Vodacom Bulls coach Johan Ackermann could not resist a wry smile when asked what advice he might offer the Springboks ahead of their first Test against the All Blacks. CLINTON VAN DER BERG reports.
Ackermann’s side suffered a 50-19 defeat to the tourists at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday night.
“To be fair, obviously the Springboks are match fit,” Ackermann said, pointing to a squad settled into combinations and sharpened by a long run together.
He rated the world champions’ depth highly, noting they have “some of the best in the world” putting a game plan together, and predicted the Boks would arrive well prepared for the challenge.
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But Ackermann, watching his young and developing Bulls outfit push the All Blacks, believed there were lessons in Loftus that the Springboks could bank. He suggested the All Blacks had enjoyed the luxury of experimenting from deep in their own territory against the Bulls, a freedom he doubts they will be afforded against the world champions.
“Time will tell,” he said, adding that such adventurous exits “might find themselves a bit in trouble” if repeated against a sharper, more clinical Bok outfit.
FIRST TAKE: All Blacks show class, Bulls fall into pace trap
His central message was about patience.
Ackermann felt his own team’s downfall in the opening exchanges came from being too eager to force things through individual brilliance rather than trusting the phases, and he expects the All Blacks to be punished for any similar indiscipline by the Springboks.
He argued that keeping the ball in hand, building pressure through patient phases, and picking the right moments to strike would be the difference for the Boks, who he backed to identify and exploit exactly those opportunities his own inexperienced side spurned.
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There was also a nod to physicality and the breakdown, an area Ackermann flagged as his side’s undoing. The All Blacks, he said, were highly competitive at the breakdown, winning quick ball and turnovers that the Springboks, with far more experience in that battle, would be better equipped to neutralise or exploit themselves.
Ackermann stopped short of predicting a result, but his overall tone was one of respect tempered with belief.
Having tested the All Blacks with a young group barely into pre-season, he clearly felt a fully loaded Springbok side, armed with composure and a sharper support game, held every chance of making the All Blacks pay for lapses his own team could not.
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Marcell Coetzee, captain for the night, struck a similarly proud but grounded tone.
Despite the scoreline, he said the effort was something to build on, calling it “a great moment” for winger Stravino Jacobs, whose try capped an emotional return to Test-level intensity.
Coetzee was honest about the flaws Ackermann had highlighted, particularly around composure and the kicking-versus-running balance, but insisted the fight the Bulls showed after going behind was non-negotiable given their identity as a team.
He also praised the impact of the Springbok players drafted in for experience, saying the extra exposure would only benefit the wider set-up before the bigger tests ahead.
Photo: Vodacom Bulls
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Vodacom Bulls coach Johan Ackermann could not resist a wry smile when asked what advice he might offer the Springboks ahead of their first Test against the All Blacks.
The post Ackers backs patient Boks to punish All Blacks appeared first on SA Rugby magazine. Read More
