In Saturday’s World Cup final, the Springboks can expect an All Blacks side that will know how to cope with the challenges they faced when the two teams last clashed at Twickenham.
The last time these two teams met was the World Cup warm-up match at Twickenham, when the Springboks handed the All Blacks their heaviest defeat.
That game saw the Bok brains trust pull off a surprise with seven forwards on the bench and it paid off as the All Blacks pack was placed under immense pressure. Midway through the first half, New Zealand found themselves down to 14 men, when captain Sam Cane joined utility forward Scott Barrett in the sin bin. Barrett received his marching orders just before half-time after being shown a second yellow card.
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Speaking ahead of Saturday’s final, defence coach Scott McLeod said the All Blacks – joint third for tournament yellow cards with four – will better cope if they find themselves a man or two down against the Boks.
“Not so much in a motivational aspect, more in terms of scenarios and how we respond. So we took learning out of that,” McLeod said, when asked about the Twickenham match.
“Particularly when we were down to 13 men, how we want to play the game. It’s shown throughout the tournament that we’ve had a few cards and I think we have shown that we have learned through that.”
An early weather forecast for Saturday predicts 14-degree temperatures and plenty of rain before the match kicks off at 9pm.
This could result in another game dominated by the kicking battle, an area where the All Blacks and Springboks take plenty of pride.
While the Springboks were overwhelmed in this area of the game by England, McLeod is still wary of what they can produce on Saturday.
“We haven’t encountered a lot of that so that is something we will build on his week. They are very good at getting into the air and getting the ball back. When they do get it, they put it into space behind, spread it wide and play from there. They have scored tries from their aerial stuff. We will be building our detail into how we can win those moments.
“The first person into the air to win the space, probably. We felt we were a little bit hungrier and a little bit quicker in that first game, and in the second game we were slower to get into the air and slower to get back in the system. They beat us into that space.”
Two rivals will meet again.
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South Africa’s impressive come-from-behind efforts in the World Cup playoffs has New Zealand on their guard for potentially suffering the same fate as France and England/
“They are never out of it,” McLeod said.” They come from a country where they are hardened and they know how to stay in the fight. They showed that at the last World Cup as well.”
Photo: Ian Kington / AFP