Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

'All of a sudden a big part of their game is gone': Ex-All Black first five on Boks' vulnerability

Stephen Donald playing against the Springboks. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)

Former first five-eighth Stephen Donald says that things look bleak for the All Blacks but that shouldn’t deter them from believing in their game which ‘will always trouble the Springboks’.

ADVERTISEMENT

The ex-All Black was there in 2009 as the side lost two tests in a row in South Africa, stepping in for the injured Dan Carter to start at No 10 in a head-to-head match up with a young Morne Steyn.

The Springboks won the first test in Bloemfontein 28-19 before Steyn scored all of South Africa’s points in a 31-19 victory in the second test in Durban. The return of Dan Carter in the third test in Hamilton couldn’t prevent the Springboks completing a 3-0 whitewash.

Video Spacer

Video Spacer

Much like 2009, the Springboks are the World Cup holders but Donald said the experience of players that have done it before in South Africa will be valuable.

“Things are down in the dumps at the moment, but you’ve still got guys there who have beaten South Africa in South Africa,” Donald told Stuff.co.nz.

“I don’t think they’ll be daunted by it, but will know it’s going to be as tough as it gets.

“It should be exciting for them. As a backs-to-the-wall scenario, you don’t get any bigger, but it’s bloody do-able.”

ADVERTISEMENT

After being outplayed by Ireland at home in the 2-1 series defeat, the All Blacks should be buoyed by playing a different opponent with different style.

Donald was confident that Foster’s side could trouble South Africa with their counter-attacking game if the home side’s kicking game was off.

“There are parts of the New Zealand game that will always trouble the Springboks, and if they don’t get their kicking game perfect, and it doesn’t flow on to their defence being able to set, all of a sudden a big part of their game is gone,” he said.

Related

On the 2009 tour the Springboks’ kicking game did expose an All Black weakness under the high ball which Donald said led to changes in how they prepared after returning home.

ADVERTISEMENT

“They were bombing the hell out of us with their centres Fourie and de Villiers smacking you on the perfectly timed 28-metre kicks… it almost exposed our lack of attention to high-ball catching,” he explained.

“Coming back from that trip, Mick Byrne became very central to the coaching as far as the catch, escorting and blocking chasers.”

The aerial game is expected to be a key part of the two-match series as the Springboks have shown a desire to kick over 40 times a game in some cases, with Faf de Klerk’s repetitive box kicking on show last year.

All Blacks fullback Jordie Barrett was exceptional last year in Townsville to combat the Springboks’ extreme levels of kicking in the 100th test between the sides, and he shapes as a key man for the visitors in their quest to turn around their lean run of results.

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

4 Comments
G
Graeme 822 days ago

It will be an even contest up until someone gets red carded.

S
Silk 828 days ago

Boks vs All Black tests are always up there with the best. I've seen most of them here in the Republic over the last 20 years. I for one, do not believe for one minute that the All Blacks will not be as fierce an opponent as they have always been. Looking forward to 2 massively competitive test matches. Good to have the All Blacks here. Enjoy our country

A
Andrew 828 days ago

Nope Beaver. We are going to get done 2-0.

Load More Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

F
Flankly 1 hour ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

4 Go to comments
N
Nickers 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Very poor understanding of what's going on and 0 ability to read. When I say playing behind the gain line you take this to mean all off-loads and site times we are playing in front of the gain line???


Every time we play a lot of rugby behind the gain line (for clarity, meaning trying to build an attack and use width without front foot ball 5m+ behind the most recent breakdown) we go backwards and turn the ball over in some way. Every time a player is tackled behind the most recent breakdown you need more and more people to clear out because your forwards have to go back around the corner, whereas opposition players can keep moving forward. Eventually you run out of either players to clear out or players to pass to and the result in a big net loss of territory and often a turnover. You may have witnessed that 20+ times in the game against England. This is a particularly dumb idea inside your own 40m which is where, for some reason, we are most likely to employ it.


The very best ABs teams never built an identity around attacking from poor positions. The DC era team was known for being the team that kicked the most. To engineer field position and apply pressure, and create broken play to counter attack. This current team is not differentiating between when a defence has lost it's structure and there are opportunities, and when they are completely set and there is nothing on. The reason they are going for 30 minute + periods in every game without scoring a single point, even against Japan and a poor Australian team, is because they are playing most of their rugby on the back foot in the wrong half.

43 Go to comments
N
Nickers 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I thought we made a lot of progress against that type of defence by the WC last year. Lots of direct running and punching holes rather than using width. Against that type of defence I think you have to be looking to kick on first phase when you have front foot ball which we did relatively successfully. We are playing a lot of rugby behind the gain line at the moment. They are looking for those little interchanges for soft shoulders and fast ball or off loads but it regularly turns into them battering away with slow ball and going backwards, then putting in a very rushed kick under huge pressure.


JB brought that dimension when he first moved into 12 a couple of years ago but he's definitely not been at his best this year. I don't know if it is because he is being asked to play a narrow role, or carrying a niggle or two, but he does not look confident to me. He had that clean break on the weekend and stood there like he was a prop who found himself in open space and didn't know what to do with the ball. He is still a good first phase ball carrier though, they use him a lot off the line out to set up fast clean ball, but I don't think anyone is particularly clear on what they are supposed to do at that point. He was used really successfully as a second playmaker last year but I don't think he's been at that role once this year. He is a triple threat player but playing a very 1 dimensional role at the moment. He and Reiko have been absolutely rock solid on defence which is why I don't think there will be too much experimentation or changes there.

43 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Marcus Smith on that substitution and his England plea Marcus Smith on that substitution and his England plea
Search