Opinion: Springboks were ‘outfoxed, outboxed’ and deserved to lose to ruthless All Blacks despite perceived referee misgivings
All Blacks Quinn Tupaea celebrates after scoring a try against the Springboks and an inset of Rassie Erasmus.
Outfoxed, outboxed and outplayed, there is no need to look to the officials, the Springboks let themselves down in defeat to the All Blacks at Eden Park.
The outrage and disappointment for South Africa’s failure to end the insane unbeaten run at the ‘Garden of Eden’ has barely died off, and Rassie Erasmus has already moved on, naming his team on Monday for Saturday’s rematch at Sky Stadium in Wellington.
Perhaps a ploy to shift the conversation and a not-so-subtle one. However, it would be remiss to simply move on from the defeat at Eden Park in such a brisk fashion.
The aftermath of the match has seen many a Springbok fan zone in on the performance of referee Karl Dickson, and perhaps there is some merit to their grievances. A few of the scrum calls were somewhat suspect, the All Blacks‘ breakdown antics can be questioned, while the incredibly subjective application of the advantage law continues to leave many baffled.
Poor start
But as much as fans would like to pin the blame on Dickson and his officiating team, South Africa’s defeat in Auckland was very much the doing of Erasmus, his players and coaching team.
The head coach admitted as much, stating that perhaps their selection calls were incorrect. In some cases, that is absolutely true, while Erasmus also rued the ‘stupid’ errors that his charges made.
Quite frankly, the All Blacks were a much better team on the day. They were more accurate, smarter and ruthless.
The opening phases of the game were a clear indication. Finlay Christie, who enjoyed a phenomenal performance, got off to a rocky start with a below-average clearance from the kick-off. Willie le Roux launches the kick-return attack, and immediately, the Springboks are in a fantastic attacking position, particularly after Marco van Staden’s powerhouse carry. But all that good work is undone by Handre Pollard’s poor short-pass. He wasn’t helped by Damian de Allende stuttering his run while Jesse Kriel ran a sharp line, but the pass was perfectly placed that it dropped down in between the two centres, and Billy Proctor pounced. The All Blacks’ midfield did not muck about, putting in a superb kick and pinning the Boks just outside their 22 after some excellent cover work by Cheslin Kolbe. From the first minute of the game, South Africa have lost the first battle for territory and epically so.
In the first minute of the match, South Africa went from a threatening attacking position to under pressure, defending a lineout just outside their red zone. The opening knockings train wreck went from bad to shambolic as Le Roux shot too aggressively on Emoni Narawa, who completed a stunning catch, and was left scrambling as he went over the top of the winger who sped down the flank, dummied Kolbe – who didn’t trust the cover defence – and ran through to open the scoring. Errors from experienced internationals who’d expect better from themselves.
Prior to the match, Kriel spoke about the need to stack positives on positives in order to beat New Zealand at their spiritual home, but in the first 90 seconds, it was negatives on negatives, and any All Blacks team worth its salt will punish that, and they did.
While Erasmus rued ‘stupid’ mistakes from his players, it was paired with stupid tactics too. The kick-off after Narawa’s try was a clear-cut example of that. Pollard punched the ball long and straight from the restart, usually a decent idea, but not if the player catching the ball is Jordie Barrett. The midfielder has one of the most powerful boots in world rugby, and with the Boks’ chasers affording him space, Barrett was able to unleash that weapon, finding touch in between South Africa’s 10 and 22m lines – a marvellous clearance. The rain lashed down from that moment on, and they spent the next five minutes attempting to exit their half, only doing so with a bit of excellence from Grant Williams after a failed All Blacks’ lineout.
Not too long after, the Springboks reached into their box of tricks, deploying the viral midfield lineout, but failed to hide their intentions well enough to the wily Scott Barrett. The All Blacks skipper saw it coming far too easily and barked out orders to his forwards not to engage, and it was the lock himself who spoiled the ploy by forcing the knock-on as Ruan Nortje attempted to transfer the ball to Van Staden. Again, an example of New Zealand outfoxing the Boks with Nortje not reacting quickly enough to play the ball off the top or not holding onto it.
All Blacks captain Scott Barrett spots the Springboks intention to form a midfield lineout and an inset of him stopping it.
All Blacks punish Springboks errors
Piling the negatives on negatives again, the All Blacks benefit from an arguably too brief knock-on advantage with Beauden Barrett sensationally executing a 50:22. While one can argue the brevity of the advantage, Canan Moodie’s decision to kick was daft. Rightly or wrongly, referees generally call ‘advantage over’ when a kick is made on scrum advantage.
From the ensuing lineout, Wayne Smith’s visit to the All Blacks’ camp possibly inspires the try as New Zealand sends the lethal Will Jordan running off the shoulder of the abrasive Wallace Sititi. The full-back has enough pace to speed to the try line with New Zealand exploiting the defensive set-up of the Boks, which sees Malcolm Marx defending the ‘vacuum’. The hooker would expect himself to make that tackle 9/10 times, but this was that one occasion, and unsurprisingly, with a try-scoring machine like Jordan running down that channel.
The next restart went straight to Jordie Barrett again. This time, he scoffed his kick on this occasion, finding touch just outside the 22, but it did not take long for the Boks to gift possession to the opposition, as after a few quick phases on attack, De Allende pokes a kick through that was always going to be challenging for even the rapid Kriel to regather. Centre Barrett easily scoops it up. Christie clears, unconvincingly so, gifting another handy position for Erasmus’ men from the lineout.
A lineout over the 15 metre line, successfully won, allowed Sititi to disrupt the transfer from Pieter-Steph du Toit to Williams – resulting in sloppy play and a scrum to South Africa. The Boks do get reward at the scrum and Pollard slots the penalty.
Now gaining some sort of momentum, it does not take long for the Boks to be gifted another prime opportunity to strike, with the All Blacks guilty of deploying the now outlawed escort lines. But instead of turning the screws, while 14-3 down, Kriel points to the sticks and backs Pollard to continue his flawless kicking streak for the Boks this year. However, it was a low percentage shot at goal even for an in-form sharpshooter of Pollard’s pedigree.
After stacking some positives, the negative came, and after a decent kicking exchange, it was Eben Etzebeth who delivered another negative with his botched Tombstone Piledriver on Damian McKenzie.
The scores would remain unchanged for the remainder of the half, but that was certainly not down to the lack of opportunities the Springboks had. After a glorious 50:22, a muddle up at a lineout resulted in a free-kick. The set-piece was certainly a problem area again for the men in Green and Gold. Sure, the All Blacks made use of dark arts to close the gap and put pressure on the jumpers and Marx’s throws, but South Africa didn’t make matters any better by picking trickier positions to hit and set up the lineout slowly.
The theme of the first half was simple. The All Blacks were ruthless. They had two opportunities to score and took them. In stark contrast, the Springboks were wasteful and inaccurate.
The statistics after the break confirmed that notion.
All Blacks-Springboks half-time stats:
Territory: 47-53
Possession: 48-52
Tackles: 56-49
Tackles missed: 8-12
Carries: 44-36
Metres: 228-186
Penalties: 5-4
Linebreaks: 2-0
Kicks made: 23-21
Kick metres: 610-399
Turnovers conceded: 8-5
Lineout success: 5/7 – 7/10
That theme continued in the second half despite a purple patch start in the first two minutes as Le Roux sacrificed a rib to send Kolbe tearing down the touchline – a pass that certainly looked forward but considering that it’s a SANZAAR tournament, was deemed to be Super Rugby flat. Kolbe’s kick and chase resulted in a lineout for the All Blacks five metres from their line, with Ardie Savea flexing his incredible pace to keep up with Kolbe – possibly denying the try.
After succumbing to the All Blacks’ dark arts at the lineout in the first half, Etzebeth responded with some of his own as he slapped the arm of Tupou Vaa’i after he claimed Samisoni Taukei’aho’s throw. Williams pounced on the loose ball, stacking the positives, but a stupid decision quickly followed to continue the trend of wastefulness.
Etzebeth’s lunge to the line was just short, and Ox Nche followed it up with one of his own, but instead of being patient, the loosehead prop span and reached out for the line, but the All Blacks were clinical in defence as Rieko Ioane gratefully held his arms open to receive grounding and deny the try. An easy let-off is a serious understatement. A penalty soon after the goal-line dropout stacked a negative on another negative.
Positives for Erasmus
After a 57-0 humbling at the hands of the All Blacks in 2017, ex-Bok head coach Allister Coetzee infamously stated that there were some positives in the performance.
“These guys will bounce back. A lot of people will see the score and not draw any positives from it, but I see a lot of positives in it,” he said.
Those comments proved incredibly controversial and wary not to repeat his predecessor’s mistake when posed the same question, Erasmus responded: “I suppose the one positive is that we are still in the race for the Rugby Championship title, and if one looks at the match, we played badly for 15 minutes, and as the game progressed, we got better.
“We are very disappointed, but we played the No. 1 team in the world, and we have to put everything into trying to win next week.”
The Boks have set insanely high standards for themselves, ones that they certainly did not reach on Saturday at Eden Park, but one cannot help but feel that the head coach is being somewhat harsh on his charges. Perhaps that can be put down to the rawness of the defeat.
Frankly, South Africa played poorly for long periods of the 80 minutes, but there were shoots of light, particularly from the bench. Cobus Reinach’s introduction was inspired, even if it was paired with a foolish penalty from Pieter-Steph du Toit, who lunged out at the ruck to illegally take out Christie, gifting McKenzie three points.
The ensuing restart again went to Jordie Barrett, but clearly, the Springboks learnt from the mistakes of the first half. Pollard’s kick was closer to the touchline, closing the angle, and was chased far more aggressively by Moodie, Etzebeth and the fresh Lood de Jager, the latter pairing hammering the midfielder to the ground. A poor clearance from Christie was paired with a functional lineout, stacking the positives, only for an obstruction to undo all the good work. Another golden opportunity wasted.
The scrum was a clear positive. Thomas du Toit and Nche won a penalty just before the hour mark, and while the attack from the ensuing lineout spoiled another opportunity, the inspired decision to throw Wilco Louw at that precise moment resulted in one of the most dominant scrums in recent memory, perhaps more so than the penalty try against Ireland in July last year.
A shove against the head left the All Blacks reeling, and this time the positives were stacked enough to finish off the opportunity as Kwagga Smith rampaged just short with Marx going the extra metre to finish off the try. Sacha Feinberg-Mgnomezulu’s conversion further stacked the positives to give hope of a late rally, but that could only last so long as De Jager and Smith mucked up the restart.
SCRUM OF THE YEAR! *Sound ON*
World Rugby may try to depower it…
Pundits may call it boring…
But Scrum IS Rugby 😍🍆🔥 pic.twitter.com/RKHgE7QVnv— Tim Cocker (@cocker) September 6, 2025
The former was tracking back to claim the kick-off, and the latter was running head-on. In this position, it should be Smith’s ball, but the miscommunication leads to a penalty as De Jager is deemed to have obstructed the All Blacks’ chasers. A harsh decision? Perhaps, but not an incorrect one.
What was absolutely the incorrect decision is what Smith did next. After winning the lineout, the All Blacks surge towards the line. Tamaiti Williams stood over the ball, not bound, at a ruck near the try-line. The Springboks’ replacement spots this and believes that he is within his rights to go for the ball, particularly after the earlier decision that resulted in the second All Blacks’ goal-line dropout, when Taukei’aho clattered into Reinach. But the optics were always going to be against Smith and the Boks in this situation. It was a gamble with absurd odds.
Again, the ruthlessness of the All Blacks was on full display and unlike the Boks in their first half, they remained patient near the try-line, and when Ethan Hooker’s pleas for support were ignored, Quinn Tupaea struck. McKenzie’s conversion pushed the hosts into a 14-point lead with 12 to play – all but ensuring that the Eden Park unbeaten run would continue.
The reaction from Erasmus, caught by the cameras, left little to the imagination, but again, there was some light in the dark for the Boks as Jan-Hendrik Wessels replaced Marx shortly after New Zealand’s score.
Rassie Erasmus posts 17-word ‘does not lie’ message after Springboks’ loss to All Blacks
Breakdown issues
The highly-rated young front-row forward hit his jumper on both of his first two lineouts, the latter of which De Allende utilised his boot with far greater accuracy and effectiveness, dissecting the All Blacks’ backfield expertly as the ball bounced between McKenzie and debutant Kyle Preston, who managed to scoop up the ball and slide over the line.
With a scrum five metres out, the Boks smelt blood and learnt from the mishaps in the first half when Reinach sped away from the breakdown and through the scrambling defence to score. A great competitive exit from Reinach was followed up by a great chase and a few phases later, an error from the All Blacks and a scrum penalty.
South Africa’s march upfield was spoiled by a brilliant turnover by Savea, who had an unreal game, after a late clearout from the Boks. But Wessels rose to the occasion with a phenomenal turnover to give his side a crack at a draw when he snatched the ball from the grasp of opposing front-rower Tyrel Lomax.
But it was not to be. Kolbe cleaned up after a loose ball, but the winger was isolated, and the All Blacks stormed into the breakdown – as they did to perfection for much of the match to disrupt the Springboks’ scrum-halves, their box-kicks and attacking flow, often deploying a second shove tactic brilliantly – winning the turnover that ended the match.
The Springboks’ breakdown has been an issue in recent games, something the All Blacks coaching team certainly picked up in their analysis. Robertson’s side were expected to struggle under the high ball, and while to a large extent they did, they smartly went about disrupting the Boks’ kickers at source, spoiling the platform of those kicks instead of relying on the backfield to cover.
As for the selections, Erasmus may rue the decision to select Le Roux in the starting XV as well as the call not to include further cover at number eight in the touring squad. Jean-Luc du Preez sustained an unlucky injury in the midweek, which was a hammer blow, but one the coaching ticket should have foreseen. Kolisi didn’t have a poor outing, but even he admits that he isn’t in the classic mould of a Bok number eight.
If Erasmus does need a positive from the defeat, there is a major one. The Springboks played well below par, wasted chances, and gifted points, but still fought their way into a position where they could have left Eden Park victorious or even with a draw. But knowing the high expectations and standards that have been set, there may well just be a feeling that the best thing about the match is that it is behind them.