Nick Mallett reveals Tony Brown’s theory on ‘overstimulated’ Springboks and makes bold claim for fourth All Blacks Test
Springboks players Ruan Nortje and Siya Kolisi after the defeat at Ellis Park and an inset of assistant coach Tony Brown.
Nick Mallett has revealed Tony Brown’s theory as to why the Springboks are notoriously slow starters.
South Africa lost the opening game of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Series against the All Blacks but have since gone 2-1 up ahead of the decisive fixture in Baltimore on Saturday.
That wasn’t a one-off: Rassie Erasmus’ side also lost the first match of the British and Irish Lions Series in 2021, and the trend continued in the Rugby Championship last year, when they were beaten 38-22 by Australia at Ellis Park.
Tony Brown’s theory on slow starters
Speaking on SuperSport’s Side Entry show, Mallett revealed Springboks assistant coach Brown’s theory as to why this is the case.
According to the attack coach, Erasmus and his staff have a tendency to overload the players with information when they return to the camp, which can result in the players being overstimulated.
“I was talking on the Breakdown show, and Tony Brown spoke to Jeff Wilson about being with the Springboks,” Mallett explained.
“And he said it’s amazing and that there’s so much enthusiasm in the coaching that when the guys get together and remember that they haven’t played together – the guys went to Argentina, that was a mostly different team that started that first Test in Ellis Park – you get the week before Ellis Park, the assistant coaches are so keen to get information to the players that they go on to the first game overstimulated by their coaches.
“He says it’s been a pattern with the Springbok team that we get better and better the longer the series is.”
Using last year as a yardstick, Mallett predicts that the Springboks will produce their best performance of the year in the fourth Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Test match.
“So we should be better in the fourth game, not worse,” he said.
“If you think about last year: we lost to Australia, scraped a win over Australia in Cape Town, we lost a hard game at Eden Park, and the fourth game we cleaned up in New Zealand in Wellington. So the team doesn’t get worse; we get better the longer we stay together as a group.”
John Smit: Malcolm Marx is the best Springboks hooker ever
Why the lack of Springbok changes
Erasmus has surprisingly stuck with largely the same matchday 23 for the last three matches of the RGR series, making just two changes for the fourth Test – one of which was injury-enforced, with Cheslin Kolbe breaking his jaw.
Former Boks lock Victor Matfield states that had South Africa won the opening game at Ellis Park, then the head coach would have made more changes throughout the series. While Erasmus’ side won two of the three matches in South Africa, Matfield is certain that they will be aiming for a 3-1 series victory and that’s why there hasn’t been more rotation.
“I definitely believe if we didn’t lose that first game, there would have been some changes. I think that just put us under pressure, and we had to win both games,” he said.
Adding: “We were joking about it that the series is done here in South Africa, but for Rassie and for this team, they want to win the series. They want to make it 3-1.
“We said in the beginning that for New Zealand, if they get to 2-2, it will actually be a win for them because I didn’t really think they believed they could come and win in South Africa, which they didn’t. But in the four games, they might get a chance at 2-2.”
READ MORE: Schalk Burger hits out at Cam Roigard’s ‘gamesmanship’: ‘That’s not called for in our game’
