We parrot. We repeat. We regurgitate received wisdom. This causes mythologies to develop, myths that make us feel wise.
The echoes from others confirm our myths.
One of the most repeated myths in rugby is that South Africa kicks all the time and looks to win with penalties, and New Zealand looks to run and offload and score tries.
It’s relatively easy to dispel this myth.
In the 2013 Rugby Championship, we can look at the four Tests by the top two teams against Australia to see the two sides were very similar in how they both beat the Wallabies twice. In some ways, the Springboks showed more verve.
Kicking from hand: South Africa 27.5 times per Test, New Zealand 30.
Passing the ball: South Africa 117 passes per Test, New Zealand 102.
Running the ball: South Africa 102 times per Test, New Zealand 84 times (though with better effect).
New Zealand did complete more offloads (7.5 versus 6.0 per Test), but the stats on beaten defenders and clean breaks were very close.
As for tries scored against Australia, it was 8-7 in favour of New Zealand: hardly supporting the claim of a rabidly attacking All Black team versus conservative Boks.
But what about when they played each other?
In their two Tests against each other, New Zealand kicked from the hand 21 more times than the Springboks, made 30 fewer passes and one less offload, made five fewer clean line breaks, and ran with the ball 44 fewer times.
They did better than South Africa when they ran, they passed better at critical times, and they beat more Bok defenders (49 times) than Boks beat Kiwi tacklers (36).
But surely we can move past this myth? What other myths are we foolishly holding on to?
