Nick Mallett: Springboks’ World Cup places on the line in Cape Town as losing is unacceptable
Springboks players huddle and an inset of ex-head coach Nick Mallett.
A Springboks loss in Cape Town is an unacceptable result, according to former head coach Nick Mallett.
Rassie Erasmus’ men head to the Mother City trailing the All Blacks 1-0 in Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series with the knowledge that winning the series is impossible if they lose.
The back-to-back world champions were soundly beaten 33-16 at Ellis Park in the opening Test, meaning that a positive result is required if they are to remain in the hunt to win the series.
Losing simply isn’t an option, according to Mallett, who believes that several players may have their hopes of making the 2027 World Cup squad dashed in Cape Town with an underwhelming performance.
While Erasmus has cast a wide net and issued several debuts since reclaiming the head coaching reins from Jacques Nienaber, there are plenty of elder statesmen who remain in the squad from the last two tournament victories.
Big test for ageing Springboks
There are players like Bongi Mbonambi, Vincent Koch, Makazole Mapimpi and Faf de Klerk who have fallen down the pecking order since South Africa defeated New Zealand in the final in Paris, but Mallett believes that the second RGR Test could be a make-or-break moment for others.
“This will be the test. Listen, this is going to be the test for a number of players. It’s one year out from the World Cup again; a lot of them still want to go to the World Cup. This is a big challenge,” he said on SuperSport’s Final Whistle Presents Side Entry show.
“You’re playing the best team in the world now; they jumped ahead of us. You’re playing a very, very good team four times in a row, and you have to show your personality and your character. If we don’t, then Rassie has players that can step up. So this is a massive challenge for this group of players.
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“Everyone’s spoken about our strength in depth, but against the All Blacks, we are going to have that tested, and you’re going to have your character tested.
“The frustration of Saturday has got to really burn inside them the whole week, so that when we come on against them in Cape Town, there is no way we can lose. There’s absolutely no way we can lose because, you know, 2-0, we can only draw the series, and that’s unacceptable.”
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The big difference between the two teams
Mallett was certainly disappointed by the Springboks’ loss but said that the team didn’t lack character in their performance and that there were definitely positives that they could take away from the encounter.
“I think there was urgency. There was a lot of physicality on defence. Our scrums were good. We lost the first lineout, but our lineouts were okay,” he said.
“The delivery wasn’t great but we were in the game, and our ability to get into their 22 was unmatched. We got into their 22 10, 11, or 12 times in the first 50 minutes, and we only scored one try.
“You don’t want to say you take positives out of a game where you concede five tries but the big problem for me is they [the All Blacks] are devastating on attack. They can sense an opportunity, and they generally take it. The problem we had was our inability to take the opportunities. Take the opportunities, and it’s a different game.”
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