Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry: Eight things we learnt including the All Blacks’ ‘two-fold’ issue, while Springboks’ old dogs still have bite
Springboks lock Eben Etzebeth and an inset of All Blacks boss Dave Rennie.
Following the conclusion of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry, here’s what we learnt about the Springboks and All Blacks.
Springboks’ Old Dogs still have plenty of bite
The demise of the Springboks juggernaut has been predicted time and time again as Rassie Erasmus continues to wheel out the tried-and-tested stars of the past two Rugby World Cups.
The Boks head coach has to filter out the old dogs and breathe new life into the team is the running line that many a pundit and fan has utilised in recent times, with players like Eben Etzebeth, Siya Kolisi, Damian de Allende, Cobus Reinach, and Pieter-Steph du Toit ageing further and further into their 30s.
However, those old dogs rose to the occasion during Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series and reminded the world of their class and showed that they still have plenty in the tank with Australia 2027 just over a year away.
Etzebeth came into the series with almost no rugby under his belt since his eye-gouging of Alex Mann last November, with 80 minutes in Buenos Aires being the only mileage in his legs, but that mattered little for the most capped Springboks player of all time, who was colossal in every Test, particularly the last three. His best mate and captain was just as influential, if not more so, once he returned from injury for the second Test.
Kolisi attributed the swing in results from Tests one to four to the work of the coaches and particularly head coach Erasmus, but the skipper deserves his flowers too. Paul de Villiers did a fine job in terms of skill execution and impact in Kolisi’s absence in the opener at Ellis Park, but the double World Cup-winner captain showed his class from Cape Town to Baltimore. His try in the Mother City was crucial, his energy and handling of the officials underrated. There is no doubt about the fact that the Boks are better with Kolisi than without him.
De Allende went toe-to-toe with Jordie Barrett, who is considered the best 12 in the world, and proved that he is comfortably in that conversation too, especially after bouncing back from the disappointment of losing his 100th Test match in Green and Gold. Reinach continued his late-career blossom from last year, while Pieter-Steph du Toit was well, Pieter-Steph du Toit. There arguably hasn’t been a forward in international rugby who has been as influential, consistent and utterly world-class as Du Toit, and in every one of the four Tests, he was simply fantastic again.
Then there is the oldest Springbok of them all, Deon Fourie. Called up to the squad after a world-class performance in the blue and white of the Stormers, Fourie was trusted to be Malcolm Marx’s back-up while moonlighting as a flanker too. His leadership, breakdown brilliance and overall work-rate defied his age and has us pondering whether Erasmus could be taking a 41-year-old to Australia next year – who isn’t part of the coaching team.
World Rugby stuffed the Rugby World Cup draw
On the topic of the World Cup, the RGR series has once again proven just how flawed World Rugby’s seedings were for the draw. If things go as predicted, South Africa and New Zealand will meet in the quarter-finals of the tournament.
We had a similar occurrence in France 2023, and the game’s governing body delayed the draw this time around in an attempt to avoid a repeat, but miserably failed as the top two-ranked sides at the time of the draw were still set on a collision course for the last-eight. Adding insult to injury, it is the two most successful teams in the tournament’s history.
The RGR series only further highlighted how much of a shame this is, with the two nations producing four gripping Test matches at the quality and intensity of at least a World Cup semi-final.
All Blacks rediscover their identity
Dave Rennie’s remit when he took over from Scott Robertson was a simple one: get the All Blacks back on track for the Rugby World Cup. A 3-1 series defeat suggests that he is failing to do that so far, but if one looks beyond that simple statistic, improvements are clear to see.
The backlash from the defeats to South Africa under Scott Robertson and Rennie have been chalk and cheese, and perhaps the biggest reason for that is because All Blacks fans recognise their team again. Under Razor, the men in black look far more pragmatic, conservative and risk-averse.
However, under Rennie, there has been a stark difference in the style of play, with the All Blacks’ flair, cut-throat and ruthless attack once again being an obvious strength. There was a real freedom to their attacking structures, a willingness to keep the ball alive – even to their own detriment at times. Still, there was a feel that the All Blacks of old were back, or at least on track to being back.
When Erasmus took charge of the Boks back in 2018, he was quick to get the squad playing in a style that suited their strengths and DNA, and Rennie is clearly attempting to do the same.
But they have a scrum and coaching problem
With all the positives around the All Blacks since Robertson’s departure, there are still plenty of negatives and areas of their game that are holding them back. The scrum is one of their biggest.
It was a storyline throughout the series, with Rennie and his staff accusing the Springboks of illegalities at the set-piece, Erasmus and co vehemently refuting them, with World Rugby hardly playing the peacekeeper role as they didn’t agree with the New Zealanders’ complaints.
The brakefoot was an issue for the Kiwis while they regularly complained about the Boks’ ‘walking around in the scrum’. However, it wasn’t just against Erasmus’ men that the cracks in the set-pieces, not just the scrum, began to show. In fact, it was the very first game of the tour where the Stormers put their scrum under the pump and got great purchase from their driving maul.
The issue with the scrum is two-fold. One, questions have to be raised about whether the current crop of All Blacks front rowers are fit for purpose. Tyrel Lomax has proven to be a world-class tighthead prop before, but that wasn’t entirely evident on this tour while Tamaiti Williams’ absence was sorely felt. The rest? Well, George Bower was praised as a saviour in Test one but did little thereafter, while Fletcher Newell perhaps returns to New Zealand with his reputation slightly enhanced rather than dented. Finally, Xavier Numia was hit and more, arguably more the latter, with the same applying to Pasilio Tosi. These players are all strong around the park, but less so in the scrums, and in a tight Test between the best nations in the world, it matters.
The second issue is that as much as one can question the playing stocks, the coaches have to cop the blame too. Neil Barnes has been dubbed a ‘straightshooter’, described as a man not shy to share his brutally honest opinion and an old-school operator. Those may all be true, but in the final fortnight of the series he sounded more outdated, grumpy and a man looking for excuses rather than solutions.
“We get two penalties against us at the start of the game for a brake-foot, which no one really gives a s*** about, but the referees are concentrating on,” he said after the defeat in Baltimore. That’s a defeatist mentality.
It matters to the officials; it’s in the lawbook, so why wasn’t it properly addressed on the training paddock, especially when it was an issue against the Stormers? Barnes is the ‘senior assistant coach’ to Rennie, meaning he has more pull and influence than Jason Ryan and the others, and those remarks and the ones he made the week prior don’t paint him in a great light.
The All Blacks were punished because of their perceived, rightly or wrongly, illegalities in the set-pieces, and they didn’t adjust as they should have. That’s not just the players’ fault but the coaching staff’s too.
Ryan, who was Robertson’s assistant at the Crusaders, made a remarkable improvement on the All Blacks’ forwards when he joined Ian Foster’s coaching team in the build-up to the 2023 Rugby World Cup. Their scrum could rival the Boks and any other team in the game while their maul defence was arguably the best of the best. Fast forward three years and the same is simply not the case. That begs the question: is Ryan being afforded enough pull, time, and influence on the team or is he being drowned out by the new coaching team or has he not adapted to the new laws well enough? Rennie needs to find the answer to that sooner rather than later.
All Blacks are no longer the leaders in innovation
That brings us to our next learning, which is more a re-learning than something new: The All Blacks are no longer the leaders in innovation. As mentioned above, Ryan had a maul defence strategy that was resolute and troubled every international team, but the new law changes have weakened that strength.
This year, the New Zealanders have also trialled a new tactic under the high ball with wingers chasing back to catch the ball instead of coming forwards onto it. It worked relatively well in the Nations Championship matches and was passable in the first Test against the Springboks, but Erasmus and his staff adapted with the South Africans dominating the air for the next three Tests.
The way the Springboks identified an issue in their game, where the opposition had an advantage, and then went about nullifying it was in stark contrast to how the All Blacks managed the set-pieces. And that isn’t the only example.
With the scrum struggling, one of Rennie’s solutions was simply to give the Springboks fewer opportunities to scrum and throw into the lineout. Sure, that is a possible fix but requires the players to execute nigh-on flawlessly with ball in hand despite the added pressure of the opposition’s defence or fatigue. All Blacks are still humans; they will make mistakes.
South Africa were particularly excellent with their competing at lineout time, and it took until the fourth Test for the All Blacks to really respond. Prior to that, they were happy to throw to the front lifter, often a prop, and play out from there. Rennie explained that they were simply happy to retain possession in any way possible, even if it hindered their attack. Again, this felt like the All Blacks were accepting defeat in small battles, instead of addressing the root cause.
Canal+ needs to sort SuperSport’s broadcasting
Now that Canal+ has officially taken over ownership of the MultiChoice Group, which owns SuperSport, it’s time that the French television giant starts making changes, particularly to how the Springboks are covered.
Far too often throughout the series, fans were left perplexed by officiating decisions simply because the TV director opted to show pan cameras across the VIPs and celebs in the crowd instead of the action on the pitch. If it wasn’t that, they were showing the incorrect replays.
With the likes of Schalk Burger, Steven Kitshoff, Breyton Paulse, Victor Matfield, Jean de Villiers and others employed on the punditry team, the overall product is strong, but focusing on the action rather than the celebs needs to be the priority.
Canal+ is the broadcaster of the Top 14, and while they too highlight some of the celebs in attendance, it doesn’t detract from the matters on the pitch.
World Rugby’s work cut out before USA 2031
Similarly, World Rugby has its work cut out for it looking ahead to the 2031 Rugby World Cup as issues with referee communications persist in the United States.
It has been reported that assurances were made that a repeat of the problems that plagued the All Blacks versus Ireland fixture in Chicago would not be repeated, but that wasn’t the case.
World Rugby paid New Zealand Rugby and South African Rugby a fee to take the game to the USA, an incentive for teams to take fixtures to America in the build-up to 2031, and while the Springboks and All Blacks delivered a professional and top-quality performance to drum up excitement, the game was still left looking amateur with the communication failure.
World Rugby’s hardline on referee-bashing doesn’t apply to all
In July this year, World Rugby introduced a Match Official Abuse Sanctioning Process to reduce comments “which often are the basis of the unacceptable increase in abuse and threats towards match officials.”
Italy boss Gonzalo Quesada was the first to feel the brunt of the process as he was slapped with a two-Test suspension by the game’s governing body after calling French referee Luc Ramos “super poor” in an interview after the defeat to the All Blacks.
World Rugby acted swiftly to punish Quesada for his remarks but have remained mum on Rennie’s assistant Barnes, who lashed out at the officiating of the brake foot as detailed above and said that the Springboks got the rub of the green from the refereeing team.
“When you look at the video, both teams have done the same thing at the same time. There were two penalties against us,” he said.
“So, I guess at the end of the day there’s a perception there that the Springboks are the dominant team, but at the moment they’re getting the rub of the green. When that changes, we’ll have a fair go.”
He added: “We’ve got to be in a position where we can actually control the game for longer with the speed of it to fatigue them more. Every time they keep getting penalties for bugger all and get to slow the game down, it brings them back into it.”