Lima Sopoaga praises All Blacks star for ‘big balls’ display in Springboks triumph
Ex-New Zealand fly-half Lima Sopoaga (inset) and All Blacks prop George Bower.
Lima Sopoaga has highlighted the impact of George Bower during the All Blacks’ victory over the Springboks in the opening Test of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series in Johannesburg.
While New Zealand’s entire matchday squad contributed to an exceptional all-round performance en route to their 33-16 triumph over the world champions at Ellis Park, loosehead prop Bower played a crucial role when he came on as an injury replacement for Ethan de Groot during the latter stages of the first half.
Up to that point, De Groot had been struggling in the scrums with Springboks tighthead prop Wilco Louw dominating their direct battle at the set-piece which resulted in the world champions being awarded several penalties.
Bower stabilised the All Blacks’ scrum
However, Bower‘s introduction brought stability to the All Blacks scrum as he stood firm at the first set-piece after replacing De Groot and Sopoaga believes it was a big moment in the match which proved crucial in the grander scheme of things.
At that time, the All Blacks were under pressure deep inside their half and could not afford conceding another penalty as the Springboks held the upper hand with the score 13-12 in their favour.
Another penalty to the Boks would give them an opportunity to increase their lead, via a shot at goal or a kick for touch where they could have launched a drive from the ensuing lineout before crossing for a try.
And former fly-half Sopoaga, who represented the All Blacks in 16 Tests between 2015 and 2017, believes Bower’s contribution to avoiding the aforementioned scenarios should not be underestimated.
“That’s a statement and that’s a big moment. And usually, the big moments are left for goal-kickers, the Will Jordans, but sometimes the big moments are the set-piece,” he told the DSPN podcast with Martin Devlin.
“In New Zealand, like in terms of other places in the world, like South Africa and France and England, the set-piece is like real, I’m not saying we don’t value the set-piece, but we kind of use a set-piece as a launching pad.
‘That’s what you want from your bench’
“And to come in cold and to really ice that moment, it shows such like big balls, man, big ticker, big energy, but that’s what you want from your bench.
“You’re asked to come on. When you come on as a bench player, your job is to bring the energy and bring something off the bench that lifts your team.”
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Bower continued to stand firm in his direct duel with Louw in the scrums and a key moment in the match was when the All Blacks won a crucial penalty at the set-piece close to their try-line in the 55th minute.
Sopoaga believes Bower and the rest of the front-row replacements deserve credit for simply doing what was expected of them.
“I think in that moment, not only him, but the rest of the front-rowers, because Fletcher (Newell) came on and (Asafo) Amua, they did exactly what you’re supposed to do as a bench player,” he said.
“Come on and impact the game.”