mens
international
The main area of criticism to come All black people‘ during and after the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series focused on their battle under the high ball. Such criticism would not have surfaced after 80 minutes of brilliant play at Eden Park on Saturday night.
While the Springboks dominated New Zealand in a competitive kicking competition last month and built considerable attacking momentum at the back, the boot was well and truly on the second leg in Auckland, with New Zealand deploying a host of contenders and winning a huge number of them.
The back line was chased by everyone in turns, with Jordie Barrett and Will Jordan acting in the air against an advancing Australian back line South Africa in that department just two weeks ago.
But after the match, Dave Rennie’s praise was quickly directed at another aspect of the kicking game when the subject was raised in the post-match press conference.
“I thought Cam (Roigard’s) shot was great and allowed us to put on a lot of pressure,” the coach said. “We threw a little more than nines than we were.
“I think, as you know, it’s hard to take those snaps. I think receiving teams are catching one of the four. That’s the nature of the game at this point. That’s the nature of the game at this point.”
“Our guys did a great job of winning in the air or picking up scraps, so that was a good shift.”
Jordan, who finished the game as captain after Codie Taylor left the field, said there was “a lot of edge in the camp all week” as the Kiwis bid to extend their famous Eden Park record and reign as Bledisloe Cup holders.
On the high ball issue, Jordan reiterated what has become commonplace that the game currently rewards the attacking team for shooting short shots and that adjusting the length of shots was a big factor in Auckland success. He also noted that Jordie Barrett’s efforts to chase longer shots led to dominant tackles.
“We just stuck to the plan we’ve had all year around the withdrawal system,” he explained. “I feel like a lot of the games we’ve played it’s worked pretty well. And then there were a few in South Africa where it didn’t. I thought we did a good job of sticking with it.”
“We’ve felt pretty good all year about the competition going forward, and I thought tonight, Cam did a great job with his footwork to just pull back five or so yards just to let us get in the air; like me, Jordie and Leroy (Carter).
“It’s always going to be an emphasis for us. So it’s a good win for us tonight, but it’s going to be important moving forward.”