Ex-Springboks boss: All Blacks got a ‘fright’ and were ‘dreadful’ in July before taking a ‘massive step up’; they will be very dangerous against us
All Blacks Anton Lienert-Brown and Will Jordan celebrate a try against Ireland and an inset of ex-Springboks coach Nick Mallett.
Nick Mallett believes that the All Blacks will make the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series ‘complicated’ for the Springboks if they maintain their standards.
The former Springboks boss reviewed the performances of the New Zealanders under new head coach Dave Rennie, with the side going three from three, beating France, Italy and Ireland in the Nations Championship.
Rennie, who was hired to replace the sacked Scott Robertson, has been hailed for his work since taking charge of the side, but Mallett admits that coaches don’t get scrutinised when the team is winning.
Nick Mallett on the All Blacks’ performances
The 69-year-old gave his detailed review of the team’s performances in July as he looked ahead to the highly anticipated Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series.
“No one ever criticises a coach when he doesn’t lose. He has played three, won three, and the team has improved each game,” Mallett said on the Talking Boks podcast.
“I think they got a bit of a fright and got away with a very tough game against France, but they did well to win that one. France they’ve got a lot of strength in depth, and you could say that they might have had five or six or seven players missing from that opening game, but their strength in depth allowed them to be very competitive against the All Blacks.
“I thought they were dreadful in their first 40 minutes against Italy, very lucky to be in touching distance at half-time, and then really played well in the second half when the Italians didn’t perform, but they took a massive step up against Ireland.
“Whether that’s because Ireland were at the end of a long season and they lost focus, but they really took it to Ireland, and they carried the ball really well. I thought their defence was far better. They got off the line quickly; they didn’t allow Prendergast time on the ball.”
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Blueprint to beat the Boks
Mallett believes that the performance against Ireland should be the blueprint of the All Blacks’ game, adding that the New Zealanders have the style of play that will cause problems for the Springboks, particularly their defence.
“I took a look at that game and I said to myself if they can maintain the standards that they showed in that game against us we’re in for a really good series here because we’re going to present them with a lot of physicality which they know and their way of trying to avoid us not necessarily to match physicality directly with physicality but they will still be physical but they will try and step they will do their best to step in and out of tackles and still offload,” he continued.
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“So if our defensive system is tackling low and allowing them to offload, they will be very dangerous against us. France, Scotland, and New Zealand are teams that want to step through contact and still keep their hands free to make a pass.
“They don’t want to go ruck to ruck. They want to keep momentum all the time with passing out of contact, and the All Blacks are very good at this. But what I really liked about the Ireland game was that their mixture between forwards carrying, playing with width with a two-tiered attack, and also some very good kicking, very, very intelligent kicking as well, which turned Ireland around.
“So, if they get that mix right- their kicking game and their contestables, but also kicking for territory, as well as really good forward carries and also playing with a bit of width – then we’ve got a complicated series to have to handle.
“We have matched them, and over the last couple of years under Rassie, we’ve definitely been the better team, but I think Dave Rennie has got this team aligned under Ardie Savea. They really like the way he’s coaching, and this team is responding to him.”
