All Blacks v Springboks: Five takeaways as Scott Robertson ‘a year ahead’ of Rassie Erasmus whose ageing Boks have ‘run their final race’

All Blacks v Springboks: Five takeaways as New Zealand show they are ‘a year ahead’ of South Africa

Following a 24-17 victory for the All Blacks over the Springboks in Auckland on Saturday, here’s our five takeaways from the Rugby Championship clash at Eden Park.

The top line

Rather fittingly, Test centurion Ardie Savea saw his side home with a brilliant turnover on the line to close out a superb second half comeback from South Africa as the All Blacks defended their Eden Park fortress in a magnificent climax to an absolutely apex Test match.

Savea and his back-row cohorts were immense in a game that lived up to every part of its billing, one that started with New Zealand dominance for 50 minutes, a complete 30 minute turnaround of superiority catalysed by a crushingly impactful ‘Bomb Squad’ shift and a climax befitting a Hitchcock thriller.

New Zealand couldn’t have asked for a better start as Emoni Narawa won the aerial battle to leave Willie le Roux on the floor, as the wing scooted through for the opener in the third minute. Will Jordan and Quinn Tupaea added another two tries and in the third quarter the All Blacks looked unassailable.

But a massive scrum, led with Boan Venter destroying Tyrel Lomax, gave South Africa belief and with Jan-Hendrik Wessels shoring up the Boks lineout throwing, Cobus Reinach was the beneficiary of the work done by his fellow explosive experts in the famed ‘Bomb Squad’.

As the Boks threw everything at New Zealand, it looked for all money that a draw was the favourite, until the moment of magic from that man Savea, who crowned his 100th Test with a match defining moment all of his own.

A tale of two 50/22s

Nothing could have summed up the relative gulf in accuracy between the teams as the two moments created by a pair of masters of the fly-half art. Firstly, we saw Beauden Barrett pivot on a sixpence, to wave a lazy left boot to smash a brilliant 50/22 off his wrong foot – an amazing piece of skill.

From the ensuing lineout, a pinpoint long throw from Codie Taylor to an extended pod lift on Wallace Sititi took offside out of the game, and allowed New Zealand to attack the 10 channel. Enter the flying Will Jordan on a direct line and a poor tracking tackle from Malcolm Marx and Barrett’s moment of genius.

South Africa might claim that the moments leading up saw a very short advantage offered, but others might argue they chose to kick the ball away. Nevertheless, it shouldn’t diminish the execution of New Zealand in taking their opportunity – it was All Black precision defined.

In contrast, a few moments later, Handre Pollard hit a 50/22 running onto the ball with a cigarette paper angle margin to work with. It was a wonderful piece of execution and gave the Boks maul a chance to rumble their stuff 10 metres out.

However, Malcolm Marx and his dismal throwing took all of that momentum away. Yet again the Boks hooker fluffed his lines, unsure and uncertain of his calls, dithering on his throw and was rightly pinged by Karl Dickson for a delayed throw.

It was the match in a microcosm – New Zealand taking their chances and South Africa untidy in execution.

Sititi comes of age

Savea will rightly grab the headlines for his superb shift on the openside, but let’s just look at why he was so effective in this match.

At eight, Savea has been doing so much of the heavy lifting for his country. Primary carrying in traffic relies upon staying close to the point of ruck, something that Savea reluctantly delivers, but for some time now, many in New Zealand have believed that role has neutered his superpowers in wider channels and competing over the ball.

With Wallace Sititi giving us a blockbuster performance at eight, Savea was allowed to thrive at the things he does best – the role of the pure openside. Sititi hammered 13 carries, 10 tackles and three lineout takes, taking the heavy lifting away from Savea, who responded with two steals, 11 tackles, 10 carries and three defenders beaten as he really celebrated his big day. He also popped up for nine midfield passes, a statistic that demonstrated his freedom as a seven to get back into the line and to support.

By contrast, South Africa’s back-row failed to come to the party. At eight Siya Kolisi tried manfully but he simply doesn’t have the power profile to get through the collision, something that Kwagga Smith was far more effective at as a replacement – using his low centre of gravity to get under and power through. With Marco van Staden coming off very much second best in the Savea clash, it was left to the ever reliable Pieter-Steph du Toit to do almost all of South Africa’s contact carrying and cover defence, as the former world player of the year delivered a sterling shift in adversity.

New Zealand are on the upslope of their reset process and the Savea/Sititi combination was evidence of the right direction of travel. South Africa, by comparison, have no clue what their best back-row is, other than it contains Du Toit, and in the final analysis, it was that loose forward battle that defined the result.

Inaccuracy plagues Boks

Let’s take a look at some key Springboks stats from this match.

– Bok line out: 78%

– Tackle completion: 79%

– Missed tackles: 25

– Incomplete passes: 12

– Unforced handling errors: 11

– Turnovers conceded: 7

It is a rap sheet that will infuriate Rassie Erasmus, one that clearly demonstrates that the two qualities he demands, accuracy and concentration, are severely lacking right at this moment in time.

The lineout is a continued source of frustration. Marx may be a wonderful fourth loose forward, but his set-piece consistency in his hooking role is nowhere. Since returning from his 2023 injury, his cumulative lineout completion is around 65%, way below class leaders and something that’s taking so much away from Bok continuity, and importantly, failures that are removing potency and reliability away from their rolling maul work.

The defence is struggling too. Jerry Flannery is trying to introduce a ball watching push, but the natural nature of the Boks, especially with Jesse Kriel at 13, is to blitz, and consequently, dog legs are appearing in the middle of the system, a clear pointer that SA are falling between two stools in terms of their thinking.

There’s a lot of work to do to tighten up the simple stuff. On the flip side, the Boks still have an ability to win the big emotional moments, and the Venter scrum that opened the scoring up for Reinach was the perfect example. But Erasmus has a lot of thinking to do, and at the top of his list is him finally realising that some great Boks – Marx, Kolisi, Willie le Roux and others – might just have ran their final race.

New Zealand upslope

As South Africa appear to be sliding downwards, New Zealand appear to be emerging from their regeneration cycle.

Billy Proctor added a new dimension to the midfield, finally looking like the Test 13 that’s been missing for so long in black. He had a quietly impressive match, missing nothing in defence, but adding a directness in attack that saw him carrying through the gainline and into post contact metres on three key occasions.

McKenzie and Barrett working as dual 10s was a godsend in the rainy Auckland conditions and once again New Zealand’s 34 kicks gave them 12 key positive outcomes, including that wonderful Beaudy 50/22 and some wonderful exit work from McKenzie.

Finlay Christie might be third or fourth choice at nine, but he showed real mongrel in his work, refusing to bow under the pressure of Du Toit and Van Staden – a great shift from the nine. And, elsewhere, the riches of the New Zealand back three got another boost, as Emoni Narawa’s short-lived cameo demonstrated his two superpowers – his aerial skill and nose for the tryline – until he went off for a very early bath.

The All Blacks are a year or so ahead of the Springboks in their reset and regeneration for the 2027 Rugby World Cup, and the big difference between them and South Africa is they’ve been willing to move on from their old guard to find new blood, something that Rassie Erasmus now needs to consider if he’s to right his rocky ship.