Springboks v All Blacks: Five takeaways as ‘brutal scrum obliteration’ matters little as Dave Rennie’s charges ‘ruthlessly’ punish wasteful hosts
Tupou Vaa'i in action for All Blacks against Springboks.
Following an epic start to Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Test series, here are our five takeaways from the All Blacks’ 33-16 victory over the Springboks at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.
The top line
Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Test series certainly got the greatest introduction, as not only did South Africa and New Zealand go hammer and tongs at one another, but Johannesburg put on a belter of a show before the first whistle.
The highveld has been bitterly cold over the past few weeks, but the sun appeared on Friday and stayed until today, providing the perfect conditions for the two great rivals to collide. Despite the eye-watering price tags, Ellis Park was PACKED. Fans arrived in full voice as the rugby mad public piled into their seats ready to see history.
And they were duly rewarded before the blast of Matthew Carley’s whistle as Airlink provided not one but tw0 planes – one green for the Boks and one black for the visitors. Some might argue that the flyover at Ellis Park has become somewhat of a gimmick and doesn’t hit as hard as Lebombo did in 1995, but today, it felt fitting. Even before then, the 1996 captains – Gary Teichmann and Sean Fitzpatrick – of the last series between these two proud nations delivered their halves of the brand new trophy for the RGR. The latter was even embraced by Ardie Savea, as he held the New Zealand national flag during the anthem.
Then there were the roars for the players’ names being read out, an even bigger one when Damian de Allende ran out for his 100th Test cap for the Springboks, accompanied by his family, before one of the best-ever renditions of Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika this writer has ever heard. As the final “In South Africa, our land” echoed through the stadium, it was time for the Haka, and as requested by Rassie Erasmus, Ellis Park remained as quiet as it could be as they enjoyed the spectacle. It was a fitting start to Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry at an iconic venue that means so much to this fixture, and that was before the first whistle.
What ensued thereafter was a brutal, physical, skillful, tactical and truly epic battle between South Africa and New Zealand – which is what we’ve come to expect.
In the end, the All Blacks outscored the Springboks five tries to one, punishing the hosts’ indiscipline and inability to score points while being utterly ruthless with ball in hand. Will Jordan scored the first and last for New Zealand, with Josh Moorby, Fabian Holland and Luke Jacobson getting amongst the try-scorers too.
Andre Esterhuizen battered his way over the line for South Africa’s sole try with Cheslin Koble kicking the remainder of the points.
Scrum domination – All Blacks need to find a fix and fast
Just about every facet of this game was a contest except for one: the scrum. Frankly, it was men against boys as Ox Nche, Malcolm Marx and Wilco Louw shunted Ethan de Groot, Codie Taylor and Tyrel Lomax backwards at an astonishing rate. It was a brutal obliteration for 54 minutes, during which time New Zealand boasted an atrocious 57% success rate. In the 55th minute, they finally got a penalty of their own – fortunately so – in their 22, but for the 54 minutes before then, it was a brutal demolition job not quite seen since the Boks battered Ireland’s set-piece.
Losing De Groot before half-time didn’t help New Zealand’s cause in the scrums, nor did introducing George Bower, who replaced Lomax, who was completely outscrummaged by Nche. When the Boks made changes up front, there was somewhat of a levelling of the scrum battle, but the havoc Nche and Louw wreaked cannot be ignored.
One thing is crystal clear: the All Blacks have to find some resemblance of scrum parity in Cape Town next week. They managed to escape a heap of trouble in the scrums, but they simply cannot afford to cough up possession and penalties in that manner for the rest of the series.
New Zealand live on scraps, South Africa fail to capitalise
There was a general feeling at half-time that the single-point advantage on the scoreboard that the Springboks held was not a true reflection of the encounter, as the hosts played in the right areas of the pitch, won several key battles as mentioned above, but when it came down to it, failed to capitalise on their opportunities.
By the 64th minute, the Springboks had racked up nine entries into the All Blacks’ 22 but had a miserable 1.1 points per entry; in stark contrast, New Zealand had six entries into the Boks’ 22 and averaged 4.3 points.
Time and time again, Erasmus’ men charged into New Zealand’s 22 and came up empty-handed whilst the All Blacks came away with points, living on the scraps gifted to them.
Jordan’s score came through a gorgeous pass by Cam Roigard, who managed to catch the rapid Grant Williams somewhat flat-footed. Moorby also latched onto the final pass of a brilliant short-side attack. Holland was rather fortunate with his charge down, as it’s hard to believe that he was in fact behind the last man’s feet while Jacobson capitalised on some brilliant work off a scrum.
While the Boks were wasteful, the All Blacks were ruthless, and that was the real difference today as Dave Rennie’s men go 1-0 up in the series.
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Injuries take their toll
Both coaches knew going into this game that they would not be able to retain the same matchday 23s across the four matches, and they were proven right, with both teams suffering hammer blows in this fixture.
A nasty friendly-fire head clash took Josh Lord and De Groot in the first half, while the Boks lost Kurt-Lee Arendse, also to a head knock early on, which forced a backline reshuffle. Kolbe also did not look comfortable when he trotted off in the second half, as both coaches will hold their breath over the key players in their teams.
Springboks scrum: How two words from Rassie Erasmus birthed the most feared set-piece in world rugby
Erasmus stated that the series could be decided simply by who is left standing, and today’s brutality took its toll on both teams.
Result means for the rest of the series
Erasmus said before this match that while he hoped that his team would win the opener, it was not the most important Test match of the series – predicting that it would in fact be the third. Now, he and his counterpart, Rennie, have the opportunity to really get stuck into the analysis of their opposition.
For the hosts, there is a major need to improve their ability to capitalise on their 22-metre entries, discpline and cut out the soft moments in defence. As for Rennie, he will be pleased with his side’s ruthlessness in attack, and ever-improving discipline.
Next stop is the Cape Town Stadium, a venue that the Springboks have only lost once at – to the British and Irish Lions in 2021. The All Blacks get plenty of support in the Mother City and that will be a major positive but they will front up against a Springboks side that is hell-bent on levelling the series.