Northern Edition

Select Edition

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

The big play by Codie Taylor that made Willie le Roux and Ellis Park furious

(Source/Sky Sport NZ)

The All Blacks trip to Ellis Park was a season-defining game in 2022 after they had lost four of their last five tests and staring at back-to-back losses to the Springboks.

ADVERTISEMENT

It is an understatement to say there was a lot riding the outcome with head coach Ian Foster’s job at stake. With 10 minutes remaining things looked grim for the All Blacks with one man in the bin, Beauden Barrett, and a 23-21 deficit to overcome.

After they scored through David Havili to take the lead by 28-23, a key sequence of events with three minutes remaining ultimately sealed the critical win and saved Foster.

Video Spacer
Video Spacer

A big play by hooker Codie Taylor shook the South African crowd as he came up with a massive kick chase to pin the Springboks deep in their own half.

There were two defining touches by fullback Willie le Roux which sent the momentum in the All Blacks favour. The fullback firstly gambled on a kick return trying to make a play, running the ball back from deep but his winger Makazole Mapimpi got tackled and turned over by Sam Whitelock.

After weighing up a potential counter-attack, Jordie Barrett sent the ball deep with a long ranging kick which was chased hard by Taylor who was camping on the left wing.

The Crusaders hooker actually outpaced centre Luhkanyo Am down the sideline, highlighting the effort that the No 2 put into his chase.

ADVERTISEMENT

Barrett’s kick sat up perfectly for the All Blacks, forcing Le Roux to pick the ball up a metre from his goal line. The Bok fullback ended up with two All Blacks in his face, Taylor and Rieko Ioane who were bringing immense pressure.

He tried to get a kick away with no angle to do so, and Taylor got physical with him and to send him flying over the advertising hoardings for good measure.

The Ellis Park crowd in the vicinity of the tackle were up in arms in complete shock as the Boks had just conceded a five metre lineout after losing the arm wrestle.

Taylor walked to the lineout nonchalantly as members of the crowd stood up behind him and hurled whistles and taunts while a medic rushed to Le Roux’s aid, but the Springbok got to his feet quickly clearly unhappy with the hit.

ADVERTISEMENT

The huge effort by Taylor to pin Le Roux into the corner handed the All Blacks a five metre lineout which gave them the platform to seal the game.

The hooker nailed his throw moments later to Tupou Vaa’i and the All Blacks scored through Scott Barrett pushing over moments later to push the lead out to 35-23.

The final seven minutes at Ellis Park proved to be a turning point in the All Blacks season and the win kept their Rugby Championship title hopes alive, as well as keeping the Freedom Cup safe for another year.

They went on to win their eighth Rugby Championship title and 19th overall including the Tri-Nations era.

Watch Codie Taylor’s incredible kick chase on Willie le Roux below. 

 

ADVERTISEMENT

Wolfhounds vs Gwalia | Celtic Challenge 2024/25 | Match Highlights

Watch now: Lomu - The Lost Tapes

O2 Inside Line: This Rose | Episode 2 | Ireland Week

New Zealand vs Australia: Behind the Scenes with the Black Ferns Sevens Team | HSBC SVNS Embedded | E06

O2 Inside Line: This Rose | Episode 1

Argentina v Australia | HSBC SVNS Perth 2025 | Men's Final Match Highlights

The Dupont Ploy: How France went from underdogs to Olympic gods | The Report

Former rugby player is truly an NFL superstar | Walk the Talk | Jordan Mailata

Boks Office | Episode 33 | Dupont's Toulouse Too Good

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
JW 4 hours ago
France player ratings vs England | 2025 Six Nations

Sorry my delivery on that joke was a bit bland. But to reply to the couple of good points you make, to me it just seemed like they had no plan with why Gatland was staying on. I mean the plan seemed to be “just get us a win against Italy and we can continue on as we are”, which is just terrible if that’s what Gatland was trying to achieve for Wales imo.


Did it just happen to be Italy that he saw his team weren’t able to achieve his vision of success? I mean Italy are a very good side so its by no means a lost cause to not look like world beaters. Sure his focus should have been on more transient factors like growth and style for a full rebuild, not trying to avoid the wooden spoon.


Which brings me to you main point, that would be exactly what the benefit of dropping down a tier would be. A chance to really implement something, get good at it, then take it up a level again once you’re ready. Even for Italy it must have been an incredibly brutal environment to have been trying to develop as a side.


Not saying of course that the other EU teams would be any better, but it might be better for everyone if say ‘years of tough losses’ are shared between countries, rather than see Wales go through this journey two, three, possible four years in a row. Of course the main reason they don’t want to miss just one 6N season is because it would probably tank the game in their country missing out on all that revenue. I have always said they should look at widening the revenue share, there are plenty of competitions that have systems to keep bottom teams competitive, and the 6N would only make more money if it was a tierd competition with prom/rel.

36 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ From an uncertain position, Barrett and McKenzie are the All Blacks' key playmakers From an uncertain position, Barrett and McKenzie are the All Blacks' key playmakers
Search