All Blacks wilt under pressure again for fourth straight defeat to Springboks

By Liam Napier

The Springboks officially have the All Blacks number.

For the first time in 75 years the Springboks recorded their fourth win in succession against their great foes.

From the record Twickenham defeat and the World Cup final last year to back-to-back victories over Scott Robertson’s All Blacks in South Africa in the last two weeks, the Springboks underlined their world champion status.

The Rugby Championship and Freedom Cup trophies, the latter held by the All Blacks for the past 15 years, are the Springboks to savour. Not one member of this Springboks team has touched the treasured Freedom Cup before today.

In another tense, tight test in Cape Town that featured four yellow cards, the All Blacks had ample opportunity to knock the Boks off their perch but they instead wilted under pressure to fall to their third defeat in their last four tests.

Damian McKenzie missed two crucial penalties – the second from right in front in the 72nd minute – as the All Blacks failed to score a point in the final quarter for the fourth test in a row, despite significantly reshaping the bench this week.

The All Blacks led 9-3 after a dominant first half but, in familiar fashion to last week’s defeat at Ellis Park, the Boks surged back to seize control of the contest with 10 unanswered points.

Replacement hooker Malcolm Marx claimed the decisive try – with seven minutes remaining as the Boks outscored the All Blacks two tries to none. Inspirational Boks captain Siya Kolisi, playing through the pain of a broken nose, scored the other try.

The inability to close out this test was twofold for the All Blacks. First they failed to capitalise on a yellow card for Springboks fullback Willie le Roux for his attempted intercept.

With another one-man advantage to exploit, mistakes proved costly for the All Blacks. Scott Barrett dropped the ball with the All Blacks building pressure deep in the Boks half, and a lineout transfer from Ardie Savea went wrong.

With the Boks then applying pressure the All Blacks, just as they did last week in the closing stages, conceded a yellow card with Tyrel Lomax, at the backend of a huge 73-minute shift from the starting tighthead prop, dispatched for obstructing Cheslin Kolbe.

The All Blacks were courageous in many aspects but their lack of accuracy and composure proved costly – and their record under Robertson this year now slides to four wins and three losses.

For the second week in a row Tupou Vaa’i was the standout in the All Blacks pack. At the lineout, breakdown, with ball in hand and on defence the Chiefs lock was everywhere. Codie Taylor was on par with another superb stand. Wallace Sititi and Jordie Barrett produced strong performances, too.

While the changes to inject Cortez Ratima and Sititi added the desired pace and ball carrying punch, moving Will Jordan to fullback didn’t bring the desired attacking spark.

The All Blacks back three, with Mark Tele’a, Jordan and Sevu Reece committing errors, didn’t deal with the Springboks aerial bombardment well which increasingly allowed the locals to inflict their favoured squeeze tactics.

Seven days on from Ellis Park, this rematch featured contrasting approaches at its core.

The All Blacks, with Ratima promoted to start at halfback, embraced attacking pace, tempo and patience. Their accuracy wasn’t always on point but they consistently stressed the Springboks defence through speed of pass, using the width, strong ball carries and quick recycling.

The Springboks, meanwhile, reverted to their conservative tactics. Having recalled experienced playmaker Handre Pollard, the Boks frequently peppered the air with high kicks from the pocket while trying to slow pace to a set piece grind.

Springboks loose forward Jasper Wiese copped the first yellow card for tackling Ratima without the ball following a Taylor bust. Reece then cancelled out the All Blacks one-man advantage with his yellow card for a clumsy collision in the air.

As they were last week, defensively the All Blacks were organised and aggressive. Sam Cane was relentless in the collisions and Scott Barrett brought a prominent presence to the breakdown to win two penalties.

With ball in hand, in his maiden test start at blindside flanker, Sititi was a revelation by injecting notable impact on the charge.

The Boks missed 26 missed tackles in the first half – 37 in the match – and yet somehow the All Blacks couldn’t cross their line.

Battered and bruised, the All Blacks will return home with their final quarter failings hanging over their heads.

Two chances to knock off the Boks have been squandered, leaving the Bledisloe Cup as the All Blacks’ only remaining trophy of note and Robertson under pressure to deliver a response.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission