Big World Cup wake-up call for Boks

THE manner of the Springboks’ 35-23 defeat to the All Blacks at Ellis Park last night comes at just the right time ahead of the build-up to the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

South African fans were confident ahead of the second Rugby Championship encounter following last week’s 26-10 triumph over New Zealand in Mbombela.

But the Kiwis’ all-out attacking approach exposed the Boks’ soft underbelly and was a welcome wake-up call ahead of France 2023.

Time and again the Bok coaches have stuck to their guns in how they want their team to play – attain physical dominance, chase the boxkicks and use the pressure to set up points-scoring opportunities.

But the nagging question has always been what else the world champions would have up their sleeves if they were matched up front, and on the basis of the Ellis Park display, it seemed like just two words: Lukhanyo Am.

Yes, losing No 14 Jesse Kriel early on to a head knock after a tackle on Caleb Clarke disrupted the Bok backline. They had to re-jig it almost entirely with Willie le Roux coming on at fullback with Am moved to right wing and Damian Willemse shifted to inside centre.

The Boks continued with their trademark game plan, and it didn’t work. The All Blacks forwards stood up to the physical challenge, stopping the driving mauls, putting pressure on new Bok hooker Joseph Dweba in the line-out and standing strong in the scrums as well.

Star No 8 Ardie Savea chased every ball down and contested the breakdowns fiercely, while Samisoni Taukei’aho, Sam Whitelock and Shannon Frizell weren’t far behind either, and flyhalf Richie Mo’unga pulling the strings on attack.

When Taukei’aho rolled over for a try just before half time, the visitors went 15-0 up, and the Boks lifted the intensity following the introduction of Malcolm Marx, Steven Kitshoff and Jasper Wiese from the bench.

Suddenly the Bok attack switched on as well, with Le Roux playing an influential role alongside Handre Pollard and Willemse.

But it was Am – arguably the best player in the world at the moment – who rode a tackle from Clarke and dummied inside before scoring in the corner.

Pollard’s conversion, nearly 60-metre penalty and another threepointer after half time made it all to play for at 15-13.

But even when Makazole Mapimpi rounded off after a lovely long pass from Willemse, the Boks couldn’t land the knockout punch despite Pollard putting them 23-21 ahead following Beauden Barrett’s yellow card for taking out Jaden Hendrikse off the ball.

And that is the problem with this Springbok team. It was the All Blacks who produced the thrilling break-out by Rieko Ioane in broken play, with Savea offloading to David Havili to score, before Scott Barrett finished things off in the 79th minute.