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'They look quite flat': How the Springboks can nullify the All Blacks
By Josh Raisey
Schalk Burger has described South Africa's 2023 Rugby Championship encounter with the All Blacks as the "perfect example" of how the world champions should not play against their rivals.
The 2007 World Cup winner singled out the first 30 minutes of that match at Mt Smart Stadium last year as an exemplar of how the Springboks played into the All Blacks' hands, as the hosts played with plenty of width to build a 20-3 half-time lead before winning the match 35-20.
Speaking on the latest episode of RugbyPass TV's Boks Office, Burger said that Rassie Erasmus's side must force the All Blacks to "tighten up" ahead of their first meeting on Saturday at Ellis Park since the World Cup final last year.
The key to winning the match is to "boss that gainline", according to the former flanker, and he believes that usually comes from playing with width for the All Blacks.
On the other hand, it does not matter to Burger how the Springboks win that gainline battle with the ball, whether that is by playing direct or by finding space out wide under the new philosophy from attack coach Tony Brown.
"Where you can't underestimate them is how physical the All Blacks are, they are bloody hard," the former World Rugby player of the year said.
"And they know when they play against the Boks, in set piece they always find a way to compete. The breakdown, they always seem to get a couple of turnovers. You've got to try and boss that gainline as the Boks, it doesn't matter how we do it, whether it's passing it out the back, finding space out wide. But gainline's key for us.
"It's similar to their attack. If you get them to carry and tighten up, then they look quite flat, the All Blacks. But when they play an offloading game, they kick contestables, you don't form a ruck first off, they've got the ability to offload and get some of their ball players in space - Mt Smart was a perfect example of that where the Boks were chasing shadows for the first 30 minutes."
Burger noted that in the past the way to beat the Boks was to play very little rugby, stating that having targets to hit is what "gets us South Africans going". He singled out England's narrow loss to Erasmus' side at the World Cup last year as the blueprint for victory.
Times have changed though, and the South African no longer thinks the Boks get their energy from their defence, rather their attack under Brown. This is a new puzzle to solve for the All Blacks then, though they had not successfully solved the last one.
"We often find a lot of space when we do play against them, but it's also not overplaying your hand," Burger said.
"It will be interesting to see what Razor does. You go back to that Rugby World Cup final, we came from the semi where England didn't play any rugby. There were no targets for us to hit, and that's what gets us South Africans going.
"If they play a kick-early game, the long game, our back three will run it back first and foremost, but if they don't create those targets where Pieter-Steph [du Toit] makes 28 tackles and nine of them are showstoppers and it seems all big nine were on Jordie Barrett, where does our energy come from? From our latest philosophy, I think our energy will come from our attack."
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Latest Comments
Well I didnt see Aus bossing the Wales team around in the forwards let alone SA or Arg. Ill bet NZ dominates the scrums.
Go to commentsOkay, fair points in here. Agree Razor isn't transparent. How quickly the climate changes from one regime to another. I'm sorry but when I refer to "human values" I'm alluding to Razor prancing around like a peacock at the 2023 RWC, knowing he had had the job but going there to smirk while Fozz went about his business. What need was there of that when Razor had already got the nod?
Besides, that's why caring employers don't put their employees through that spin-dry cycle following redundancy, although Fozz would have relished the opportunity to ride the waves to redemption. He had come within a whisker. I'm guessing Fozz's contract wouldn't have allowed him to terminate employment, glory of RWC aside. Now, I'm not saying fora second that Fozz was a fine head coach because he had erred like Razor is with selections across the board.
The captaincy debacle is just that, so agree with that. More significantly for me, Barrett has the unenviable record of collecting two red cards in test rugger — the most anyone has. His 2nd test against the Boks was questionable, considering the lock hadn't carried the ball until after the 60th minute. In both Boks affairs, he was hardly visible as a leader.
DMac is a Hobson's choice. You can have a "unique" kicking game but if the others are not on the same page, is it worth anything? Player, selection, and/or head coaching issue? For me it's all 3. I've not religiously watched Super Rugby Pacific matches but I did see how the Fijian Drua had homed in on DMac at The Tron. He was rattled and even started complaining to the ref. That's where we part ways with "aggression". All pooches are ferocious behind their owner's fenced property. DMac enjoys that when he has the comfort of protection from the engine room. The pooch is only tested when it wanders outside the confines of the yard on to the street to face other mongrels. Boks were going to be the litmus test, although no home fan saw the Pumas coming. At best, a bench-minutes player.
Leon MacDonald. Well, besides debating the merits of his prowess as "attacking guru", it doesn't override one simple fact — Razor chose his stable of support coaches. Its starts and ends there. If MacD didn't slot into the equation, Razor is accountable.
Why appoint a specialist when you're not going to listen to him, especially if you have an engine-room background? Having fired him, Razor looks even more clueless now than ever with his backline, never mind attacking. Which raises the pertinent question? Which of his other favoured coaches have assumed the mantle of backline/attacking coach? (Hansen/Ellison?) If so, why is Razor not dangling them over burning coals?
"His [MacD's] way might be great for some team, maybe in another country, and with the right people." Intriguing because he has led his team in his own country's premier competition to victory against a number of franchise players who are in the ABs squad that had failed to make the cut after a rash of losses and Razor's "home". You see, it's such anomalies that make the prudent question the process. All it does is make Razor look just like another member of the old boys' network. Appreciate the engagement.
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