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How the All Blacks came through the pressure-filled final ten minutes at Ellis Park

(Photo by Lee Warren/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

The All Blacks faced a pressure-filled final ten minute period at Ellis Park after the Springboks took the lead for the first time in the 67th minute when Handre Pollard landed his third penalty goal.

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Down by two points at 23-21, Will Jordan marked a Springbok high ball inside his 22 before restarting play with a quick tap and sparking a counter-attack. The backs found centre Rieko Ioane on the right edge who blazed away downfield into opposition territory.

The daring play paid off after seven phases off high tempo ball movement when second five-eighth David Havili stretched out to score a try to give the All Blacks the lead back, which they never relinquished.

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Ardie Savea spoke of how the team remained calm after losing the lead which was integral in responding the way they did, with lots of linking play with ball-in-hand.

“We talk a lot about being calm in those situations, the tone of our voices and how we deliver messages,” he said.

“When this team is calm, when this team is fluid and the players are fluid, we play some of our best footy.

“As leaders we talked about that. There were moments where it could’ve gone the other way. Just proud of the leaders that stood up today.”

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Richie Mo’unga’s clutch conversion pushed the lead to five points at 28-23 which added a little more scoreboard pressure for the Springboks to deal with.

A crucial Sam Whitelock ruck turnover with three minutes remaining ended one of South Africa’s kick returns, allowing the All Blacks to continue to plug the corners and force the Springboks out from deep.

A pinpoint kick from Jordie Barrett forced Willie le Roux to hand New Zealand a five metre lineout and brother Scott Barrett was able to burrow over moments later for a game-sealing try.

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Savea said the side had to keep their emotions in check after Barrett’s try to close out the last minute and ensure that South Africa did not have a chance to steal the game back at the death.

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In the second test in 2021 the All Blacks held a slim lead before a failure to execute with ball-in-hand in the dying 10 seconds gave the Springboks the chance to win.

“We scored that try but we knew we had to get back and we looked at the clock and just nailed the next moment,” he said.

“We talked about positive moments and we need to accumulate that, moment on moment on moment.

“There was a period in the back end of that first half where South Africa put us under a lot of pressure, but towards the end we just needed to nail our next task.

“Receive the kick-off, exit well, trust our defence and we did that.”

The All Black loose forward said that the review during the week highlighted just where they could improve and find opportunities after ‘being suffocated’ at Mbombela Stadium last week.

“It was amazing, last week it felt like we were suffocated, it felt like a brick wall,” he said.

“When we actually reviewed the clips, our coach Foz identified a few critical things that we needed to work on.

“When we saw it, it was actually quite evident. There was some of it that we executed today. That’s a big ups to the people who are sorting that out.”

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1 Comment
r
rod 829 days ago

The ABs forwards laid a great platform for the backs in this game! They hunted the ball and the ball was presented on a plate most times, I thought Frizell (6) had a huge game but Savea (8!) when Cane (7) was replaced was the difference in the last ten minutes but we still need a 8 and thinking World Cup do we go with Grace, Sotutu or left field with TUIPULOTU who is a monster with great hands & speed to boot? This would make the ABs a huge pack

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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