Springboks hero: ‘I don’t think anyone expected us to lose to the All Blacks, it’s a massive blow’
All Blacks celebrate victory over the Springboks and ex-South Africa fly-half Joel Stransky.
Former Springboks fly-half Joel Stransky believes that their defeat to the All Blacks is the “wake-up call we needed” heading into the second Test.
Rassie Erasmus’ men went 1-0 down in the four-match series following a 33-16 defeat to New Zealand at Ellis Park in Johannesburg last weekend.
South Africa will be looking to level matters in Cape Town on Saturday after suffering what Stransky felt was a surprise loss to the All Blacks.
‘Jolts us back into action’
“I don’t think anyone really expected us to lose, so it’s a massive blow. I say that with all respect, the team have been unbelievable for seven years now… and we thought on home ground that we would be difficult to beat,” he told Sport Nation.
“A new coach, new ideas, a new way of playing; trying to spread the ball wide against a big strong side in Jo’burg at Ellis Park, the Springboks home really, and we just came unstuck.
“I thought the All Blacks were excellent but, for us, on the mental side I think it’s the wake-up call we needed and maybe it just jolts us back into action and gets us back on track again.”
The Springboks have been the dominant team in the game under Erasmus, winning back-to-back Rugby World Cups and leading the rankings for the majority of the time since.
However, they were usurped in the standings by the All Blacks, who made it four successive Test victories under new head coach Dave Rennie.
Although the 17-point margin in Johannesburg wasn’t truly representative of how the game went, the tourists took their chances while the hosts quite simply didn’t.
“I think going back a week, I was bitterly disappointed in the lack of opportunities we created on the back of some scrum and forward dominance, particularly in the first 30 minutes,” Stransky said.
“The All Blacks had an injury and the front-row changed, and all of a sudden there was parity at scrum time, but at that point I thought we should have taken advantage.
“We bullied them, we’d been physical, we’d had the upper hand, we looked strong and yet we didn’t take advantage and most importantly we didn’t create opportunities.
“I thought in that second half we would build on that foundation and the influence of Tony Brown and a bit structured attack would come to the fore, but instead it turned out to be the opposite.”
Comment: Rassie Erasmus rarely makes the same mistake twice and the All Blacks will know that
Springboks’ lack of ambition
Stransky felt that they became too conservative and were ultimately relying on the individual stars to produce moments of magic.
“It almost looked like we panicked a bit and went back to kicking a bit more. We went back to shoving on all our best players in any position and hoping that some individual brilliance would score a couple of tries and bring us back into the game,” he added.
“I was disappointed and I think all South Africans were disappointed, but in the same breath, you’ve got to give credit where it’s due, the All Blacks were very smart indeed.
“In that first 20 minutes I don’t think Paul de Villiers contested one breakdown, he made 12 tackles to anyone else’s five or six in the first 30 minutes. He was isolated in terms of being forced to make the tackles and not contesting.
“The All Blacks carried wisely, not always strongly, but they always made sure there was support. They recycled the ball well, when they got a bit of a sniff they went wide at the right times, were clinical and scored.
“It’s what you expect and we just didn’t have the weapons to combat it on the day.”