All Blacks can forget about being ‘vaguely competitive’ against Springboks as New Zealand media slam performance versus Stormers
All Blacks winger Rieko Ioane and an inset of head coach Dave Rennie.
Planet Rugby takes a look at how the media reacted to the All Blacks’ 38-21 victory over the Stormers in their opening Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour match.
Dave Rennie’s side were made to work hard for their victory, heading into half-time with a 14-7 lead, with three tries in 10 minutes in the second quarter seeing them finally put the game to bed.
The All Blacks were +35-point victors in the eyes of the bookies before the match, but they failed to live up to that billing and were largely criticised in the aftermath from media back at home and abroad.
Damning review of the All Blacks’ victory
NZ Herald writer Gregor Paul was damning in his review of the team’s performance as he felt Rennie’s men managed to identify the threats that the Stormers were going to pose but failed to deal with them.
“The All Blacks pulled off the improbable feat in Cape Town of managing to secure a victory in which they filled the bingo card of all the things that teams can’t afford to get wrong in South Africa,” he wrote.
“Their scrum was a mess, they gave… away needless penalties, they couldn’t catch high balls, and they struggled to contain the driving maul.
“They were also shown three yellow cards and if they play like that against a stronger opponent – a team that hasn’t been asked to come out of their off-season six weeks into it and cobble together a performance – then they will be crushed.”
He believes that if the All Blacks produce a similar performance against Rassie Erasmus’ charges in the Test series, they can forget about winning the series.
“Or to be more specific – if they play like that against the Springboks, they can forget about winning the series,” Paul continued.
“They can forget about being even vaguely competitive because there are non-negotiables in South Africa and chief among them is keeping 15 players on the field, dealing with the assault and not letting the referee believe that there is a desire to be technically uncooperative at the scrum.
“That the All Blacks were able to score poorly in every key metric that mattered and yet still win, was down to a late revival in which they were able to finally string together a few more accurate and direct passages against a Stormers team that was running out of puff.”
Referee slammed
Richard Knowler of stuff.co.nz believes that the Sharks and their head coach JP Pietersen will be licking their lips ahead of their clash in Durban on Tuesday.
“It won’t be news to Rennie that the Sharks, having watched the All Blacks struggle to subdue the understrength Stormers before rattling on four late tries on Saturday morning (NZT), will aim to twist the dagger in what they perceive to be the tourists’ soft underbelly when they meet in Durban on Wednesday,” he wrote.
Knowler also took aim at the match officials, adding: “To make matters worse, referee Karl Dickson reached for his whistle so often during the match that he resembled a kid sucking on their favourite lollypop at DHL Stadium.”
SuperSport’s Gavin Rich was another who felt that the final scoreline flattered the All Blacks and hailed the Stormers for their competitiveness, particularly considering that their squad hadn’t played since the United Rugby Championship semi-final defeat to Leinster and are in the midst of their pre-season.
“A late flurry of scoring against a tiring DHL Stormers team saved the touring All Blacks from the potential embarrassment of an opening-game defeat as they got their Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour off to a winning 38-21 start at the DHL Stadium in Cape Town on Friday night,” he wrote.
“The final score slightly flattered a New Zealand team that was made to sweat by a passionate Stormers team that was playing out of season, hence the almost inevitable fade right at the end, and also without 10 Springboks.
“It wasn’t the famous victory to match that of the historic 12-11 win scored against the All Blacks at Newlands in 1976 that was hoped for from the hosts, but the Stormers were more than competitive and in the first 68 minutes, they exposed some serious flaws in the basics of the All Black game.”
More questions than answers
He believes that the result leaves Rennie with more questions than answers heading into the remainder of the tour.
“How good are the All Black attackers when faced with a defence that boasts line speed and is not passive? How do they deal with the contestable kicking game? How good is their scrumming? Has it improved? And how well do they defend an opposition maul? None of those questions were answered with complete assurance on a night where the All Blacks were held to 14-all up until there were 12 minutes to go.”
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Staying in South Africa and IOL Sport’s John Goliath rued the All Blacks’ failure to compete at scrum time.
“The All Blacks will need to sort out their scrum before the first Test at Ellis Park if they are to have any chance of competing against the Springboks. The Stormers’ front row, especially young loosehead Vernon Matongo, had them on toast in the first half,” he remarked.
Dave Rennie would have been left a frustrated figure
Aaron Goile of The Post said that the All Blacks’ performance in Cape Town won’t worry the Springboks in the slightest.
“Indeed, Rassie Erasmus and his two-time world champion Springboks will hardly be quaking in their boots after watching that first-up display from the men in black, 15 days out from the first test at Johannesburg’s Ellis Park,” he wrote.
“All Blacks coach Dave Rennie would have been left a frustrated figure after his outfit made rather hard work of what appeared a straightforward task against a local side without their Springboks reps and who are in their pre-season phase ahead of the United Rugby Championship, which they were semifinalists in last season.
“Yes, this was a mix-and-match lineup for the tourists, themselves, and a lack of cohesion was not much of a surprise, but there were plenty of unforced mistakes, and a 16-11 penalty count against them, including three yellow cards, which helped stunt the cause.”