When the Rugby World Cup groups were announced we all took an intake of breath, at the mouthwatering prospect of South Africa and New Zealand sharing the field in the pool stages. The rivalry is one of the best in World Rugby, and not even we could have predicted how great this game was going to be.
And South Africa started really well, with 20 minutes to satisfy even the most cynical fan, immediately putting New Zealand under pressure. They caught the ball in their own 22, before then moving up 2 zones and winning a penalty. The 3-0 lead a just reward for a good start.
However the movement from the 22 up the field was not the most interesting facet of the starting minutes. Instead this lies with New Zealand and a possible indication of the loss of Brodie Retallick. Both New Zealand kick offs went to exactly the same place, as you would expect. This in itself is not weird, it being a standard strategy. However where these kicks went was what spikes an interest. Kicks aimed at points to want to avoid a lineout. While in the Australia v Fiji game, they kicked to hooper in the corner. However New Zealand did something relatively unconventional and kicked down the middle channel to the edge of the 22 at Willie Le Roux.
While this may just seem like a small difference it may point to a deliberate focus to keep the ball on the field and prevent a kick out. This is drawn from the fact it is further to the touch line, so South Africa won’t be able to gain as much ground. They also let the ball come down short of the SA 22 meaning that they can’t kick directly to touch.
This want to avoid lineouts is interesting given the injury to key man, Brodie Retallick, before the tournament. This could lead to New Zealand being unable to use a platform which has served them so well in the past and contributed to many a score, and could prove a weakness to enable pressure to be applied to New Zealand.
But clearly, New Zealand didn’t suffer to badly needing little variation to score against South Africa.
The two tries that New Zealand scored really exposed South Africa’s defence. The defensive system has been outstanding and so long as the players execute well it caused New Zealand problems. This was no better demonstrated than when South Africa managed to push New Zealand back through from the South Africa 10m to the New Zealand 22.
This South African intensity managed had New Zealand pinned back, and while without the ball, they had New Zealand under an intense pressure as they threw it around sevens style with little focus on anything other than keeping the ball alive.
However while defence was incredibly, with an absolute intensity not matched for those first twenty minutes, it also became double edged sword.
Both New Zealand tries, came from a transition using a cross kick exposing South Africas defence on the open side, a place where South Africa should have in theory the advantage
However, whether due to fatigue, or just the general brokenness of a game followed by New Zealand regathering the kick, Mapimpi is out of position defending one defender in than he should. This means that while he can put pressure on the pass, he leaves a gaping space into which Mounga can kick to, and Sevu Reece can gather accelerating on to a perfectly weighted kick. So while it’s easy to point to him missing the tackle New Zealand’s first try, comes from an aggressive defence which had become a poisoned chalice.
This overall defensive problem led to a very interesting statistic, with both New Zealand tries, coming from their own 50m area as they continuously exposed Mapimi’s position allowing Reece to break. Another key part of this going forward into the quarterfinals and beyond for New Zealand, is that they are yet to reveal all their tricks.
But the All Blacks weren’t invincible, with SA exerting massive amounts of pressure. This Mainly down to a strong kicking game, in which they were able to turn the New Zealanders around and really start to attack the space in behind. With Kolbe managing to force Mounga behind his try line.
Also, after about 60 minutes, there was a definite drop in quality, mainly due to fitness and humidity. The broken field really suited SA with them piling more pressure, especially with some New Zealand forwards tiring, a good example is when Barret kicked to touch despite dominant return by Linert-Brown following a Kolbe break.
Overall, the game was a great game to have first week, and deserved the build up it got. The Springboks showed some wonderful flashes of brilliance, while their defensive system needs some adjustment. And despite all the talk about them being vulnerable the All Blacks gave the first weekend a starter to continue excitement into week 2.
The Analysis Guy 