‘Unlike the Springboks’ – Where Rassie Erasmus’ side could have an advantage as All Blacks great claims tourists have been ‘beaten up’
All Blacks haka against the Springboks and South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus.
Former All Blacks star Justin Marshall admits that the “arduous” Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour has taken its toll on Dave Rennie’s side.
New Zealand have suffered a raft of injuries over the past month or so, with key trio Luke Jacobson, Quinn Tupaea and captain Ardie Savea among those to miss the final Test in Baltimore this weekend.
As well as the three previous Tests, the All Blacks have had games against the four big South African franchises, the Stormers, Sharks, Bulls and Lions.
In contrast, while the internationals have been immensely physical, the Boks have only had to focus on the matches against their arch-rivals.
Fewer Springboks injuries
While they have had the odd injury issue, with Cheslin Kolbe out of Saturday’s match due to a broken jaw, Erasmus has only had to tweak his team during the series.
“I certainly feel that they’re beaten up a bit, it’s been an arduous tour. Unlike the Springboks, they’ve had to do the provincial games as well which everybody had a hand in apart from Cam Roigard and Will Jordan,” Marshall told Sport Nation.
“The squad has obviously been through a lot, and physically they’ve been challenged. This is a very well-drilled, efficient South African team, back-to-back World Cup champions and the number one team in the world before we got there.”
Schalk Burger hits out at Cam Roigard’s ‘gamesmanship’: ‘That’s not called for in our game’
It also doesn’t help the All Blacks that they have faced arguably the most brutal team in the sport, alongside four franchises who will always front-up physically.
The Springboks have very much focused on the fundamentals in all three Tests, testing the New Zealand pack and winning the second and third matches to go 2-1 up in the series.
Marshall therefore believes that Rennie should reduce the workload in training ahead of the final contest where they will look to level the series in the US.
The All Blacks ‘mindset’
“They’re not in that place because they don’t know where their strengths lie and at the weekend we saw them flex their muscles in that regard,” he added.
“In the second half, they went a lot more direct – went to their scrum, went to their lineout maul – and their defence really lifted a notch, and that took its toll on the All Blacks, who put everything into that Test match.
Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for world-class coverage you can trust.
“I remember when we went through this in 1996, four Test matches on the bounce, that final week leading into the Ellis Park and even to a degree the Loftus Test that year, we had come off a lot of rugby.
“We really didn’t train a great deal, and I think that’s the mindset here.”
