The gloves are off and the heat is on as the Springboks and All Blacks square off in the third Test of the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series at FNB Stadium on Saturday (17:10 kick-off), writes Quintin van Jaarsveld.
It’s game on.
ALSO READ: Bok Watch: Players in the Spotlight vs New Zealand at FNB Stadium.
That might sound strange at the halfway stage of the four-Test series, but after plenty of pleasantries and praise off the pitch and friendly fire on it, we’ve finally entered the war zone.
After dropping the opener 33-16 at Ellis Park, last Saturday’s rematch was a must-win for the Boks to keep their hopes of winning the first traditional tour between the great nations on South African soil in 30 years alive, and they looked like the double world champions that they are.
On August 3rd, SA Rugby held a ‘Welcome to Country’ event for the Kiwis at Cape Town Stadium. It took game six of the tour, coincidentally at the same venue, for Dave Rennie’s men to finally get a proper welcome to Mzansi.
Chants of “Olé, olé, olé, olé” could be heard for the first time all tour moments before the kick-off, a sounding of the horn and a rallying cry from the fantastic 56,000-strong crowd after the sold-out crowd at Ellis Park had been criminally quiet in the opener.
The Boks, and their fans, had been overly respectful, to the point that you’d be forgiven for thinking the series was being contested in the Land of the Long White Cloud. It took until the series was on the line for South Africans, those in the match 23, the Bok management team and in the stands, to finally wake up.
Fired up and focused, the men in Green and Gold showed their intent with a rumbling driving maul that set up a try for Jesse Kriel inside the opening two minutes. The message was clear – the real Boks are here. They were clear in their thinking, commanding for most of the match, and clinical compared to the previous week.
They were more direct on attack, cut out 50/50 offloads and rectified things at ruck time, where they were faster, more physical and, therefore, more efficient. The benefits of this were two-fold – vastly better ball protection and a catalogue of turnovers, with World Player of the Year Malcolm Marx serving as ball hawk supreme.
Senior players like Marx, Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit – in his 100th Test – Eben Etzebeth, Cobus Reinach, Damian de Allende and Man of the Match Cheslin Kolbe with his 18-point goal-kicking masterclass, stood up, and the Bok jumpers owned the lineouts.
Leading 24-14 at half-time and by 16 points 52 minutes in, the Boks were guilty of not finishing the All Blacks off. This made for a tense finale as Ardie Savea and company launched a spirited fightback.
Even with the Boks reduced to 14 men down the stretch following a yellow card for replacement Lood de Jager, they managed to hold on for a 33-26 bounce-back win to square the series and reclaim the world No. 1 ranking.
Then came the explosive post-match press conference, where Rassie Erasmus finally snapped regarding Rennie’s gripes about the Bok scrum and accusations of illegal tactics. “We’re not f**king walking around. We scrum through. We’ve never, ever, ever been accused of walking around, so I don’t understand,” said the Bok coach.
Both management teams have been playing mind games all series, but with the scrum being the one facet of play the Kiwis can’t hold a candle to the Boks, it’s become the central point of controversy on and off the field.
At the weekend, referee Angus Gardner felt the pressure and was scared to death to make a call. The result was that the Boks, for the second successive week, didn’t get the reward they were due in the set piece, and the hot potato has now been passed to Nika Amashukeli, who’ll be on the whistle after being forced out of the second Test due to illness.
Animosity has entered the chat, as the kids say, and things will pop off in the Sowetan cauldron that is the 94,000-seater FNB Stadium.
Superior in the set pieces and the sky, and having rectified the breakdown blues from the first Test, the Boks are starting to look ominous, and the added needle will make New Zealand’s task that much more daunting.
That said, South Africa have to shore up their defence, especially the soft edges, which have been open highways to the try line for the tourists in the two opening Tests.
It would be wise for the All Blacks to push the Boks’ buttons with some dark arts to coax them into card-costing crimes. Erasmus should be wise to this possible tactic, though, and will prepare his troops to play with controlled aggression.
If they do that, Kolisi and company will take control of the series.
Prediction: South Africa by 10.
Suggested Bet: South Africa -7.5 at 1.86.
Quintin van Jaarsveld is a former MDDA-Sanlam SA Local Sports Journalist of the Year and a former three-time Vodacom KwaZulu-Natal Sports Journalist of the Year. Formerly the sports editor and Outstanding Journalist of the Year award winner at The Fever Media Group, deputy editor at eHowzit, editor at SARugby.com and senior staff writer at Rugby365.com, he boasts over 20 years of experience.
