Former All Blacks flank Josh Kronfeld says no one can match the Springboks when it comes to size and aggression in contact.
Kronfeld earned 54 Test caps between 1995 and 2000 and knows first-hand what it takes to succeed in South Africa, having been part of the All Blacks team that claimed a historic series victory in 1996.
The former opensider believes the physical challenge posed by the Boks remains unique.
“It’s on another level, especially in their size and aggression in the contact,” Kronfeld told Betway. “This is where South Africa are more consistent than most.
“In my time, I knew if I was at the bottom of a ruck, I was going to wear something. If my ankle was lying out on the wrong side, it was probably going to get stood on.
“Everything was pushed to the nth degree of the law and remember that was without the assistance of all those cameras they have today.
“If they had been around in my day, games would have been very stop-start!”
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Kronfeld described South Africa as the toughest country in which to play and believes the challenge extends well beyond what happens between the white lines.
“Of every nation I’ve been to, it’s easily the hardest,” he said. “You can never understand it until you go over and experience South Africa for yourself.
“There are a number of the boys on this tour who hadn’t been to South Africa before.
“One, they wouldn’t have known what to expect to play in South Africa, two, against South African pride and three, against the whole South African people and a country. It’s quite a unique sensation. It’s a unique environment to be in.”
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All Blacks coach Dave Rennie sought to give his players an insight into that experience by organising a gathering with members of the 1996 touring team during the weekend of the Ireland Test in Auckland.
“They got us 1996 guys for a meet and greet with the young fellows, and many of us were in stitches about some of the old stories from that era.
“They also showed some historical context when the Boks came and toured here and the anti-apartheid protests [in 1981]. They painted a bit of a picture for the boys of what they were going to expect in South Africa.
“New Zealand’s anti-apartheid stance has always been part of the history that you learn through school and when you come into rugby you learn what a sporting culture and a rugby culture means to a South African.”
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Photo: Anton Geyser/Gallo Images
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Former All Blacks flank Josh Kronfeld says no one can match the Springboks when it comes to size and aggression in contact.
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