All Blacks must eat ‘humble pie’ and find answers in Baltimore
REACTION: After losing two consecutive Test matches against the Springboks in Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry, the All Blacks will have to eat humble pie and work towards an improved performance in the final Test of the series in Baltimore.
That is the view of assistant coach Neil Barnes, who was candid and forthright in his assessment after the side’s 24-29 loss at FNB Stadium on Saturday.
Barnes, who believes the All Blacks are not far behind the Boks, didn’t hold back and said they would need to find solutions if they are to level the series.
The Kiwis won the opening Test at Ellis Park before suffering back-to-back defeats to the Boks in Cape Town and Soweto.
“Well, it is close,” he said when asked about the levels between the two sides.
“I think if you look at all the stats, we’ve been on the wrong side of the scoreboard, so we’re going to have to eat a humble pie and be honest in our reviews.
“We have to be solution-based because we’ve got to get better and be on the other side of the scoreboard. But to be fair, there’s not a lot in it.”
While the Boks were not at their best, their set-piece once again proved a major weapon in the third Test.
Rassie Erasmus’s men were rewarded for their scrum dominance throughout the encounter and even scored a penalty try late in the first half following an unstoppable surge.
Their power game came to the fore again after the break, with Malcolm Marx scoring from a rolling maul with 15 minutes remaining.
Barnes admitted the All Blacks will need to find solutions to counter the Boks’ dominance at set-piece.
“You can’t hide from them. Their set-piece is pretty damn dominant, and they get a gravy train of penalties from it,” he admitted.
“I’m not going to say they’re all legit, but at the end of the day, we’ve got to change the perception for the officials as well, so we get a fair rub of the green. We’ve got to be solution-based here.
“I don’t think we did too bad a job. We got a maul try against us at the end, which hurt pretty bad, but the scrum penalties – we’ve got to find a way to stop them as well.
“For both Jason [Ryan] and myself, we’ve got work to do. The rest of the game, we probably weren’t at our best; our skill set let us down at times when we had them in trouble, so we’ll review ourselves tough and make sure we’re better for the next game in Baltimore.”
Barnes was pleased with certain aspects of the All Blacks’ performance but re-emphasised the importance of maintaining their high tempo for the full 80 minutes.
The 68-year-old believes the All Blacks have the game plan to topple the Boks but must reduce their error rate if they are to get the desired result in the States.
“The last thing you want to do is reinvent the wheel.
“You can obviously make alterations to your game plan all the time to try and stay ahead of the opposition.
“At the end of the day, we turned over too much ball, made mistakes at the wrong time, and you pay for that against the best teams in the world.
“We’re not going to beat ourselves up too much, but at the moment it stinks. We’re coming second to this crew, and we tried bloody hard to get the right result for our country, and it hurts.”
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