Rugby World Cup winner voices ‘properly flogged’ concern about the Springboks and singles out an area where ‘full metal jacket’ approach is needed
The retired Steven Kitshoff, inet, has been talking recently with former Springbok teammate Malcolm Marx
Double Rugby World Cup winner Steven Kitshoff fears the Springboks will be slow out of the blocks in Saturday’s Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Test series opener versus the All Blacks in Johannesburg.
Rassie Erasmus’ side has won all four of its Test matches so far in 2026, beating England, Scotland, Wales and Argentina after an uncapped warm-up against the Barbarians.
The success has stretched their winning Test-match run to 12, but retired loosehead Kitshoff has suggested that South Africa’s preparation has been shackled by rotation, resulting in their leading players getting flogged on the training ground ahead of the start of the four-match Test series.
Appearing on For The Love Of Rugby with ex-England prop Dan Cole, Kitshoff compared the respective preparations that the Springboks and the All Blacks have had leading into the series that will feature three games in South Africa (two in Johannesburg and one in Cape Town) before culminating with a September 12 finale in the United States of America.
“There’s been a lot of player rotation, not really testing combinations…”
“One of the big concerns would 100 per cent be game time,” suggested Kitshoff when quizzed on how the Springboks are shaping up. “With the way that Rassie went through the five matches leading up to this Greatest Rivalry, he has done a lot of rotation. From the Barbarians into the England, Scotland and Wales games, there’s been a lot of player rotation, not really testing combinations.
“And I felt with Dave Rennie, he’s almost picked a (New Zealand) squad to play the Nations Championship and then he rotated a lot of players throughout the (three) franchise games. The Springboks will probably take half an hour, 40 minutes just to find a little bit of a groove, so there might be this hot start from the All Blacks. They’re a bit battle-hardened; they’ve got the conditioning side, they’ve been playing games every four days.
“The Springboks would go back and say, ‘Listen here, we’ve got our squad’. These guys have been training together; they’ve been going through a week of hell as they were waiting for this first Test week, so it’ll be interesting to see where they actually sit conditioning-wise.
“I truly believe the Springboks is one of the fittest teams in world rugby, they work extremely hard, I’ve chatted to some of the players, I’ve had a conversation with Malcolm (Marx) and some of these guys and they said they’ve been properly flogged throughout the last couple of weeks as a bit of a pre-season into this RGR (Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry).
“So going from Argentina, which was almost two weekends ago, into this game there’s been a bit of a break but I know the guys have been working extremely hard to get match fit or as fit as possible without playing a match and then I’m sure they they’ll take 10, 15 minutes and they’ll be straight into it and the game would flow as we would expect.”
Given Kitshoff’s career as a front-rower and Cole’s background as an England tighthead, their conversation inevitably came around to the tasty scrum battle that is expected to materialise this weekend at Ellis Park.
“It’s going to be super interesting,” enthused the South African. “From a Springbok point of view, it will be an area that they’ll target. They’ll go full metal jacket; they’ll try and milk as many scrum penalties as possible, have a full go and try and use it as a penalty machine, try and win territory and just try and dominate the game in that aspect because there will be a lot of opportunities because of what the Springboks’ game plan would look like.
“We’ll see the aerial contest, we’ll see pressure with the rush defence, we’ll see skill set being put under pressure and the result of that would be the scrum. The scrum would give them opportunity. So from that point of view, it’s going to be massive.
“But talking about New Zealand’s scrum, it had a bit of a soft moment against the Stormers and then from there built out their scrum throughout the other two games. Against the Sharks, I thought they were dominant. Against the Bulls, we all know the Bulls have got a great scrum and they back their set-piece, and I thought they [New Zealand] were solid against the Bulls as well.
“So from an All Blacks point of view, it might be a situation where they just look to launch, to strike from, to build pressure, so it’s going to be very interesting to see where it goes.
“In history and throughout all my games that I’ve played against the All Blacks, the scrum against the All Blacks has been probably one of the toughest things that you can do. They find a way with (Tyrel) Lomax there; he’s a great scrummager. He’s tall, he’s strong, he gets quite low.
“From that point of view, it’s going to be a tough battle and if the All Blacks get it right, it will take a big weapon away from the Springboks and if the Springboks get it right, it will become a penalty machine for them.
“Bar what England is currently doing, these are probably the two best front rows and then probably the Springbok bench is just behind that. So it’s quality; there’s going to be a big battle. Both packs are quite heavy. They have a full go there and then see what happens after that.
“Probably the All Blacks will try and avoid it as much as possible, keep the ball alive. If there’s any knock-on opportunities, they’ll probably try and get the ball away from there, try and get their big carriers onto it and then try and stay away and keep the scrums to a minimum, but there’s definitely going to be a lot of opportunities come set-piece.
“Luckily the wait’s over. This Saturday we’re going to see the first Test match at Ellis Park. So, there’s a lot of drama, there’s a lot of history, there’s going to be some great match-ups. Within the games, there’s probably going to be a lot of things happening that is going to create talking points.
“But just from what these two nations have been doing over the last couple of years, it’s going to match up to become such a great game to talk about for many, many years.
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“Honestly, it’s going to be a high-scoring game. Ellis Park in the winter, it’s quite dry. There’s a lot of pace on the ball, so I would say Springboks by eight. Both teams in the mid-30s, so if I had to give a final score, 38-32 towards the Springboks.”
Reflecting on his career as a Test-level prop, Kitshoff explained that South Africa versus New Zealand was always an annual highlight. “You love and hate to play against them because I’ve also got some memories playing against the All Blacks from 2017, 2018, where we actually took massive beatings.
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“In 2017 we lost 57-nil in North Harbour, and we lost 54-7 in Durban, which is big losses as a South African outfit, but then also some historic wins where we beat them in Wellington, where we beat them at Twickenham. So really, really enjoy playing against All Blacks.
“It’s probably one of the Test matches, maybe bar England at Twickenham, you look forward to playing the most, the build-up, the week, the media, everything that goes into it. A lot of the prep that’s been done in the off-season is geared towards beating the All Blacks. So, for me, it’s been a personal favourite.
“It’s competitive; you see something different from a lot of the players, the playmakers, the key guys; they all just get out of their shells and put up a performance. So, for me, New Zealand’s been one of the top games, top fixtures of the international season.”
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