By Kevin Rademeyer, Sports Journalist.
Photo Credit: SA Rugby.
Live from Cape Town: After the shock of Ellis Park, where New Zealand turned a promising opening Test into a 33 -16 victory, South Africa’s challenge is to return to the rugby that has served them so well. The Springboks do not need reinvention in Cape Town. They need to rediscover their DNA.
There was too much ambition without enough reward in Johannesburg. The Springboks had 11 entries into the All Blacks’ 22 but failed to turn that pressure into the points that usually follow. New Zealand, by contrast, were ruthless when their opportunities arrived.
That is the part that will have concerned Rassie Erasmus most.
The Springboks did many of the hard things well. Their scrum was dominant for long periods. Jasper Wiese carried aggressively. Pieter Steph du Toit was prominent. But pressure without points is ultimately just possession.
Graham Henry expects South Africa to correct that by returning to their familiar formula. “I would imagine they’ll go back to the old Springbok style of massive scrum, massive driving lineout, ball in the air, putting huge pressure on, trying to get field advantage,”
He added “I don’t think there’s going to be too many surprises. They’ll want to convert once they’re down there.” That is likely to be the central theme at DHL Stadium.
The Springboks do not need to outplay the All Blacks in every department. They need to make New Zealand uncomfortable. They need to squeeze territory from them, force them to defend repeated set pieces, contest the aerial ball and make the All Blacks play from the wrong end of the field.
That is the Springbok DNA.
And if the conditions in Cape Town turn wet, the value of that approach increases considerably.
The late loss of Handre Pollard makes the tactical side of the game particularly interesting. Sacha Feinberg Mngomezulu is an enormously gifted player, but his selection changes the balance of the backline. He is instinctive, adventurous and capable of producing something from nothing.
Nick Mallett’s advice to him is therefore significant. “Sacha’s going to have to subvert his own individual brilliance in some way, He’s just got to put that youthful exuberance in his back pocket and concentrate on playing for the team.”
That does not mean asking Feinberg Mngomezulu to become Pollard. It means asking him to understand the responsibility of the position.
There will be moments to attack. But there will also be moments when the correct decision is to kick, chase, defend and wait for the next opportunity. “Sacha’s tactical kicking will have to be accurate,” Mallett said. “He’s got to play the game as if he was playing a World Cup final.”
That is the level of discipline required.
South Africa cannot afford another match in which they enter the All Blacks’ 22 repeatedly without coming away with a meaningful return. Henry identified exactly where the first Test went wrong. “They didn’t convert entries into the 22 last Test match, and they usually do. So, they’ll be disappointed with that.”
The Springboks will also expect more from their defensive pressure. New Zealand showed at Ellis Park that they do not require huge amounts of possession to hurt you. Will Jordan’s two tries were reminders of how quickly their backline can exploit a broken defensive structure.
The answer is not necessarily to defend deeper. It is to make the All Blacks earn every metre. That means the forwards must set the tone, the kick chase must be accurate, and the breakdown must be disciplined. The Boks cannot afford the yellow cards and avoidable penalties that disrupted their momentum in Johannesburg.
Assistant coach Mzwandile Stick knows the equation is brutally simple. “Unfortunately, if you don’t take your opportunity, someone else will take it,” he said. “That’s exactly what happened last week. We got a few opportunities; they also got theirs. They buried them and turned them into points.”
There is no shortage of outside opinion about what went wrong at Ellis Park. Erasmus and his coaching staff have had a week to sift through it, but the players will ultimately provide the answer on the field.
Stick insists the work has been done. “It’s another opportunity tomorrow and we’ve done everything in our power to make sure that the players are ready.”
That preparation now has to become performance.
The Springboks are 1 -0 down. They cannot win the series without winning in Cape Town, and the pressure that comes with that is considerable.
But pressure is hardly foreign territory for this group. Indeed, it is often where they have produced their most convincing rugby.
The temptation will be to interpret Saturday’s match as a response to the humiliation of Ellis Park. It is more complicated than that. South Africa do not need anger. They need clarity.
They need the scrum to become a weapon again. They need the lineout to provide reliable launch platforms. They need the kicking game to pin New Zealand back. They need to turn territory into points and force the All Blacks to play for long periods without the freedom they enjoyed in Johannesburg. And they need Feinberg Mngomezulu to trust the system.
That is what the Springboks have always done best. They impose a contest rather than simply participate in one.
New Zealand have earned the right to believe they can win here. The first Test proved that. But Cape Town presents a different proposition. The Springboks are wounded, under pressure and facing elimination from the series.
The All- Blacks captain, Ardie Savea, knows what is coming and acknowledges that this Springboks team will be a different proposition. “We understand the wounded beast. We understand when you lose everything gets a lot more amplified. But that’s the same for us. We don’t want to look back after the 80-minute whistle and sit there with our heads down”
The Springboks are in the corner. There are seeds of doubt. They are no longer number one in the world. All the pressure is on them. For this team, those are not necessarily disadvantages. They may be the conditions in which its identity and DNA finally emerge.
Fullview South Africa Prediction: Springboks by 8.
Springboks – 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Ethan Hooker, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (c), 5 Ruan Nortjé, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nché.
Bench: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 André Esterhuizen, 21 Cameron Hanekom, 22 Morné van den Berg, 23 Manie Libbok.
All Blacks: 15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Will Jordan, 13 Quinn Tupaea, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 Leroy Carter, 10 Ruben Love, 9 Cam Roigard, 8 Ardie Savea (c), 7 Luke Jacobson, 6 Simon Parker, 5 Tupou Vaa’i, 4 Fabian Holland, 3 Tyrel Lomax, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 George Bower
Replacements: 16 Asafo Aumua, 17 Xavier Numia, 18 Fletcher Newell, 19 Patrick Tuipulotu, 20 Peter Lakai, 21 Kyle Preston, 22 Anton Lienert-Brown, 23 Josh Moorby.