It was again a tight match in Cape Town this past weekend, but how the Boks managed to come from behind to win was brilliant to see and sets them up nicely to claim a first Championship crown since 2019 with two Tests to go.
Here, Leighton Koopman looks at the positives and negatives from the two Tests against the New Zealanders.
Almost everyone played
In keeping up with his promise to expand the player base of the national team, Bok coach Rassie Erasmus did not shy away from making changes for the second Test even after some strong performances in the first one.
As a unit, the team did not disappoint at Cape Town Stadium. They had the fight and determination to get the job done despite the changes made to the matchday 23. Few teams will be able to sustain performances against one of the top teams in the world with so many changes.
Boks can win pretty and ugly
Ellis Park’s first few minutes were not pretty, but after finding their feet the Boks turned the tables on the Kiwis and played some enterprising rugby with the Bomb Squad coming on to secure the game at the death.
Cape Town again showed that even if the world champions are not at their best, they still can triumph over any side. It wasn’t a good-looking game, but the grind and determination to pull a rabbit out of the hat is what makes this team unstoppable at the moment.
Bok tactics coming together
Yes, they left some good tries on the field after it was started by some innovative moves, but give it just a few more Tests and things will start falling into place on the attack for the Springboks.
Their defence was brilliant in the second Test after conceding four tries in the first, but it’s the way they attacked, at times even better than the Kiwis, that will have South African supporters excited. The moves off line-outs and scrums that were executed looked promising and if they can find that accuracy, the Boks will score some good tries.
Discipline is still a worry
They were brilliant enough to stop the All Blacks even while playing with 14 men this past weekend, but in crunch games that could decide a World Cup trophy, it could come back to bite them in the backside.
No 8 Jasper Wiese got his marching orders early on, while fullback Willie le Roux found himself in the naughty chair as well. In the first Test, it was fullback Aphelele Fassi. The Boks have been racking up the cards since the start of the international season and that is something they will have to address.
Using those chances
It is still early in the evolution of the Springbok attacking game plan with new attack coach Tony Brown at the helm, and the glimpses the Boks have shown look promising. But it is time they start using those attacking chances they create to put more points past their opponents. This past weekend, they let a couple of clear-cut chances go to waste with bad decision-making.
A line break doesn’t mean you have to force the offload and risk a knock-on when a breakdown and another phase could provide that opportunity to score.