Battle at Ellis Park

I have a Trebia report to write up but have been somewhat distracted by the ongoing All Blacks' tour of South Africa (the Springboks being the holders of the World Cup and the best rugby team in the world over the past four years). The tour is composed of four provincial games and three test matches. The most recent full tour of South Africa by New Zealand was in 1996, in which the All Blacks triumphed 2-1, taking their first test series victory on South African soil in seventy-five years of trying. It was a highlight of my university years to wake up in the small hours (or stay out until the games began, which happened on one or two occasions!) and watch those epic affairs.

South Africa's traditional strength is in the forwards. Their game is to kick long and force teams into set-piece plays (lineouts and scrums) deep their own territory where every mistake is punished by deadly kickers knocking 3-point penalties through the posts or by forward drives aiming to batter the defenders until they get over the line to score a 5-point try (followed by a 2-point conversion attempt). In addition to these 120kg monsters in the forward pack, the Springboks have hard-running centres and supremely quick outside backs who specialise in pressuring defending teams with judiciously hoisted kicks and a swarming chase, in intercepting loose passes between unwary opposition players, and in creating overlaps and using speed to outrun cover defenders to score tries. 

The All Blacks employ a different style. They prefer to use passing (and sometimes kick-passing) to put ball-runners through gaps in the defending line and then use supporting players to exploit holes behind the defence, outrun covering defenders, or, if caught, to recycle the ball quickly from tackle situations to take advantage of fractured defences and score tries. They try to do this from almost everywhere on the field. 

While the Springboks want to crush teams with inexorable forward power to win with penalty kicks and close-quarter tries, the All Blacks want to use their ball-handling skills and passing game to put runners into space and score tries from distance. 

Of course, there are some overlaps in style (the All Blacks also have bruising forwards and decent kickers, and the Springboks also have running and passing skills) but generally speaking these are the general approaches of the two teams.

Both sides believe that they are the most storied rugby teams in the world. Other nations are satisfied with good performances; for All Blacks and Springboks the only currency is victory. Both sides believe it is their divine right to win every game they play, and that they ARE rugby. The All Blacks point to their win percentage of 76% against all comers versus 64% for the Springboks to prove their superiority; the Springboks point to four World Cups and never having lost a World Cup final compared to three World Cups and two World Cup final defeats (both to guess who!) for New Zealand. 

In the professional era the All Blacks have set the standard for rugby excellence, but the Springboks have a pesky habit of winning that World Cup. And under their genius coach Rassie Erasmus they have beaten the New Zealanders in five of their last six encounters, including an embarrassing (for New Zealand) thrashing of the All Blacks in Wellington last year in which the New Zealanders were so badly mauled that they appeared to have no answer and gave up. This attitude had never before been observed in the All Blacks. It has been said that you can score more points than the New Zealanders, but you never beat them. The Wellington shellacking changed that.  

In response to this, the New Zealand Rugby Union used the off-season to sack the coach who oversaw that humiliation and install a seasoned, hard-nosed individual with a quintessentially kiwi name, Dave Rennie, as the new head coach.

Rennie's arrival has seen the All Blacks appoint a new captain and in the space of just three months rediscover their style, self-belief and attacking flair (a Renniessance, if you will....)

So this series will decide which of the two teams is currently the best in the world. Three tests in South Africa and one in neutral Baltimore: four matches to find the strongest team in the game. 

Sunday morning our time was the first match, at Ellis Park.

The New Zealanders go into the test battle-hardened. They have had three provincial games to settle combinations, acclimatise, and formulate their plan. The South Africans played a warm-up test against Argentina - won unconvincingly - but did not field their strongest team. Both sides have had injuries to important players, and South Africa go in with their inspirational captain, Siya Kolisi, absent thanks to a bung hamstring. Fortunately for them, they can replace him as captain with the brilliant flank forward Pieter-Steph du Toit, two-time world player of the year.

The game begins with punishing runs and powerful defence. The Springboks take an early lead with a penalty kick, but strong counter-play by the All Blacks sees them isolate the Springbok winger and score in the corner. 3-5 to the All Blacks.

The Springboks lose a winger to a head injury. The giant replacement back Esterhuizen finishes off a period of dominant Springbok play by brushing off a defender and scoring for South Africa. The conversion is successful - 10-5 to South Africa. 

It is not until the 16th minute of the game that the first scrum is set. The South Africans are strong. Even so, New Zealand threatens the South African line. In attempting to recycle the ball the All Black lock Holland performs a dangerous move, and a penalty relieves the pressure on South Africa.

But the next score nevertheless is to New Zealand - from a lineout the ball is sent to the wing where flank forward Vaa'i gallops down the sideline, passing infield as he is tackled, for the winger Moorby to evade the defence and run in the try. New Zealand convert: 10-12 to the All Blacks. 

Now the South African scrum begins to come into its own. As the first half comes towards its conclusion, the All Black scrum begins to struggle. In the 26th minute, the All Blacks give up a scrum penalty which the Springboks kick for three more points. 13-12 to South Africa. 

In the scrum the All Blacks are being pushed backwards and on their own feed cannot clear their ball; on South African feed they are being shunted backwards so far it leads to penalties. It is looking ominous for the New Zealanders. They cannot match the power of the South African forwards. The South African route to victory is clear: kick to the New Zealand 22 yard line, force a knock on, win a scrum penalty. They can then decide to take another scrum or a lineout close to the New Zealand line (to continue to assert dominance and make the referee consider a yellow card as an increasingly desperate All Black forward pack resorts to illegal tactics to avoid being overwhelmed), or to simply kick the penalty for three points each time.

The Springboks opt to keep the ball in play and 4 minutes from half time are rewarded by driving over the try line with the veteran Malcolm Marx in possession of the ball. But incredibly an All Black - one of the three Barrett brothers - gets a hand in to dislodge the ball as Marx attempts to place it for the score. No try! Scrum New Zealand ball, five metres from the line. The Springboks push with all their might, but the All Black number 8 and captain, Ardie Savea, clears the ball to a support player before the scrum collapses, and a kick downfield takes the play out of the danger area for New Zealand. Crisis averted!

But the Springboks return. Another attack into the New Zealand 22 yard line sees the referee blow his whistle - two of the All Black forwards have clashed heads attempting a tackle on the same South African. Play stops as their respective states are assessed. Both are taken from the field and replaced. 

New Zealand survive another scrum, and hold the South Africans out until half time is called. The Springbok number 8 Jasper Wiese has been immense, breaking tackles at will. For New Zealand, the trysaver, Jordie Barrett, has been outstanding on defence. 

The Springboks lead 13-12. It is 3:50 am in New Zealand and for twenty minutes it has been so tense I have not been able to sit down. That the South Africans do not lead by more is a miracle. The score could easily be 24-12. 

The second half commences. South Africa is immediately on attack. High kicks into the air which our defenders struggle to field; scrum dominance leads to another penalty. 16-12 to South Africa. 

From the restart New Zealand kicks long. The South Africans field the ball, Wiese drives forward and a ruck is formed some 20 metres from the South African line. The South Africans will kick to the sideline and force a lineout at half way. But the Dutch-born All Black lock, Fabian Holland, anticipates the kick, moves forward and leaps in the air to charge it down, gathers the loose ball, evades a defender, and falls across the line. The conversion is successful: 16-19 to New Zealand. 

The play from the restart is taken into the All Black half. Wiese again leads the charge. The All Blacks are awarded a scrum 15 metres from their own line. The All Black scrum is penalised. The South Africans continue the play and are held up just short of the All Black line. The ycome back for the penalty - South Africa elects to take it as a scrum. The match is in the balance, South Africa is on the march, New Zealand are holding on just. 

The scrum is 5 metres out from the New Zealand line. The Springboks have the feed: they can elect to keep the ball in the scrum and push the All Blacks back to force a pushover try, or another penalty (and perhaps a yellow card); they can use Jasper Wiese to run the ball off the back of the scrum for the line; they can elect to pass the ball through the backline, either to score, or to set up a ruck for another attack.

Six minutes into the half, with everything on the line, the All Black scrum holds. Not only does it hold, it forces a penalty. The South Africans cannot believe it, but the referee has seen illegal play in the South African scrum. New Zealand kicks for the touchline to relieve pressure. 

From the next plays the New Zealanders find a gap, their fullback runs up the field, gets almost within touching distance of the South African line. The play breaks down as the Springboks prevent him passing successfully to support, but it is now the South Africans who are defending, and the All Blacks who have the scrum feed 5 metres from the South African line. The All Black scrum is now solid. The replacement props have brought new confidence. Off the back of the scrum the number 8 runs; from the ruck New Zealand scores. 16-26 to New Zealand.

And with that New Zealand has put themselves in a position to win. The final twenty minutes of the game are now immaterial: the All Blacks weathered the period of South African dominance, held out, and took a lead which South Africa did not have the gameplan to make up.

16-33 to the All Blacks is the final score. New Zealand has beaten the world champions at their spiritual home and there are three tests more to play.

A glorious test match, and rugby at its best. The scoreline alone would indicate an easy victory but it was far from that. The All Black style prevailed this time, but the Springboks could easily have crushed the men from New Zealand by half time had things gone slightly more in their favour.  

Three more tests to go. Whatever the result, it will be a series to remember.