Africa-Press – South-Africa. The upcoming clash between the Springboks and the All Blacks in the Rugby Championship is eagerly awaited by rugby fans, with South Africa having home ground advantage in both matches.
With the All Blacks having come off a historic 2-1 home series loss to Ireland, they will be a dangerous animal despite having to play away from home.
New Zealand rugby writer Ben Smith says although there are several concerns for New Zealand heading into the Rugby Championship, there is some good news for Ian Foster’s men.
That comes in the fact that as far as structured attacking play is concerned, the Springboks aren’t the best.
“There are so many areas of concern for the All Blacks it’s hard to know where to start, but the good news is that when they next play the Springboks in South Africa, they will not have to play the world’s best structured attack,” Smith said in his RugbyPass column.
“The Boks cannot run anything like Ireland can, so the reads will be easier and the defence will not need to improve to see better results. It will be direct, physical, unimaginative stuff that the All Blacks will just have to man up for,” he added.
Smith, however, believes that if the Springboks attempt the Ireland blueprint, that will play in New Zealand’s hands.
“The best thing Foster could hope for would be for the Springboks to get ahead of themselves and copy Ireland’s formula, as they would not doubt implode without the same level of skills and the All Blacks counter-attack game would run riot,” Smith said.
Smith acknowledged that after their poor series against Ireland, the All Black remain underdogs heading to South Africa.
“After a historically bad run against France and Ireland, they will travel to South Africa as underdogs. The Springboks have to be short favourites at home to sweep them over the two tests purely on this alone.
“Expectations are now terribly low for this All Blacks side that most would expect one, if not two, losses in the Republic.
“But the Springboks are not Ireland, so the script will be written differently. All the expectations now weigh on South Africa whose adoring fans are desperate to be crowned the world’s best again.”
The Springboks play the All Blacks on 6 and 13 August with the matches taking place at Mbombela Stadium and Ellis Park.
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