Kieran Read: The key qualities the Springboks ‘definitely have’ but the All Blacks lack
Ex-New Zealand captain and number eight Kieran Read (inset) and Aphelele Fassi and Will Jordan compete for possession during a Springboks v All Blacks Test.
Kieran Read believes the Springboks’ ability to overcome adversity and knowing how they want to play currently gives them an edge over their arch-rivals the All Blacks.
Under the guidance of head coach Rassie Erasmus, South Africa are firmly entrenched as the number one team in World Rugby’s official rankings.
Since taking charge of the Springboks in 2018, Erasmus has guided the Boks to back-to-back Rugby World Cup triumphs in Japan and France in 2019 and 2023.
They also clinched a 2-1 series victory over the British & Irish Lions in South Africa in 2021, and after winning the Rugby Championship for the first time in 2019, they also won the prestigious Southern Hemisphere tournament again for successive years in 2024 and 2025.
The Boks finished the 2025 international campaign with a 85.71% win ratio after being victorious in 12 out of 14 Tests played.
Meanwhile, the All Blacks, despite occupying second position in the rankings, fired their head coach Scott Robertson at the start of this year – they finished with a 76.9% winning rate after 10 out of 13 victories – with Dave Rennie appointed as his successor and set to lead the men in black on their eagerly anticipated tour to South Africa later this year.
Prior to the Boks’ leading the way, the All Blacks were the dominant force at Test level, and they too won back-to-back Rugby World Cups in New Zealand and England in 2011 and 2015.
Played a leading role in New Zealand’s success
As the first-choice number eight, Read played a key part in both those triumphant campaigns and eventually represented the All Blacks in 127 Tests between 2008 and 2019.
During a recent appearance on The Good, The Bad & The Rugby podcast, Read and former All Blacks scrum-half Justin Marshall recalled a 2013 Test between Ireland and New Zealand in Dublin where the home side raced into a 19-0 lead and led 19-7 at half-time.
Despite being with their backs to the proverbial wall for long periods of that encounter, New Zealand fought back and eventually clinched a stunning 24-22 victory courtesy of a converted Ryan Crotty try in that Test’s dying moments.
Marshall remarked how the All Blacks held their composure despite being under the cosh for most of that match and the important role which their captain, Richie McCaw, played in keeping his team calm.
“We were like that was 2013 and we were trying to go unbeaten that year, actually, it was the last game of the season,” said Read. “So, (it was) a little bit of that foot off the throat, maybe for us at the start of that game.
“But we’re a team that had built this absolute belief in each other and then the ability to come back from whatever situation was thrown at us at that moment.
“So in that moment where we were down and out, it was like, ‘Okay, let’s go back to who we are’, which was being All Blacks.
“And you got Skipper (McCaw) just telling you just to relax and calm down. And we’re in a pretty good space mentally in that game, right?
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“Like just calm, even though the scoreboard was telling us something different, it was like, ‘Nah, go to our process’. We got lucky with a missed kick from (Johnny) Sexton, I think in that game.
“And then we went the whole field in the last play and 84th minute probably scored. So, there’s something about belief and there’s something about building that over a period of time. And you can’t just switch it on.”
Read said very few teams possess that quality and mentioned Super Rugby Pacific sides the Chiefs and Crusaders, who are set to meet in a semi-final on Friday and who might find themselves in a similar situation to the one the All Blacks faced in Dublin in 2013, if they meet the table-topping Hurricanes in the tournament’s final.
“There’s certain teams, I think the Chiefs and the Crusaders certainly will have that. If they have to go to Wellington and win, they’ll have that in them. Most definitely Crusaders will have that in them,” he said.
“They’ve been there and done it. They know. So yeah, definitely the Crusaders, if they go to Wellington and go to win a final, like they’ve got two thirds of that team that have been there, done that, and they know they can do it.
‘That has a huge bearing on your mental capacity’
“And so that has a huge bearing on your mental capacity to keep going under a little bit of adversity or fatigue or scoreboard pressure or whatever it is.”
Marshall then asked Read if the current All Blacks side have the ability to find a way out of trouble and he gave a blunt reply.
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“No, they don’t. But because they don’t have the experiences or the evidence of it happening, right? They’ve been put there and coming out the other side. I don’t think so,” he revealed.
“The South Africans have it. They definitely have it, you know, like I said, because I’ve built this experience of games that are hard and have come through and won.”
The former All Blacks skipper added that the Springboks know how to approach matches and that also contributes to their current success.
“They’ve got an ability to know exactly who they are and exactly how they play,” he explained.
“So, it’s more than just a belief to come out of sticky situations. It’s a belief to know how you play the game.
“And the South Africans know exactly how to play the game. All Blacks right now probably don’t.”