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All Blacks vs Springboks: Rugby's ultimate clash of the titans

22nd July, 2015
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Brodie Retallick has been the victim of a number of concussions. (Source: AFP PHOTO / Michael Bradley)
Roar Guru
22nd July, 2015
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6863 Reads

There comes a time when you’ve battled for every single point on the scoreboard, when you’ve made every single earth-shattering hit count and powered every grinding scrum into the ground.

You must believe in every single man around you and dig deep into the reserves of your very own soul. You must battle amidst fire and brimstone, clear the enshrouding smoke and allow yourself to be baptised by the fiery crucible of those four lines surrounding you.

Once that whistle blows in the eightieth, you can look one another in the eye and know that your crown may have been taken from you today, but not without a fight.

Welcome to the game that embraces rugby for what it truly is, the game that is arguably the greatest rivalry in the entire code. Welcome to an All Black versus Springbok game.

New Zealand and South Africa are historically the greatest rugby teams on the planet. Both these rugby nations have statistical winning percentages against every other team on the globe.

Both these teams have resided at the summit of supremacy in their numerous respective timelines. But is this really what makes this particular contest so undeniable?

The answer is an emphatic no.

The foundations of the Springbok-All Black contest have always been tradition, respect and pride. For the past three years their respective games have been highly anticipated, built up to be an enthralling spectacle of the unyielding nature of rugby union in essence, personified in thirty men on the field and thousands in the stands.

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When New Zealand Rugby presented Springbok captain Jean de Villiers and age-old stalwart Bryan Habana with their golden caps for reaching the hundred game milestone last year it was evident that their respect for the men in green and gold transcends that of solely age old rivals, but the acknowledgement of two nations that carry rugby in their innermost beings.

As testament to this, All Black inside centre Ma’a Nonu left the Cake Tin field after breaking his arm in 2014. Yet amidst the agony and increasing adrenaline, he demanded the opportunity to personally leave his coveted black jersey on the resting place of the South African captain in the Springbok changing room as a token of respect after all those years of engaging in bludgeoning combat before heading to the medical staff.

In a similar vein Springbok number 8, Duane Vermeulen, heaped praise on his opposing number Kieran Read before the epic encounter at Ellis Park in 2013, saying that he regarded Read as the player with the calibre he wanted to withstand, match and ultimately exceed. Read retaliated in 2014 by calling Vemeulen a “big, brutal African” in the return fixture at the same venue that year.

The hookers also had some time to bond on a farm in 2012 after the native Free Staters, Bismarck and Jannie du Plessis, invited then New Zealand hooker Andrew Hore to enjoy the tranquility of the African Sunset at their farm and assembled around the braai.

Jerry Collins’ memory was done an equal justice by this weekend’s Springbok captain Schalk Burger in the aftermath of that truly tragic loss to every mother’s son who calls himself a rugby man. “Jerry Collins… You knew he was coming”, those were the final words Burger chose to celebrate the life of a man that brought so much to all those inside and outside those four lines of rugby.

The wise men we all love to believe we can outsmart, Heyneke Meyer and Steve Hansen, have an equally touching rugby relationship built on a trust that was evident from the get-go. Between the two, they have a sacred pact, that the loser must buy the winner a beer.

Unfortunately Heyneke Meyer has only had the cold one once in six attempts, a fact that is perhaps ironic given the fact that Hansen’s nickname for him is apparently ‘Heineken’.

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The players and the management of the two teams seem to have a genuine rugby relationship built on the mutual respect between them. This is in essence what rugby was always intended to be.

This Saturday these teams face one another on a ground that houses a great deal of significance for both of them. Ellis Park is a spiritual plain with the ability to turn even the simplest of tussles into a high-scoring game.

It was here where the Springboks united a nation through the boot of Joel Stransky in 1995 when a multitude of forty million divided people believed only in the fifteen men on the field feeding on their hopes and dreams, it was here where the All Blacks, the most successful team in world sport delivered the greatest performance that I had ever seen in any rugby game, beating the Springboks 38-27 before marching on to claim a perfect season that same year. It was here where a 55 metre penalty from Patrick Lambie breathed life into South Africa’s World Cup aspirations in 2014.

If you want to see a game that will forcibly imprint itself into your very own psyche then watch this rivalry at Ellis Park.

Now before the protesting brigade light up the torches and sharpen the pitchforks, this is not intended as a slight to the various other rugby playing nations in the world. It would taste a lie to proclaim that other rivalries only hold a small proverbial candle to the perceived supernova I’m claiming the All Bok rivalry has, naturally other clashes entice just as much as a rugby spectacle.

The quality of a rivalry does not always reflect the quality of rugby played between two sides. For instance, the third Bledisloe game between the Wallabies and All Blacks last year was, in my view, the most thrilling game of the season in terms of pure rugby watching quality. The game just never seemed to stagnate and the result was only ever a certainty after the eighty minutes were forfeit.

It is an undeniable truth that Australia are part of a rivalry with the All Blacks that sits up with the best of them in its own right. But this rivalry seems more country related than it does about rugby. It seems rather more like a sporting rivalry than it does a genuine rugby rivalry.

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In comparison, South Africa and New Zealand have little interest with one another besides in the realms of rugby union. Rugby seems the link between these two countries, hence it being a rugby rivalry in every sense of the term.

The big question regarding the big one this weekend however is whether or not the Springboks will be able to put up much of a fight with a severely depleted team in terms of experience and stability. To fully gain enlightenment on this matter, we must analyse last weekend’s fortunes.

It has been an unnecessary debate among Roarers the past week about whether or not the Springboks deserved to walk away from Suncorp Stadium having won rather than lost. Various Roarers have stated that this would indeed have been the right way for the last week to have ended, seeing as they perceived that the Boks were more the genuine article than the Wallabies.

In my view, I can only summarise that way of thinking in one strong word.

Nonsense.

To believe that the Springboks deserved to win more than the Wallabies deserved to, based on the proceedings of the first fifty odd minutes, is not a notion I am like to entertain. Of course this is only my stance on the matter, nothing I state here is something I am trying to force upon as truth. But to irrevocably state my case, the Wallabies were the better side and deserved to win and I am satisfied that they did for the good of rugby.

Those who have followed my work here on The Roar will probably remember when I stated that I am not a believer in the “could’ve, would’ve, should’ve” way of thinking. I remain constant in those sentiments.

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I firmly believe that a game of rugby is played for eighty minutes and in those eighty minutes, the team that scores the most points is the winner by right, regardless of how those points were aggregated. As an example, let’s take last weekend.

The Springboks lead the Wallabies 20-7 at one stage and according to some, that meant that they were the better side. But then how did they not win the game? Did they idly stand by and let the Wallabies run in two tries? Or did the Wallabies actually lift their game and earn those two tries?

I believe the latter. To suggest otherwise would be a slap in the face of every man drenched in gold who worked incredibly hard to win the game at the death. It is not ‘luck’ to play thirty extraordinary minutes to overshadow a previous fifty sloppy minutes.

Luck would be when you win the game off of a highly questionably penalty where the general consensus is that it should not have been given. In a supporter’s terms we call it “the ref screwing up again”.

For me this is the only time when a team didn’t deserve to win even if they did. There is a tangible difference between say last weekend and last year’s All Bok Test. Yes, Liam Messam did give Schalk Burger the cold shoulder, but the ref initially did not see it and had it not been for some not so divine intervention then the All Blacks would probably have left Ellis Park smiling.

But the fact remained that Messam did not use any arms, so if the ref was doing his job expertly then he should have picked it up in the first place.

Nonetheless, it is very debatable that the All Blacks “should have won the game.”

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But then if we are to believe in this “could’ve, would’ve, should’ve” mentality then we have nothing to fear, the All Blacks aren’t that good then. They’ve had plenty of close shaves the past four years, lots of those games ending with their opponents finishing the stronger team, edging ever so close.

Last weekend the Wallabies deserved to win. There was nothing ‘unlucky’ about the Springboks losing. The Boks could not withstand a passionate barrage of Wallaby walloping for thirty minutes and so lost fairly, end of story, goodbye, the end.

In my view of course.

The good news is that after last weekend’s result and yet two more injuries, no one is giving the Boks the light of day. No one expects the Boks to make a statement this weekend, few believe they’ll win. It’s fantastic.

The Springboks know the underdog status all too well and it has served them accordingly. In every World Cup year, the Springboks are seen as a lukewarm title contender, behind in the pecking order.

Judging from what I’ve read on numerous sites the hot favourites for the trophy are New Zealand and Ireland for obvious reasons and then England for their home ground advantage, which is very understandable. After last weekend’s result, Australia has emerged as another title contender above the Boks.

The good news my South African comrades, Harry and especially Biltongbek, is that you need not fret. We will play a more expansive game this weekend, feel free to disagree, but if you do then you’ll both owe me a beer. Harry will owe me two because he’s Harry.

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For the past three years it has been the Meyer way to revert back to our kick-pass-pray game plan whenever we go abroad only to summon superhuman running play when we hit the Republic.

In 2013 the Boks deployed the kick-pass-pray tactic at Suncorp and Eden Park only to run like there was no tomorrow at Newlands and Ellis Park and ditto for last year. It seems that Meyer only has the stones to play that way at home which is kind of useless seeing as the World Cup will not be in South Africa this year.

For the All Blacks, I expect to see a fifty percent improvement on last weekend’s performance and even then they won’t be close to their full playing potential, scary as it is to contemplate.

The New Zealanders will rejoice playing in the Republic, especially Ellis Park, seeing as South Africa’s fields suit their running game even more than their fields in New Zealand. I expect the All Black defence to be a lot tighter than the past two years where they conceded two long ranged tries against the Springboks in both games in the first half.

This makes for an equally as thought-provoking subject. For the past two years the All Blacks have been caught out wide for the majority of the Boks’ tries, as if they weren’t expecting the Boks to go as wide as they have in those respective games.

The first try in 2013 came from Bryan Habana after Morne Steyn skipped two ball carriers, giving the ball to Vermeulen at the outside centre channel. Vermeulen proceeded to cutting Nonu and Conrad Smith apart before giving Habana the ball where he scored on the wing.

The second try also came from the outside centre channel when Francois Louw offloaded the ball behind Kierand Read’s back to Habana to claim his second. Jean de Villiers and Willie le Roux added to the tally out wide shortly after.

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Last year Francois Hougaard scored off of interplay from de Villiers, Hendricks and Serfontein before Pollard went over for his first a couple of minutes later. Pollard’s first try also came from out wide when de Villiers gave the short ball to le Roux who in turn found Habana who beat Dagg and ultimately sent Pollard over.

It would seem that the All Blacks are more fragile in their defence out wide than they would care to admit, but I would imagine that they won’t be fooled thrice in that regard.

The worst thing the Boks could do this weekend is try to play the kick-pass-pray. This true simply because they do not possess the team technically astute enough to play the game that way effectively. It seems that their only option would be to try and run the All Blacks off their feet which is not to impossible to believe given the previous game between the sides.

With a sad heart I would have admit that I do not see the young Bok team winning this one. The pack of forwards just does not have the edge it should have and without forward dominance, the backline will have nothing to work with.

The absence of Vermeulen, Marcell Coetzee and Willem Alberts leaves the Boks short of a prominent ball carrier and one of those is invaluable against a team like the All Blacks.

Of course I sincerely hope that I am wrong, but the gut feeling just won’t subside.

Here is to hoping that rugby’s greatest rivalry will dish up yet another legendary performance and a great sense of camaraderie. Good luck to each and every All Black supporter this weekend.

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My prediction: Head says All Blacks by 10, heart says Springboks by 2.

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