The Springboks and Lions reveal blueprint for bringing down All Blacks, NZ Herald

What the Springboks and the Lions have done this season is show that the All Blacks are beatable when you back your own distinctive style and squeeze everything from it.

 

The British and Irish Lions led the way in July with that rousing 24-21 upset in Wellington when they did what many thought impossible ... keep the Kiwis tryless.

 

On Sunday, the Boks came oh-so-close in Cape Town by doing it their way.

 

The Boks went back to their DNA with a physically imposing challenge and cut out needless handling and set-piece errors.

 

Forwards Eben Etzebeth, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Lood de Jager and Franco Mostert all stand taller than former heavyweight boxing giant Wladimir Klitschko and hammered away with body shots.

 

Between them, they ran 40 times, direct and with purpose, to tenderise the All Blacks defence up the middle.

 

It was backed up by just four handling errors and harassing defence.

 

The All Blacks-Springboks Test was a classic and it had an extra ingredient.

 

South African Malcolm Marx had one of the finest of Tests with four forced penalties for his Pocock-like work over the ball, set up a try, scored another and ran over All Blacks.

 

All that and he's a hooker.

 

He was even better as a losing man-of-the-match than Kurtley Beale was in Dunedin six weeks ago when the Wallabies did everything but win in a 35-29 miss.

 

The big takeaway from the Boks' huge bounce back is that the Wallabies have to back what they are good at to topple the All Blacks at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday week.

 

That is working precise set plays like the Michael Hooper inside ball to Reece Hodge for the Will Genia try in Mendoza when there was a neat little roll-out from a maul.

 

Boks halfback Ross Cronje scored after an 18-phase raid in Cape Town and that is the same sort of sustained pressure the Wallabies crack teams with at their best.

 

The gold defence must improve again to knock the flow out of the All Blacks because Marika Koroibete can't drift off an All Blacks centre and let him cut inside for a try.

 

There are also enough Wallabies hovering on seven-out-of-10 form to bring a blinder to Suncorp Stadium.

 

Beale, Genia, Israel Folau, Koroibete, Sean McMahon, rookie Jack Dempsey, with another 15-run game, or Adam Coleman ... the firepower is there.

 

Now for the mindset. Somehow the Wallabies have to imagine they've just conceded 50 points, think everyone is sneering at them and then they will play like cornered animals again.

 Yes, some ideas on how to beat the ABs have been identified. Problem is other teams have to be able to execute these ideas on the field. Plus the ABs themselves are evolving and hopefully will be picking their strongest side to play Oz. Players will not have been "rotated" so they won't have any ring rust.
It's not clear that Oz have the pack to execute what the Boks did. They do have good backs so maybe they can use the rush defence. If Barrett is not available (head knock) they have more of a chance. Plus, the Bledisloe cup is already won so hopefully this won't reduce the intensity of the ABs. For sure the Wobblies will be fired up. Hansen may still be trying to give younger players some game time and also he seems to want to rest some players for the EOYT. All of which means the Wobblies have a chance of winning this next game. Still I predict ABs will win by at least 5.

 
Best thing is to use a crystal ball ... when you see it showing them having an awful day ... that's when you be bold and bet your house and car on them losing ... you are bound to get some great odds ... and then ... you hope and pray that their awful day ... isn't 1 point better than your team's best day.

I was only joshing,  SharkSh!t ...

 CC, you may be joshing but part of what you say is true. Plus, teams playing the ABs have nothing to lose so they might as well play on the edge to even the odds.

 
Yeah ... it's usually that "nothing to lose" approach that makes them a little reckless ... which ends up with a 57 to zip scoreline ... and the losing coach discarding his "10 steps to beat the All Blacks" blue print ... 

The All Blacks crush teams on turnovers....we limited those on Saturday....but look at the 3 tries: . 1 A blocked grubber by Jantjies...booted through....touched down by Crotty. . 2 A pass from Cronje snatched at by the wrong receiver.....picked up by Ioane who gassed the Bok cover. . 3 An up and under only chased by Pollard.....fed to McKenzie who gasses Allende, . No phase play, no long build ups....poor execution by the Boks immediately punished. That’s why indiscriminte attack resulted in a 57 to zip loss. Ireland, the Lions and the Boks showed that challenging them physically, defending like Trojans and attacking only on good ball is the recipe.

 No phase play? How many phases preceded Cronje's try? We are quite effective if we play close to our pack. It's when we kick and play wide that we nose-dive.

 Boks showed that challenging them physically, defending like Trojans and attacking only on good ball is the recipe.I would add that some flair is required.  You need to be creative these days to score enough tries.
I posted about the flimsy Boks. Coetzee gave away our tradional strength playinga pack tat was ouytwerighed by ther wee abs. In this Bok pack I would only rate Dryer as flimsy. I rate Du Preez at 8 above Louw. The guys on the bench are not the next best though eg Chilli Boy.The backs are kinda coping but more is needed. Cronje is solid and snapsters saying he give Jantjes a poor service is BS. Faf has more flair and should at least be on the bench. Just hope Pollard is on the way back.If Coetzee selects well by the end of the NH tour we may know more about our backline resources. If he can integrate even two new  top class backs we are on our way. We do not need any more  small backs though. We need guys with the necessary pace, skills and size. Don' t waste any more time on the Rhules of the world. They will never shape against the top sides in hard tests.

 @ DB.
I think Moz was saying that the AB's tries were a result of our errors and not through any of their own endevours.

Have you been taking stupid pills lately Draad, I’m saying the ABs scored their tries off our errors. I’m not saying we shouldn’t play ball in hand rugby from 50 metres out. In fact we should work on that aspect, it’s probably our biggest improvement opportunity. And no we weren’t always bad at this...go back and look at some of our tries against the British Lions. .. It’s really frustrating to see the simple lessons that emerge game after game being ignored. No, we shouldn’t go back to up and unders....one of them killed us on Saturday. We should play possession and territory and save the phase play for the opponents half,

 We should play possession and territory and save the phase play for the opponents half,
A simple and an effective strategy which has flown straight over the flat head of Coetzee and co. The Boks used it last year if I remember correctly but were let down by poor out of hand kicking.

 Sorry Moz, I didn't read properly. Totally agree now.