Attack coach Mike Blair wants the All Blacks to continue raking in the tries in the Greatest Rivalry finale in Baltimore on Saturday.
The Boks hold a 2-1 advantage heading into the fourth and final Test, but the All Blacks can take heart from their attacking output. They lead the series in both tries scored and linebreaks, having crossed for four more tries in last Saturday’s 29-24 defeat at FNB Stadium.
“Twelve linebreaks is a great stat for us. Four tries against South Africa is not a bad stat – that’s 13 tries in three games,” Blair said.
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But the attack guru knows the scoreboard is all that ultimately matters.
“It’s not nitpicking as such, but we are scoring tries, we are creating linebreaks. We certainly want to convert another couple of them, but we’re also aware that you can’t convert everything,” Blair said.
“So, it’s that ability to hold onto the ball and build pressure and build scoreboard pressure, and that might be through kicking at goal as well, which we’ve not had a huge amount of. I think we had one penalty goal in the three Tests so far, so our ability to convert pressure into points is important.”
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Blair believes sharpening New Zealand’s finishing will also help blunt South Africa’s game plan, particularly around slowing the ball down at the breakdown.
“Our finish success rate inside the 22 over the three Tests has been excellent on the whole, so we want to get more out of our attack and our ability to finish,” he said.
“We’re aware that you can’t finish every opportunity, but we don’t want them to finish in a turnover. If it finishes in a turnover, what’s happening is it goes to a set-piece. This slows the game down a bit, and it feeds their strength.
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“So, our balance between finishing our opportunities and keeping the pressure on through multiple phases is really important.”
Photo: Floris van Schouwenburg/Gallo Images
The post Blair demands ruthless edge from All Blacks appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Attack coach Mike Blair wants the All Blacks to continue raking in the tries in the Greatest Rivalry finale in Baltimore on Saturday.
The post Blair demands ruthless edge from All Blacks appeared first on SA Rugby magazine. Read More
