Are the All Blacks walking into a Springbok ambush?
Context: ‘The time, place, and circumstances in which something occurs or develops.’
The All Blacks have cruised through their three warm-up matches – against the Stormers, Sharks and Bulls – resulting in causeries that they would be too much for the Springboks to handle.
It is worth noting that these nescient colloquies are mostly by overzealous New Zealand supporters and hate-baiting muckrakers from Aotearoa.
That brings us to the point of #CONTEXT!
As @LiebenbergHenno so eloquently put it: You can’t ridicule South Africans about the results without the necessary CONTEXT.
The Stormers (lost 21-38), Sharks (0-54) and Bulls (19-50) are all in pre-season for the United Rugby Championship, which gets underway next month.
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None of the three teams played any rugby in the last two months and it showed in their disjointed displays.
More importantly, all three teams were minus at least 15 frontline players, mostly through Springbok call-ups and injury.
Only a handful of players were released from the national squad for the Greatest Rivalry pre-Test matches.
The Stormers were without key players like Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Damian Willemse, Ben-Jason Dixon, Zachary Porthen, Siya Kolisi, Paul de Villiers, Cobus Reinach, Wilco Louw (all on Bok duty), JD Schickerling, Oliver Kebble, Marcel Theunissen and Suleiman Hartzenberg (all injured).
While they were the most cohesive of the early tour opponents, their midfield and bench depth lacked the international standard required.
The Sharks were in the same boat and fielded a virtual Under-23 squad, with a healthy dosage of Under-20 players.
The frontline players they missed included Springboks Eben Etzebeth, Ox Nche, Andre Esterhuizen, Thomas du Toit, Aphelele Fassi, Edwill van der Merwe and Ethan Hooker, while Vincent Tshituka, Emile van Heerden, Bongi Mbonambi, Phatu Ganyane, Cameron Dawson, Jason Jenkins, Stephan Lewies, Trevor Nyakane, Hanro Jacobs, Jaco Williams, as well as the Hendrikse bothers Jaden and Jordan are all part of an extensive injury list.
The roster fielded in Durban was a severely depleted, second-string outfit.
An incredibly raw backline was suffocated by the All Blacks, exposing a massive drop-off between the Sharks’ frontline stars and their academy/fringe squad players.
And it was the same for the Bulls.
Gerhard Steenekamp, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Johan Grobbelaar, Marco van Staden, Cobus Wiese, Cameron Hanekom, Handré Pollard, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Canan Moodie are on Bok duty.
Injuries include Akker van der Merwe, Sebastian de Klerk, Mornay Smith, Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg and Cheswill Jooste are out injured.
Veterans like Marcell Coetzee, Willie le Roux, and Embrose Papier provided crucial individual resistance, but the younger players couldn’t cope with the All Blacks’ continuous second-effort phases and overwhelming forward pack dominance.
All Black coach Dave Rennie, unlike some of his compatriots, readily admits that it will be a ‘significant’ step up against the Springboks at Ellis Park this coming Saturday.
However, while looking impressive against sub-par opposition, they have not really been tested.
The first half against the Stormers and second half against the Bulls will have given Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus some sagacity ahead of the first Test.
The question remains: ‘Are the All Blacks walking into a Springbok ambush in Johannesburg?’
@JanDKrugby
@rugby365com
