FIGHTING FIT: The Boks are in a tight spot, which is where they thrive

Perhaps, somewhere in the subconscious, the Springboks lacked that killer edge against the All Blacks in the first Test of the Greatest Rivalry series on Saturday, 22 August, because they knew there was a second chance.

In the build-up to the first Test at Ellis Park, coach Rassie Erasmus went to great lengths to emphasise that the four-match series could only be won in the third Test. That is mathematically true, but not necessarily psychologically sound for players to hear.

As it turned out, the Boks lost 33-16 in an uncharacteristic, error-ridden performance. It included 23 turnovers, and from 11 entries into the All Blacks 22m area, they only came away with an average of 0.9 points per entry.

In one way, it showed that the world champions did a lot right. Making 11 entries into the All Blacks’ red zone is a significant return. It indicates that parts of the Boks’ game were working well. But the poor conversion rate might be down to a lack of desperation and patience, which suggests it was more of a mental issue than a technical one.

It’s only a theory, because no team goes out not to win. But the mind is a complex thing and when you take away jeopardy – there is a second chance – it could manifest as poor execution.

Erasmus’s comments before the Test correctly pointed to a series that couldn’t be won at Ellis Park. And obviously it couldn’t be lost in game one either. But whose position would you rather be in heading to Cape Town for the second Test?

“This game, which is going to be played on Saturday [the first Test], is definitely not the game that will determine [the series],” Erasmus said before Ellis Park. “We’ve seen it in the British & Irish Lions series [the Boks lost the first Test in 2021 and went on to win the series 2-1]. We’ve seen it many times in World Cup pools. We lost a pool game.

“It is who’s still standing and how many men you’ve still got fit and ready to go when it gets to Orlando [third Test] and then eventually to Baltimore [the fourth].”

Erasmus’s comments may have sent a subliminal message that losing the opening Test was okay. That was not his intention and he even half-contradicted himself by adding: “There’s not a management member, a team member, a coaching staff, a physio, a medic, who doesn’t want us to win the first Test match. We will definitely try our utmost to win the first Test.”

Effort was not the problem at Ellis Park, though – accuracy and execution were. And only the Springbok management will have proper insight into why that was the case.

Gaining momentum

The Boks are clearly on the back foot now. They’re in a corner and in some ways have morphed from the series favourites to underdogs. Which is where they like to be. It’s a position from which they’ve so often produced their best rugby.

In 2021, after losing the first Test 22-17 to the British & Irish Lions, the Boks bounced back with an emphatic 27-9 second Test victory and then edged the third Test 19-16. At the 2019 and 2023 World Cups, the Boks lost pool matches to the All Blacks and Ireland respectively, yet went on to win both tournaments. Sometimes it feels like they need to be in a corner to produce their best.

“I don’t want to say from game one we are ready. We want to build and build and build towards the crunch matches,” Erasmus added before the first Test, emphasising that he was taking a slightly longer-term view of the series. “I don’t think either team expects to win the series 4-0. It will be much tougher than that.”

Erasmus was clearly suggesting that he expected the Boks to improve as the series wears on. That is a sensible assumption, although injuries and now additional psychological pressure must be factored in.

In the build-up to the second Test, the tone coming from the Boks has been much more emphatic. It’s a must-win situation now. In week one, Erasmus named his team on a Thursday, instead of Monday or Tuesday as he normally does.

The Boks also made late changes to the team Erasmus named on Monday. On Tuesday the coach confirmed Siya Kolisi would start after initially being bracketed with Paul de Villiers.

Then on Friday, just 36 hours before the second Test, flyhalf Handre Pollard and wing Kurt-Lee Arendse dropped out, meaning Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu was elevated to the starting lineup from the bench to replace Pollard.

Cheslin Kolbe, not initially named at all, passed a late fitness test and replaced Arendse. Manie Libbok was brought on to the bench with Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s elevation.

Changing tone

In week one Erasmus and the assistant coaches came out aggressively questioning the All Blacks’ tactics at the breakdown and their criticism of South African teams slowing play down. He chose to counter that narrative with facts. Essentially, he chose to focus on the All Blacks and match officials before the first Test to gain an edge.

There has been an acceptance from Erasmus that perhaps he and the team management got things wrong in the build-up, and week two has been a marked contrast of focusing internally and speaking publicly about the Boks’ own shortcomings and not the All Blacks’ tactics.

It shows that there have been hard words and deep introspection in the Bok camp over the past six days.

“It’s awful. It’s shit. It’s not nice to be in this position. My heart is broken for what we did on Saturday,” Erasmus said this week. “We are angry with each other. We as coaches did and said stupid things. And the players did stupid things on the pitch.”

But he remained consistent that the series would be won in game three, although this time, there was no inkling that the Boks could afford to lose game two. “It’s a series. It will get won in game three. We’ve been in this position many times… That doesn’t make it easier. It just helps us to know that we’ve been there before and we can fight our way out of it.”

Although Erasmus rejected the idea that he was “shielding” the team and the other coaches in the media this week, he appeared to confirm it when addressing the question. “I’m sitting here to give the coaches a chance to focus on what they’re doing and to make sure that we don’t get grilled.”

How the Boks respond and perform at DHL Stadium will ultimately reveal more about their mental state than theorising. Their response, which needs to be clinical and emphatic, won’t happen in isolation, though. There is the small matter of a confident All Blacks team, who will do everything they can to sow seeds of doubt in Springbok minds.

The second Test is the equivalent of a World Cup knockout game for the Boks. Lose and they cannot win the series. It’s all on the line now. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly DM168 newspaper, available countrywide for R35.