‘Not All Blacks standards’ – Israel Dagg hits out after shocking statistic revealed

Israel Dagg has stated that New Zealand’s defensive blunders were “not All Blacks standards” after they shipped 36 unanswered points against the Springboks in the second half.

Scott Robertson’s men ended up losing 43-10 to their great rivals in what was the biggest-ever loss in the nation’s history.

There were a number of issues in their display which ultimately resulted in the lopsided scoreline but, on Sport Nation’s Scotty and Izzy show, presenter Scotty Stevenson highlighted one particularly concerning statistic.

‘How do you even conjure such a statistic?’

“I just want to talk about one stat, and it’s the one stat above all others for me; there were 46 missed tackles. Are you joking? That is a village,” a furious Stevenson said.

“That many missed tackles in a Test from the All Blacks, I don’t know what’s going on there. How do you even conjure such a statistic?

“I know that they were absolutely under the pump but 46 missed tackles. Yikes.”

Dagg agreed and slammed their defensive display, saying: “That’s not a good stat, that’s not All Blacks standards.”

It wasn’t the only problem for New Zealand, however, and the former All Blacks star looked at why the Springboks managed to dominate, especially in the second period.

“From an All Blacks point of view, it’s always going to be a tough night when the set-piece is going backwards, you can’t get any continuity going, you’re constantly on the back foot,” he said.

“When you get the ball you’re trying to win off first phase, you’re probably not willing to go to a dark place and build some pressure, get some opportunities, and bring a bit of fatigue into them.

“In saying that, they didn’t look like they were going to fatigue whatsoever.”

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High ball woes

Dagg also remains frustrated by their aerial game, which continues to be an issue and enabled the visitors to advance up the field far too easily.

“The same old questions, the same old problems at the moment with the high ball,” he added. “We’re just losing the air and I say it most weeks, if you lose the air, you lose the game – it’s just clear and obvious now.”

Those errors were then compounded by the impact – or lack of – from the replacements, who collapsed under the presence South Africa exerted.

“From a bench point of view, it looked like they came on and it looked like they were a little bit amiss. There was that RG Snyman try when Fabian [Holland] just shot out and he left a little corridor where they weren’t really on the same page,” Dagg said.

“I’d love to know some of the conversations out there. Were the leaders standing up and being pivotal in those moments?”

READ MORE: Justin Marshall: Springboks ‘ambushed’ the All Blacks as Scott Robertson’s side left shocked