecting on the Cape Town Test where the All Blacks ‘won’ the try count 4-3 but lost the match by seven points, Donald said: “It was pretty close in the end. Probably that first half, South Africa was so dominant, like the first game, and you sort of went to half-time thinking, ‘We’re still in this one’.
“The South Africans were so what we expect them to be, physical and direct in that first half and they deserved to get the victory, but I guess for a time there in that second half, once the boys started to free it up and the game opened up that last 10 minutes, it wasn’t until the full time whistle that you sort of lost hope because the boys came over hot. I don’t think they’re too far off it and you got to remember South Africa are the best team in the world, so they’re going alright.”
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Regarding the speed of the All Black second Test attack, Donald added: “It took a bit longer to actually get the speed up. They weren’t able to quicken the game up as much as they were in the first one at any opportunity, and I guess the set-piece was a hell of a contest.
“They weren’t able to quite get the speed of the game until that last 10 minutes really, that last 10 or 15 when they started to get it, but up until then the Boks did a great job on the lineout pressure and even at ruck time, they were going pretty hard at it.
“So, it just took that little bit longer. We knew they [South Africa] were going to be even more physical than usual, and they were.”
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