Springboks v All Blacks: World champions ‘out of lifelines’ after drawing level in Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series
The Springboks leave the field at DHL Stadium in Cape Town and their head coach Rassie Erasmus (inset).
Planet Rugby features writer Alex Spink analyses the Springboks’ 33-26 triumph against the All Blacks at DHL Stadium in Cape Town on Saturday in the second Test of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series.
Back level in the series, back on top of the world rankings. South Africa restored parity in Cape Town but, given it took every trick in the book to get past New Zealand, at what price?
Had this been Who Wants to be a Millionaire, the Springboks would now be out of lifelines. They stay alive but only because they phoned a friend, played their 50-50 and asked both the audience and host for help.
They mucked about with team selection, drew inspiration from restoring Siya Kolisi at his home ground, took energy from having to win and built defiance from being criticised and mocked for their previous performance.
None of those factors will be present in Soweto next weekend. What will, is an All Blacks sense of grievance.
The Boks deservedly won the day but in quiz show terms, they find themselves only halfway up the Money Tree. As for a safety net, a 33-26 triumph guarantees they are alive going into the final Test. Nothing more.
All Blacks ‘have not lost the war’
“We lost the battle tonight but we have not lost the war,” All Blacks captain Ardie Savea cautioned immediately afterwards.
That is a warning South Africa should take seriously. Because victory in the Mother City came at a cost. Rassie Erasmus’ mind games will have seriously wound up New Zealand.
World Rugby confirmed on Sunday that this series is being played under the auspices of a tour agreement, which has not been made public, and the Boks have no case to answer with them.
It is thus impossible to know whether Erasmus broke any rules by going full Craig David and taking New Zealand for a ride on Monday (with his early team selection), making changes to it on Tuesday and Friday and Saturday, before chilling on Sunday.
What is clear is that swapping his starting front-row for their three bench deputies shortly before kick off without medical justification would not have been allowed under World Cup regulations. At the very least, then, this was a breach of the spirit of the game.
The All Blacks took it without comment, querying neither the late, late switch of personnel nor the hugely significant earlier ones (Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu for Handre Pollard at fly-half, match winning goal-kicker Cheslin Kolbe for Kurt-Lee Arendse out wide) which followed Angus Gardner replacing the unwell Nika Amashukeli as referee – leaving Erasmus as the only one effing and jeffing in the post-match pressers.
But you can be absolutely sure it will be used as fuel by New Zealand at Soccer City and Baltimore and, given the closeness of this titanic contest, that could yet play big in the tourists’ favour.
For all the smoke-and-mirror mischief it is right to pause and applaud the quality and theatre of an epic duel; one in which Pieter-Steph du Toit broke the Kiwi curse and became the first Bok to mark 100 caps by beating New Zealand.
From ‘thud and blunder’ to ‘blood and thunder’
After the thud and blunder of Johannesburg, the double world champions reverted to blood and thunder. It sounds similar when you say it but it looked altogether different.
South Africa used their power game as a means to an end rather than merely to show off their muscles. They engaged grey matter instead of giving their collective brain the weekend off.
It meant when they got into the New Zealand 22 they didn’t run blindly into brick walls, as they had at Ellis Park. If they did not cross the whitewash, they took the three.
The upshot was their red zone efficiency rose from 0.9 points per visit on the high veldt to 4.0 at DHL Stadium; a colossal turnaround. Added to the visitors’ 2.8 average (compared to 3.7 in Joburg) it explains the result.
For that the Green and Gold, ultimately, had Kolbe to thank. The Boks ran straight and direct, Malcolm Marx was a menace at the breakdown and Erasmus’ clever use of in-game replacements eked maximum output from his 23.
But it still needed the man with the golden boot to deliver. Kolbe has yet to miss a kick in the series. Seven times he stepped up and seven times he delivered.
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“That’s Test match rugby, you need to take every point that’s given to you,” he said. “Last week we didn’t capitalise on that. Credit to the boys for sticking to the plan and taking the points on offer.”
Victory means the Springboks maintain their record of not losing successive Tests which has stood since 2021. But the All Blacks will in no way be cowed by this loss.
Even on an off-day, and with the Boks at near to their best, they had home hearts in mouths as the clock went red and green and gold shirts scrambled to defend their single score lead.
It was too close for comfort, much like the fly-past prior to kick-off by two jumbo jets which came within feet of the stadium roof.
That smacked of foolhardiness and should not be repeated. Everything else we will gladly see again. The series is set up beautifully, mischief and all.
READ MORE: Springboks: Rassie Erasmus calls for improvement in key area against ‘brilliant’ All Blacks