All Black moaning has tainted Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry

OPINION: The All Blacks’ shameless attempts to cast the Springbok scrum in a negative light and influence referees have become a taint on the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series.

The Springboks outplayed New Zealand 33-26 to level the series at Cape Town Stadium, with the South Africans righting all the wrongs that saw them suffer a shock defeat in the opening Test at Ellis Park.

They converted their presence in opposition 22 much more effectively than last week.

They completely nullified the All Blacks at the breakdown, significantly cut down their threat with ball in hand with outstanding defence, particularly in the first half, and took the points on offer, unlike last week, with Cheslin Kolbe slotting four penalties. Three of which came in the first half to boost their lead (24-14) at the break.

The aerial game was far from a contest as the visitors again failed to handle the hosts’ onslaught.

Individually, the Boks also did much better, with their halfbacks a much-improved unit and fewer opportunity-chucking errors overall.

The All Blacks, meanwhile, struggled with their line-out, turning over possession on three of their throws, while there was also a string of scrum resets on their part. Their discipline was an issue again, although many of their missteps never copped a second look.

South Africa disarmed them of their strengths – outdoing them at the rucks, cutting them down on attack, and surviving their characteristic late surge – while sharpening their own weapons.

While the Boks only bagged one scrum penalty in Cape Town compared to the six they were awarded in the first Test in Johannesburg, it was a dominant platform nonetheless.

All three their tries indirectly resulted from their set-piece, the first two coming after a line-out and the third after a scrum, which was a major step-up considering that they managed very little reward from their set-piece superiority last week, which saw them repeatedly send Ethan de Groot, Codie Taylor, and Tyrel Lomax into reverse before the All Blacks got some momentum in the area later in the game.

The scrums were all Boks in the second Test, yet the All Blacks went in hunt for the victim tag after the game.

Speaking during his post-match press conference, head coach Dave Rennie questioned the Boks’ scrum tactics, a drum he started beating in the build-up to the first Test.

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“The scrums were better tonight, I think [referee] Angus [Gardner] was pretty strong around setting a mark and then trying to keep the hookers in the same sort of spacing, and if the Springboks moved across further left then he stopped them,” Rennie said.

“We’ll give a bit of feedback around that. That’s still a bit of an issue for us because they’re able to walk around and go straight through our tighthead.

“So, there are a couple of little technical things that we’ll share again, but I thought in the end the scrums, both teams were able to play off them and so I think Angus did a reasonable job there.”

Rennie’s comments smacked of sour grapes; they know they can’t compete with the South African scrum when it’s in full operation, so they want some kind of leverage to stand a chance and they’re hoping that by using the media to drive their agendas – as they’ve been doing since before even arriving in South Africa – they will get match officials to bend to their will as well.

It shows that they know that the Springboks can nullify their threats, while it’s not as easy to limit theirs.

They couldn’t negate the Boks’ scrum and now they resort to questioning it.

The New Zealand media and supporters have tried to villainise Rassie Erasmus and everything he and his team have done or are known for during the build-up to the series and continue to do so two Tests in.

They are blatantly trying to influence referees, knowing very well that, should it work, the South African camp won’t be able to voice their frustrations with officiating publicly.

When Erasmus stated that he and his coaching team got it wrong after the Ellis Park implosion, New Zealand media assumed that admitting that shows he’s feeling the pressure.

When he announced his team last Monday and tweaked it later in the week before switching the front row on game day, some lost it saying he is exploiting rugby’s laws.

They had the world zoomed in on the Boks and their alleged “slowing the game down” tactics long before the series started.

What will they target next?

If there’s one thing the All Blacks have succeeded in other than pulling off an upset in the first Test, it’s tainting it with their Bok witch hunt and attempts at getting an unfair advantage from match officials.

Rassie really is in their head.