Springboks v All Blacks: Winners and losers as South Africa’s premier wing ‘steps’ his way into the history books after ‘technological mess-up’ halts play
Springboks v All Blacks: Winners and losers as South Africa's premier wing 'steps' his way into the history books after 'technological mess-up' halts play
The Springboks have defeated the All Blacks for the third Test in a row, claiming Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series in a 43-28 thriller in Baltimore on Saturday.
Here are our winners and losers from the match.
Winners
Beauden Barrett
Granted, he was only on the field for a matter of minutes – nine to be exact – but during that time he touched down to score the All Blacks’ final try of the evening, showing that even in his advancing years, he still has the pace and tenacity to beat defenders to the tryline over short distances. He also added another cap to his tally as he chases down Richie McCaw and Sam Whitelock to become the most experienced New Zealand rugby player of all time.
Morne van den Berg
After impressing off the bench earlier in the series, he was granted the starting shirt over Cobus Reinach for the decider, and boy did he take his chance. His first-ever try against the All Blacks came at a brilliant time, stretching the lead midway through the first half in what had been an incredibly tight affair up to that point.
He continued to perform impressively throughout, leading much of the attack from nine and displaying great leadership around the park. Early into the second half, he made an incredible turnover penalty win on his opposite number, Cam Roigard, which halted the All Blacks during what was looking like a very promising attack. He even took over goal-kicking duties when Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu was struggling, showing the confidence that he has in his game.
Deon Fourie
The 39-year-old hooker became the oldest-ever Springbok when he took to the field in the 39th minute. The fact that he’s been selected for the last three matches is a testament to the man. Also, returning to the international fold after three years out, and not looking like he’s skipped a beat, shows real character. He’ll be 41 when the World Cup comes around next year, but if he can remain as lively on the field, there’s no reason he won’t be on the plane to Australia next September.
Kurt-Lee Arendse
The electric winger stepped his way into the history books with a brilliant solo try, all but securing victory in the final 10 minutes. He’s such a balanced runner, and every time he received the ball on Saturday, he threatened to stretch his legs. He only carried the ball on seven occasions, but during those, he broke the line four times and beat eight defenders for a remarkable 169 metres made.
It’s often easy to forget just how good he is when playing for the same side as the arguably more famous Cheslin Kolbe, but on Saturday, with Kolbe out with a broken jaw, Arendse stepped up and claimed his place as South Africa’s premier winger. He now has an international strike rate of 27 tries in 35 matches, making that an average of 0.77 per match.
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Losers
Officials’ comms
Suspiciously around the 20-minute mark, the officials’ communications equipment failed, resulting in an almost 15-minute break from play…just enough time for an ad break perhaps? Okay, we’re being a bit cynical, but remember during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, they would have ‘hydration breaks’, which were just excuses to show ads – well, need we say more?
Moving on from our conspiracy theories, the officials did continue after the extended break without their equipment, which did, however, seem to kick back into life shortly afterwards. So if it was some sort of major cover-up, then they certainly played their parts well, but if it was the infinitely more likely possibility that it was a genuine technological mess-up, then that’s a disaster for the organisers, as a back-up should surely have been prepared, or at least have the equipment thoroughly checked before use.
Richie Mo’unga
Despite all the excitement surrounding his return, he did figuratively nothing in the first half. A couple of passes here and there, but he was unable to gain any hold on the game. Granted, when the opposition scrum is forcing your own into submitting before the ball is even put in, there’s unlikely to be any foundation to work from. He did start to find his feet in the second half as the game opened up, but it was a far cry from the return to the starting team that he would have hoped for.
Tupou Vaa’i
An ill-disciplined nightmare. We may be able to ignore him gifting the Springboks an early three points early on, but we certainly cannot ignore giving away the most ridiculous penalty for holding on to an opposition player when the All Blacks were in a great position to attack.
The All Blacks were just eight points behind with time left on the clock to bring the game back into the balance, but Vaa’i seemingly forgot what was at stake and gave away the most needless of penalties – all over a bloke who was involved in a ruck that was no longer live. Madness. Oh, and he also missed five tackles, which against any team is bad, but against the Springboks…oh boy.
Codie Taylor
It was a bit of a mixed one for the All Blacks hooker. He scored the opening try, captained his country and did relatively well in the set-piece, bar a couple of dodgy lineouts. But the issue is, he’s not performing like a world-class number two at the moment, which, if he looks over his shoulder, could raise some concerns. Because over his shoulder is the Hurricanes hooker Asafo Aumua, who IS in world-class form. If Taylor doesn’t start to regain the form that made him such a revered star in the first place, then he could find the 29-year-old Aumua locking down his place for the World Cup.