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Scott Robertson’s selection nightmare before another shot at Springboks
By Finn Morton
Head coach Scott Robertson and the other All Blacks selectors have some big decisions to make before this weekend’s clash with the Springboks in Cape Town. New Zealand were beaten last Saturday at Ellis Park but there was still plenty to like about the performance.
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In the third round of The Rugby Championship, the touring All Blacks nearly got the better of the world champion Springboks in Johannesburg. They played in front of an incredibly intimidating atmosphere from the 60,000 in attendance but made sure to silence them multiple times.
South African fans were enjoying themselves at the world-famous venue four hours before kick-off. They were singing, chanting and generally just having a great time, and that carried through to the game – they only went silent when the All Blacks scored.
Winger Caleb Clarke was among the standouts, with the left winger scoring a double which had Springboks fans worrying about the result. While the All Blacks couldn’t hold onto their lead, ‘Razor’ Robertson sang Clarke’s praises the morning after the Test.
Clarke, 25, contributed on the scoreboard, carried the ball 10 times and made a few solid tackles to top it all off. With Will Jordan starting, Mark Tele’a on the bench, and Sevu Reece not even in the team’s 23, it’s safe to say the All Blacks have world-class depth on the wing.
“Look, very pleased. He’s a genuine finisher and great in the air,” Robertson told reporters on Sunday morning in Johannesburg.
“The energy that he gave us – who want to select the wingers in our team? We’ve got ourselves a hell of selection decisions to make. It’s good, you want those guys to take those opportunities when they come on.
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“He took them. He took it, yeah.”
Clarke scored the All Blacks’ second try of the night after benefiting from some clever playmaking from loosehead prop Tyrel Lomax. Lomax spread the ball to the left, finding Beauden Barrett who linked up with Will Jordan and then Clarke.
Jordie Barrett scored the All Blacks’ next try of the night after racing away about 60 seconds into the second half. Barrett intercepted a pass from Damian de Allende, but soon after, it was Clarke’s time to shine once again.
In what was a bit of déjà vu, Clarke reaped the rewards of the team’s slick passing game. The powerful winger got the ball and flew down the left edge to run in a score that would’ve had New Zealanders daring to dream of an all-time famous win.
But whether it was the altitude or another reason, the visitors couldn’t have on. Replacement prop Ofa Tu’ungafasi was sent to the sin bin with 13 minutes left to play and the Springboks made sure to make the most of their one-man advantage.
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Replacements Kwagga Smith and Grant Williams crossed for two decisive scores, with Williams’ effort putting the Boks in the lead. They wouldn’t surrender that advantage as they held on for a thrilling 31-27 Rugby Championship win.
“We gave ourselves an opportunity to win probably the biggest Test and the hardest place to win a Test in world rugby which is Joburg,” Robertson reflected.
“There was so much good and then there was a couple of moments that didn’t quite go our way, a couple of swing moments. That’s footy, that’s Test footy, it’s the big stage.”
Doesn't matter who Robertson names in the match day 23. There's nothing NZ can do to prevent the WR officials (Carley in this case) from putting in match winning performances for SA (Brace, Barnes and O'Keeffe immediately spring to mind) as they have done for the past 30 odd years.
I wonder why Rassies is set to name his team on Thursday instead of Tuesday..huh...anyhoo, Scott Robertson hasn't reported any injury concerns so thats positive along with Jason Ryans Cape Town interview showed his confidence in improvements being made and Blackadder was too judging by the way he responded to the questions asked of him...Go the AB's...everyone stay on the good side of Matt Carley..."Eh? Scooter"...then she'll be right...
Sure is lightweight writing. Well done author, ie sucked me in with old school writing design ie writing a big sizzling title ie quote 'selection nightmare'. But with I assume no research, relevant stats or anything to actually add to the issue, writing about something easy ie 'easy selections' eg Clarke after stunning attacking & defensive (high ball) performance.
Back on the topic of only your title ie 'selection nightmares'.
ABs tactically dominate til 62min, but then… not, best team won playing 80min.
re AB selections,
Forwards fine (except Bench entry focus & some [any!] captaincy ... very average S.Barrett),
Back changes needed,
{starting}
9 { Ratima}/ Christie (ie waiting on Roigard!)
10 {D.McKenzie }/ Plummer
12 {J.Barrett}/ ALB
13 { Proctor} ( backup R. Ioane)
14 {Narawa}/ R. Ioane
11 { C.Clarke} / Tele’a
15 {W.Jordan} (backup J.Barrett)
80min team & best team won but no team or coach can win when,
World Rugby was embarrassed again by its refs (both AB & Oz tests)
eg AB ref? Way out of his depth.
ie
SA try - WOAT (if you argue FOR don’t be expected to be taken seriously)
SA conversion cancel – warned?
TJ penalty – big mouth but no usual warning. 2nd WOAT
Ofa yellow – no usual warning. 3rd WOAT + WRONG ie the SAAf maul had distegrated & split into 3, 1 of which was the 1 man with the ball which Ofa was tackling
Finau penalty - deliberately held in
Both
Ratima & Savea penalty – no warning.
Trigger happy & non communicative refs – TMO needs remind refs of the actions & warnings needed.
Demotion outcomes for poor ref’ing & TMO decisions & IN-action must be enforced.
He's clearly not the complete winger. His bull rush style blinkers on charge to the line cost the All Blacks two points when he failed to see Sacha attempting to ankle tap him, and simple hot step (goose) him. That said, none of our wings really have that complete a game, or just with there exceptional areas of strength.
Two more points would have enabled NZ to take one of those easy threes to get more than two scores out infront though.
He had a very good game and his aerial ability adds a really nice element to our attack
BB to bench and Ratima to start. In any case, fix the bench
I’m not sold on Ratima yet and not sure if I will
He’s closer to a TKB but far away from his class
I’d give Hotham a go off the bench
Great speed and support
Ratima has played poorly 3 tests in a row. Maybe time to put Noah Hotham on the bench.
As a Saffa, I wouldn't write off the ABs at any stage, no less coming into a game off a loss. There are two incidents in the history of our rivalry where Springboks were able to pull off a double win against ABs. No matter where they are, they make sure to learn from their loss and don't make those same mistakes again. We will need to put in our performance of a lifetime to win this coming week. We can do it but so can ABs. They will be smarting from their loss. I am supporting Bokke all the way. Maybe they can make it two from two. I certainly believe they can but they gotta reduce their error count. 5 in first half, 2 in second half. Exceptional stuff but they still capitalized on that.
Amabhokobhoko 🇿🇦🇿🇦🇿🇦
Yeah, I can also see South Africa growing a lot from having that game under their belt as well though.
And they hve some great talent coming back as long as they don't keep suffering injuries...
That's the pertinent fact that many people are missing when you say
SA don't need to do anything, they already fixed their problems in the second half and won that game! That has given them the allowance to go out their and make mistakes again in the pursuit of getting better. They won't always get away with it like that but its good for the team (both) at this stage.
If we're only talking about Clarke, it's not a nightmare at all. Clarke's earnt his spot based on a great performance, the backline suffered when he was replaced. It's great to have a power winger in the backs again. The backline looks as balanced as it has for a long time.
Razor should concentrate on the bench which was a shambles. Talea is not an impact player, and was largely ineffective. The forward pack lost all cohesion when Blackadder was pulled, while Finau looked as keen for work as a stoned gamer. Sititi wasn't much better from the bench a couple of weeks earlier.
I wonder if it wouldn't be better to start Sititi (for example), and put some experience on the bench. So far all the rookies have played well when they've had a start and the game still has structure, but look all at sea when they come on to a game that's lost all cohesion. I wonder what benefit the new guys get from coming into that chaos, surely they would learn more from starting next to experienced hands.
Put Will Jordan at fullback, then Mark Tele'a can start on the wing. You're right - he is not an impact player and didn't do much at all. Then they can utilise Beauden as an impact player where he works best.
Finau isn't up to test match standard yet and really should be used against the minnow teams and Australia. He isn't suitable to play against South Africa, France, Ireland, and England.
Maybe Razor should go for a 6-2 split and have 3 front rowers, 1 lock and 2 loose forwards on the bench to counter the amazing Bomb Squad. Papali'i and Jacobson would be excellent, tough and experienced loosies. Sititi is still a little bit too young to be playing against the Boks in a must win game.
I was most disappointed in Finau. He has the potential to be that guy that comes on and causes absolute chaos, but he had no presence whatsoever. Kwagga showed the ABs what they are missing off the bench. It's a real missing piece of the puzzle at the moment.