'They just get the dregs': Boks pack hammered by World Cup hero, Super absence blamed for woes

By Oliver Matthews / Expert

New Zealand’s World Cup winning coach Steve Hansen says the Springboks are paying for their Super Rugby absence as they head into the historic 100th Test against the All Blacks as underdogs.

“They’re probably not as fit as they have been and they’re probably not as used to the pace of the game that Australia and New Zealand particularly play at,” Hansen told Newstalk ZB.

Laurie Mains agrees with Hansen, saying: “South Africa playing against each other at home haven’t had the incentive to keep the speed of their game up and develop their players and get the current players they have up to that level.”

Former All Blacks coach Mains went on to tell Newstalk ZB, “South Africa are not the team we’ve known”.

Springboks’ performances attract criticism from all corners
Whilst the past two years have seen the Springboks win the World Cup, the Rugby Championship, become world number one ranked side and defeat the British and Irish Lions, they have not managed to escape criticism for their recent performances.

This feeling is shared around the rugby world with former England coach Clive Woodward providing a brutal assessment. “I looked on in horror last weekend at the sheer poverty and boredom from the South Africa team against Australia,” the World Cup winning coach wrote in the Daily Mail.

Many respected voices agree that the South African current style needs to change, and change quickly. Springboks hero Joel Stransky weighed in with his own frustrations this week.

“I feel deeply sorry for Handre Pollard and the backs. They just get the dregs. They don’t get any ball to play with, they just kick and chase. It’s a terrible game plan for them,” said the 22 Test veteran.

The need for change is also felt by those inside the Boks camp. Faf de Klerk himself commented that he feels that the team have lost their way in recent tests.

“We’ve strayed away from how we normally play. We played away from our DNA and that maybe put guys under pressure and that led to us forcing errors,” said the scrum half this week.

Springboks coach Jacques Nienaber agrees that they made unforced errors against the Wallabies. “We pushed it a bit when their defence was set and a few times when there was kick space behind we got caught out by putting together too many carries,” commented Nienaber this week.

Faf De Klerk for the Springboks

Still plenty of ways the Springboks can be a threat
Behind the stereotypical talk of a wounded Springbok being a dangerous beast, there are many who regard the Boks as a genuine threat with the talent and ability to win their 37th test match against the All Blacks.

Stransky believes that the key lies in the backs and wants to see them given much more opportunity. “If we are going to beat the All Blacks, we’ve got to use that outside backs. We’ve got great backs,” he said this week speaking with Gold AM.

All Black’s lock, Brodie Retallick, feels that the biggest threat is in the speed and power of the Springboks’ defence. “Where they’ve caught us out the last couple of times was when they did it was through their line speed defensively,” the New Zealand vice captain shared this week. “They’ve out-muscled us and we haven’t been able to break them down through our attack and then they punished us.”

The All Blacks coaching team are, unsurprisingly, on the same page as Retallick. Forwards coach John Plumtree echoed the threat the Springboks’ defence presents, saying “If you’re watching us play at the moment – high tempo, high skill level, that will all be under pressure because of the Boks’ line-speed”.

Ian Foster explained that the South Africans are “at their best when they play a pressure game against you, when they play a power game against you,” when he named his side for Saturday.

Foster expects the Boks to have “learnt a lot the last two weeks,” whilst Hansen feels that they won’t deviate too much from their kicking game. Hansen explained this week that “They’ve still got a great kicking game. You’ve still got to prevent that. And if you don’t catch the highball that they kick at you then you’re in trouble.”

“More power, more speed” key for the All Blacks
The All Blacks meanwhile have been focusing on further improvements as they look to build on their four convincing wins so far in the competition and earn their 60th victory over South Africa.

Hansen believes this current New Zealand side is playing some of the best rugby he’s seen. “They’ve been outstanding. The type of rugby that they’re playing has been a godsend to the game at the moment,” said Hansen from Japan this week where he’s working with Toyota Verblitz.

Retallick believes that at the heart of this exciting style has been an evolving philosophy that the team is embracing. “The freedom that the boys are playing with and using the ball and creating opportunities, it’s no doubt how we want to play our game,” said Retallick.

“From our point of view it’s what we do with the ball and we don’t want to be caught up in going set piece to set piece”.

Brodie Retallick. (Photo by Amilcar Orfali/Getty Images)

Beauden Barrett, who will start at fly half for the All Blacks, also shared how important that concept of playing with freedom is to the team. “You have to embrace that challenge, what’s coming and the significance of this test match or any test match. But once you get on the field, you ultimately want to play with freedom,” Barrett said.

But no matter how much the All Blacks will want to attack, this game, like so many of the 99 before it, will still come down to the clash of two hugely physical forward packs.

When asked, Plumtree was very clear that his New Zealand pack were going to need to raise their standards if they wanted to win on Saturday. “For our forwards this is going to be the toughest battle since I’ve been involved. Everything we do has to have more power, more speed”.

The Crowd Says:

2021-09-26T00:33:39+00:00

Big A

Roar Rookie


your loss

2021-09-25T10:11:48+00:00

Jacko

Roar Rookie


yep sorry Joe RA is soo good arnt they!

2021-09-25T08:10:02+00:00

Colin Fenwick

Roar Rookie


TLDR

2021-09-25T05:27:25+00:00

wigeye

Guest


boks never consistent if you've paid attention

2021-09-25T05:25:17+00:00

wigeye

Guest


That attitude is the cause,

2021-09-25T05:17:37+00:00

wigeye

Guest


Someone's feeling very fragile the crying before the game starts. Pull yourself together man the boks have been hot and cold for 15 years. God knows what they are up to now

2021-09-25T05:13:09+00:00

biltong

Guest


Yeah, read your history, that was the case in every country. How is it that you don't know that?

2021-09-25T05:10:07+00:00

biltong

Guest


There is constructive criticism, which I am always prepared to debate, and have done with those prepared to have that type of conversation, and then there is the rest.

2021-09-25T02:08:14+00:00

FatOldHalfback

Roar Rookie


Interesting that the Abs have chosen a tall back 3, looks like they expect the Bok aerial bombardment to continue, will the Boks try a few grubbers in behind the defense instead? How will the tall blacks backs cope? Will BB sweep back, collect and attack? Only a few hours to wait and see.

2021-09-25T01:52:11+00:00

Joe King

Roar Rookie


Nothing wrong with the current bosses. Just stick to your own backyard please.

2021-09-25T00:59:11+00:00

Big A

Roar Rookie


the moral of the story is to ignore the condescending BS that comes out from the Kiwi camp in the lead up to a big match - i've been watching it since 1979 when the Wallabies won 12-6 to win back the Bled cup since 1949 - the only reason we all watch this great game is to one day wipe that smugness from the AB faces - i can assure you that it is possible - but it requires a special type of person/people to confront the darkness - the trick i believe from listening to the Alan Jones and Rod Macqueans and Bobby Dwyers of this world is to not fall for the trick of playing into their hands - if you look at the great Wallaby teams they would not fall for it - the one thing they didn't do was show too much respect to them - e.g Kearnsey's 2 finger salute of Fitzpatrick - listening to these so called great Boks is embaracing - they're opening up to all and sundry about the problems in their game and complaining about refs etc etc etc - no great team does that they simply shut up and get on with it - also might pay them to throw a few grenades towards the AB's so they can stop with their condescending BS - the thrashed the WB's 3-0 and then the Wallabies clean up the Boks 2-0 and now they are telling us that the biggest test is yet to come by way of the wounded Bok that has totally lost it's way - i mean what do they think - that we are stupid

2021-09-25T00:08:29+00:00

Jacko

Roar Rookie


Yes its almost as tho ARU/RA saw what NZ is doing and deliberately decided to not do the same inspite of its success. I see some green shoots appearing with Thorn at the Reds, The whole Force attitude and setup, DR at the Wallabies, and a new Rebels coach plus the Tahs cant get worse so maybe a step or 2 in the right direction. Now get rid of those RA bosses and get quality in the head positions.

2021-09-24T23:53:53+00:00

Muglair

Roar Rookie


Don’t be silly, a couple of wins in the next two weeks and you will not even remember being remotely unhappy. Trust me on this, I know :silly: Anyway, posting on a rugby website might be as close as you get to international travel for a while.

2021-09-24T23:52:22+00:00

Muglair

Roar Rookie


I am OK with that :laughing: Sadly I can't blame NZ for the fact that for over a decade ARU/RA just stare blankly across the ditch at what is working well and ignoring it in favour of the aimless shambles that is Australian rugby. I am loving the development of this team but it is not sustainable when your off-field administration is so poor. There are a lot of players not playing to their potential and unlikely to reach it because of poor development pathways. The facts are that the country was waiting for one 32 yo to come back to play with some of the maturity we should have seen ten years ago. By chance we were saved by a 34yo on the same journey. This is not a reliable system for developing winning rugby teams for the future.

2021-09-24T23:44:53+00:00

Muglair

Roar Rookie


It is normal human trait to stick to what works. The problem was that worked was an accurate kicking game, relentless physical and accurate forward pursuit and a brilliant set of backs. For me the RWC final was classic high level rugby with the game won upfront and finished off with some brilliant tries. The legend is that the game was won, which it was, by relentless accurate kicking and the forward bomb squad. The actual dynamics of the coaching and director set up as to who is clinging to the legend isn't clear to me, but we already saw the signs of shifting away from it. Decision making and execution were poor but that is easily fixed over time, maybe not a week but we will see. If anything SA is guilty of the same things Australia has been, resting on its laurels and looking inward. Whether not playing SR, and avoiding the NZ benchmark, is a problem will probably take several seasons to work out.

2021-09-24T23:33:27+00:00

Muglair

Roar Rookie


A contradiction none the less. My immediate thought was that the backs were rusty using the ball ala England 91 RWC final, but your point highlights them being rusty about when to use the ball as well. Either way you have to find the right balance and I will be surprised if the Springboks do not do better at decision and execution today and next week. I would be twice as surprised if they win. Less surprised if the occasion and the reaction to the last couple of weeks does boil over.

2021-09-24T23:26:03+00:00

Muglair

Roar Rookie


Although holding the player in the air did provide a distinct advantage in that game for the lineouts close to the line.

2021-09-24T23:13:36+00:00

Jacko

Roar Rookie


Totally agree. We all respected what SA achieved at the WC but then the total BS starts and it all came from SA.

2021-09-24T23:10:49+00:00

Jacko

Roar Rookie


Spot on Colin. It looks like its a case of ignore facts and just blame NZ...AGAIN!

2021-09-24T23:09:11+00:00

Jacko

Roar Rookie


Sorry Biltong but you say you are over NZers bagging the Boks and then you launch a 500 word critique of the Boks and all things SA rugby. I guess its like being married and having your partner critizise your parents. You can do that but no one else is allowed to????

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