Fifty points, one warning: the world champions won’t offer Dave Rennie the same mercy, writes DEVIN HERMANUS.
A 50-19 result against the Vodacom Bulls looked good on Saturday night at Loftus. It should. Quick ball, straight lines, forwards clearing rucks like men with somewhere better to be – that was the All Blacks’ MO all evening, and the hosts never worked out how to stop it.
Josh Moorby and Leroy Carter finished sharply, along with skip Codie Taylor, while Man of the Match Anton Segner was a nuisance at the breakdown.
But Rennie, six wins in a row since taking charge of the Kiwis, knows that ruthless efficiency and tempo buried a Bulls side – and an inexperienced Sharks outfit (54-0) on Tuesday – barely into their pre-season, not their greatest rivals.
RECAP: All Blacks bamboozle Bulls
For the All Blacks, this was a clinical dismantling of underprepared opponents, nothing more. The second-half fightback from Ruan Vermaak, Stravino Jacobs and Marcell Coetzee will read better on paper than it played out.
New Zealand had already banked the result and dropped their line speed accordingly.
“We know that the intensity level, the quality that we’re going to come up against next week,” Rennie said after the final whistle, the kind of admission that doubles as a warning to his own players.
Tour form is one thing. Ellis Park next Saturday, against the Springboks, is a whole different set of exams designed by the doctor of rugbynomics, Johan Erasmus.
Rassie’s Boks have already beaten everyone put in front of them this year: the Barbarians, England, Scotland and Wales at home, Los Pumas in Argentina.
ALSO: Refreshed Boks ready to knock out All Blacks
What made Saturday interesting was where the Bulls actually troubled the All Blacks. Francois Klopper’s first-half yellow card hurt the Bulls, and for two minutes it really cut deep, Taylor scoring a brace of tries while the Herd scrambled to figure out defending with 14 men.
But before that dismissal, and again after half-time, the hosts found some real go-forward. They were there, or near enough, only for one moment of indiscipline to turn a not insurmountable deficit into a rout.
Rennie noticed.
“It was almost like we were training for the Springboks,” he admitted, which is coach-speak for: we got tested, and we should take the lesson.
RENNIE: Boks will raise intensity fivefold
Add an altitude fixture to the ledger, and suddenly this “dress rehearsal” reads like useful homework rather than a man patting his troops on the back.
Selection still hangs in the balance, and Rennie confirmed as much with a handful of positions decided purely on Saturday’s shift. The headline-grabbing Richie Mo’unga gets parked for the Lions midweek game, though.
As Taylor put it, “There’s going to be a lot of that in the Tests,” referring to the passages where the Bulls pinned New Zealand deep.
PLUS: Ackers backs patient Boks to punish All Blacks
The Bulls, clad in their new “All Roads Lead To Loftus” kit, offered patches of resistance and rust in equal measure. The Boks will offer neither.
Rennie built his platform on the Highveld. Whether it holds for a second week running is what matters from here.
Photo: Johan Orton/Gallo Images
The post Rassie’s Boks no Loftus pushovers appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Fifty points, one warning: the world champions won’t offer Dave Rennie the same mercy, writes Devin Hermanus.
The post Rassie’s Boks no Loftus pushovers appeared first on SA Rugby magazine. Read More
