Ex-All Blacks skipper reveals why Springboks’ ‘bullying tactics’ have given them an edge in Greatest Rivalry series
All Blacks back-row Wallace Sititi takes on the Springboks defence and ex-New Zealand captain Taine Randell (inset).
Taine Randell has explained why he believes the Springboks’ “bullying tactics” have given them an edge over the All Blacks in Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series.
Ahead of the fourth and final Test at the M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on Saturday, the world champions are brimming with confidence as they currently hold a 2-1 lead in the series.
This, after the All Blacks clinched a deserved triumph in the opening Test in Johannesburg before the Springboks bounced back with successive victories in Cape Town and Soweto respectively.
Former All Blacks skipper Randell, who made 51 Test appearances as a back-row for New Zealand between 1997 and 2002, praised the quality of the rugby delivered so far during the series, particularly due to the different styles of the respective teams.
High praise for the quality of the rugby in the series
“This was just such a stunning Test series. I know we’ve got one to go, but for a lot of people, these three in South Africa were the big deal,” he told The Platform NZ podcast.
“It was just such a stunning contrast between the two best coaches in the world, talent-wise, physicality-wise, the two best teams in the world. We haven’t toured there for 30 years, (there’s) so much interest.
“It was also a massive contrast in style. Bullying tactics of the Springboks, with these whopping big props and second-rowers, against the All Blacks, the craftsmen of the international game of rugby.
“We scored more points than them. We scored, I think, 13 tries to eight or nine tries that they got, so we played like craftsmen. We played some fantastic rugby. But on this occasion, the Springboks style won. They battered us into submission.”
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Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus took charge of the team in 2018 and since then they have won back-to-back Rugby World Cup titles in 2019 and 2023.
Meanwhile, Dave Rennie took over the All Blacks’ coaching reins at the start of this year and Randell believes the difference in experience between the respective sides was telling in the end.
Experience of Springboks helping them
“The longer this series went, (it showed) how physical and how much more experience (the Boks have),” he said when asked why the All Blacks have lost back-to-back Tests.
“They’ve had Rassie Easmus for nine years. How much more experience (they’ve had) and how three physical games in a row (impacted the All Blacks); we talked about that a couple of weeks ago, about how are we going to handle playing so many games in a row, which we don’t normally do.
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“And it told. I mean, the first two games, we had the bomb squad and we won the last 20 minutes. But three intense weeks, maybe a couple of selections, but essentially they won the last half. That ultimately showed that they were the better team, albeit we scored more points and scored more tries.”