Ex-Springboks pocket rocket predicts ‘Rassie Ball’ tactic conundrum for world champions in All Blacks clash
Former Springboks flyer Gio Aplon (inset) and the Boks and All Blacks in action in Johannesburg in 2024.
Former Springboks speedster Gio Aplon has highlighted a potential conundrum which will face the world champions when they take on the All Blacks at Eden Park on Saturday.
The All Blacks head into Saturday’s clash with an unbeaten record of 50 Tests at Eden Park, which stretches back to 1994, while the Springboks have not won at the famous venue since 1937.
Adding spice to the fixture is the fact that all four teams have won one and lost one match in this year’s Rugby Championship after two rounds of action, and only two points separate the teams in the table.
New Zealand are currently setting the pace at the top of the standings with six points, while Australia are in second position, just one point adrift, with South Africa and Australia having each amassed four points.
Over the years, most of the Boks’ success have been built on their pragmatic approach to the game where they employ a conservative game-plan in which they rely primarily on forward dominance and a fly-half with an accurate kicking game, out of hand and at goal.
However, since last year, Boks head coach Rassie Erasmus has added former All Blacks fly-half Tony Brown to his coaching staff as their attack coach and they have looked more dangerous with ball in hand.
Aplon, who made 17 Test appearances for the Boks between 2010 and 2012, was speaking on the Behind The Ruck podcast ahead of the team announcements earlier in the week.
‘Rassie Ball and Tony Ball’
South Africa’s former fleet-footed pocket rocket referred to the Boks’ conservative game-plan as ‘Rassie Ball’ and the more expansive approach as ‘Tony Ball’.
He predicted that the Boks would opt for the former style of play with players like Handre Pollard and Willie le Roux crucial selections which will indicate the route which the world champions will follow.
That has proven to be the case as both Pollard and Le Roux have been included in the Boks’ starting line-up for Saturday’s clash and with rain predicted at Eden Park on Saturday, South Africa are expected to play conservatively.
Aplon believes that indicates that South Africa will be doing plenty of tactical kicking but feels the All Blacks could ask some questions of their arch rivals despite the Boks having a superior kicking game.
“I think if you look at the stats, it says the Springboks retrieve the ball 38% of the time when they kick it. New Zealand only does it 10% of the time,” he said.
“So it is advantage Springboks. But if we go back to why we’re kicking, we’re kicking because obviously we want the 50-50, which can go any way. And you can’t control that.
“But we actually want to go to the scrum. And I think they (New Zealand) have stepped up in that department. So they probably are the one team, maybe together with France, that, I think, we’ll probably see on Saturday, can match us in the scrum.
‘Is the kicking game going to be that effective?’
“So is the kicking game going to be that effective? Because if you think of all the tricks Rassie does.
“They kick the ball long and they cause a scrum at 22. They kick the ball, to get to the scrum, to get that penalty (in the scrum).
“But what happens Saturday if we kick contestables? We get the scrum, but we don’t get that penalty at the scrum.
“So now we’re getting forced to play. We knew 80% of the time we kick it, we’re going to get a scrum penalty if they knock it on.
“What happens Saturday, if that becomes a 50-50 and we don’t get that? Are we equipped then to start playing if Pollard is at fly-half, if it’s wet? Can we play then?
“So the next question is, then do we play Rassie Ball or Tony Ball? Because Rassie Ball just forces you back to the physical battle. But maybe they (New Zealand) can stop a maul now. Maybe they can scrum.
“So if they can do those two things, and I think Razor (All Blacks boss Scott Robertson) has done it the last 18 or 20 Tests, he’s been there to build up that forward pack of theirs to withstand what the Springboks can bring.”
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