Loose Pass: Why this All Blacks team is ‘hitting a little different’ as ‘sobering’ defeat leaves Springboks and Rassie Erasmus on verge of major catastrophe
All Blacks huddle after Rugby's Greatest Rivalry first Test win over Springboks.
This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with the answers to last week’s questions and a lesson in common sense…
The first round of answers
As series openers go, it’s delivered. The home side not only on the back foot, but also one-down and with no more room for error, also dethroned from their world number one ranking. That’s the reigning world champions since the pre-covid era, upstaged by their greatest rivals on their own soil. “I’ve been through catastrophes before,” said Rassie after the game. Not like the one he’ll be going through if he loses the second Test, which is at a significantly more visitor-friendly venue in Cape Town.
Loose Pass asked the question last week if perhaps the home side, whose only warm-up for the series was a trip to Argentina, was not perhaps a little underdone. The answer to that question appeared to bear out quite clearly in the final quarter in Johannesburg: yes, it was. This is a venue where the thin air is supposed to suck the oxygen out of the lungs and the spirit out of the soul of the opposition in the final stages of games. The score in last week’s final quarter? Springboks 0-14 New Zealand. The only stat the Springboks won was the yellow card tally.
That includes the scrum, in which New Zealand found extra depths of energy later in the game, despite giving a few up earlier on. Five tries to one tells its own story about the relative attacks and defences, as does the points per entry statistic for the red zone, 3.67 to 0.91. The question was asked last week whether Dave Rennie’s new All Black style would be able to unlock the Springbok defence. The answer there too, was a resounding yes.
Which means that the only question now hanging in the air ahead of the second Test is: can the Springboks bounce back? When Rassie talked about catastrophes before, he went to quite eloquent lengths to point out that what was labelled as a catastrophe at the time was simply something the team could bounce back from. Defeat to the Lions, defeat to New Zealand at the 2019 World Cup, and others.
But this one felt a little different. It felt more comprehensive, more of a hold and count out than simply a blow that left the team staggering for a moment. The selection strategy, so often a foundation of success in this Springbok era, was proved awry. The scrums went wrong and the pack looked powerless to put it right. Attacking decisions didn’t pay off, whatever the variation. It was a sobering look for the world champions.
There are still two Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Tests to go (and one in Baltimore). One Test down against the Lions, the Springboks roared back with as comprehensive a performance as you could imagine. This is a path trodden by a large number of this team and squad. If anyone can, they can.
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But this is New Zealand, and this New Zealand team is hitting a little different. Not one aspect of the game has been shied away from, not one compromise has been found in order for these All Blacks to play how they want to play. Cashmere-smooth though the hands may be, the five tries were founded upon solid scrummaging, teak-tough defence, excellent ball retention and a solid line-out holding its own against the best in the world. It’s a team taking South Africa on at its own game, and then adding something to it. For the first time, it seems as though South Africa HAVE to find something else as well as just doing so in order not to become predictable.
Erasmus has taken everything on the chin this week, from his ‘we’ve survived catastrophes before’ speech in the presser after the game, to pointing at errors he made in the planning. The Springboks have not lost successive Tests in four years. There’s plenty of history of teams turning series around, not least South Africa. Game one has delivered a storyline for a game two that could be one for the ages.
An outbreak of long-term common sense strategy
Loose Pass was at the Ascent Rugby Tournament in Frankfurt this weekend past, watching on as Poland and Germany’s national champions, in particular, flexed their not inconsiderable muscles.
The former, Pogon Siedlce, were clinical in a 66-0 mauling of Dutch side Eemland, who were short of a few first-team regulars and fielded a side with an average age of just 21.5.
Early in the first half, Tongan number eight Vaha Halaifonua embarked on a trademark rampage down the right; in his way stood a pair of Eemland’s youngsters, one after the other, both tasked with potentially trying to both tackle Halaifonua and bring him down into touch.
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That they failed was not notable; few players are effective in bringing down Halaifonua in full flight. What was notable was how both tacklers came in for their tackle attempts from the side and both put their head the wrong side of Halaifonua’s body.
The referees in said tournament did a fine job in identifying head contacts that were the ‘responsibility’ of the tackler on the player being tackled and dishing out appropriate yellow cards, but if players around the game are going to tackle like the pair above (by no means an exception in many games Loose Pass has seen recently) then we may as well bin the whole head contact protocol as a waste of time.
There have been so many ideas on reducing the dangers of the game with regards to the head injuries, barely any have really scratched the surface of the game’s hidden problem. But Steve Hansen’s take on it this week was perhaps the best we’ve seen so far.
“Let’s teach kids to be really good tacklers,” he said, adding that getting technique right will take care of many problems before they even start. As common sense solutions go, it’s a belter.