Ex-Springboks rip into the All Blacks ‘coaching errors’ as they ‘definitely had the guys to make the difference’

Former Springboks Schalk Burger, Jean de Villiers and Hanyani Shimange have ripped into the All Blacks’ coaching errors over the two Tests in South Africa.

South Africa claimed back-to-back victories over New Zealand in the Rugby Championship, extending their longest-ever winning streak to four games over their arch-rivals in the professional era.

In both the Tests at Ellis Park and in Cape Town, the Springboks ‘Bomb Squad’ proved to be the difference as Rassie Erasmus’ charges clinched come-from-behind victories.

Springboks’ Bomb Squad fires

In stark contrast, Scott Robertson’s men failed to score a single point in the final 20 minutes of both matches – a concerning trend for the side, which was also the case in the games against Argentina.

The former Springboks believe that South Africa made better use of their bench with ex-flanker Burger bemoaning Robertson’s reluctance to turn to his replacements for game-changing moments.

Despite going back-to-back against their rivals, Burger also highlighted areas of the Springboks game that malfunctioned and believed that was the reason for South Africa not claiming bigger wins.

“I guess if we have the perfect game we are going to put maybe a greater than 10-point margin past them,” Burger said on the Boks Office podcast.

“But I don’t think the Boks side at the moment with our transition play is quite there but these two games were exactly the same.

“Certain areas of our game malfunctioned for us on the weekend – lineout and breakdown – and then we also played rugby from deeper. It’s on a lot of the times against the All Blacks… so it’s easier to run out of it like we did with Damian McKenzie’s miss-kicks in the second half where our transition took us ultimately straight into their 22.

“But we made a lot of errors in our own half which gives opposition sides a lot of 22 entries and puts a lot of pressure on our defensive sets. I don’t think it was perfect but the big thing for us in the first Test match was our ‘Bomb Squad’ and the big change in energy that they brought.”

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All Blacks lost the big moments

While the bench has become a feature for the Springboks in recent years, the All Blacks’ replacements have not reached the standard that was set by the likes of Sir Steve Hansen’s teams.

After the collapse in Test I, Robertson looked for a fix and included experienced campaigners TJ Perenara, Beauden Barrett and Anton Lienert-Brown on the bench. However, the Boks Office pundits said that the All Blacks still failed to use their bench effectively.

“In the second game, the same sort of scenario happened to us but then contrary to us and our approach, New Zealand didn’t use the bench at all obviously. They brought their three experienced backs on; Lienert-Brown came on early, Perenara straight off the back, Beauden Barrett came on, but then Tyerl Lomax got a yellow card in the 72nd minute,” Burger added.

“Asafo Aumua didn’t come on, he played when there was an HIA for Codie Taylor – who I thought was exceptional – they took off Wallace Sititi and they put [Luke] Jacobson on. Same with Fletcher Newell [who barely got any time], Sam Darry didn’t get on and Ofa Tu’ungafasi came on right at the end.

“So for me, if you look at the last two games and the last quarter, New Zealand hasn’t scored any points in the last quarter in the championship which is normally where they used to come alive through their own version of the ‘Bomb Squad’ back in the day when we used to play. That was the big difference in these two matches; it’s the effectiveness of our bench and the reluctance of them to use their bench.

Former teammate De Villiers added: “Test match rugby is a tussle, you’re going to make mistakes, it’s about how do you adapt to that and how are you be able to get the points in the big moments of the game. The big moments during this series, we won the big moments and that’s why we won the games.”

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Tyrel Lomax staying on too long

The trio also laid into Robertson for his decision to leave Tyrel Lomax out on the pitch beyond the hour mark with the prop conceding a scrum penalty and a crucial yellow card before Malcolm Marx’s winning try in Cape Town.

“Part of New Zealand’s discussion now will be their bench, a lot has been made of the Springboks’, like why should Tyrel Lomax first have to fight against Ox then Gerhard Steenekamp?” Burger said.

“If you are Razor, you are thinking, ‘we got enough reward from what we did in the first half of both games as the Boks had to chase… it is now about how they manage the last 20. Where did we go wrong? It’s a 23-man game, did we have the right composition of our bench?’

“When you are selected on the bench it’s a different mentality. You watch the game unfold sometimes, you’ve got to lock it down and take it home and other times you actually have to go chase it, so you need experience there but also you need enough time to make that difference.

“You can’t get five minutes or four or three or you know sometimes you can have an exceptional 10 and that’s where the Boks go, ‘there we go, have your 35, go have your 30, go have 25 minutes and make an impact.'”

Coaching failures

Shimange said it was down to the All Blacks’ coaching staff and their errors as they failed to effectively use the bench and trust those replacements. He added that this used to be a strength of the All Blacks because of the depth that they have and something they need to build up again.

“I thought there were some coaching errors from the All Blacks in terms of the timing of the substitutions,” he said.

“That’s where Rassie has the clarity with the players [that they know when they can expect the hook].

“But funny enough it was when Graham Henry and Steve Hansen were coaching when Charlie Faumuina would come on, they would always change the hooker, a Victor Vito and a Barrett. There was a stage where in the last 20 minutes, they were the best team in World Rugby in the last 20 and they just did it purely because they had the personnel but you’ve also got to give the guys the opportunity to do it.

“I thought Aumua in a game like that would have been good when it opened up – he’s a strong ball carrier – and Darry with the lineouts could have helped [Scott] Barrett and taken some of the pressure off of him. They definitely had the guys on the bench to make a difference.”

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