Former Sharks coach John Plumtree believes the All Blacks will target space on the edge of the Springboks’ defence in the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series.
The Boks battled past Argentina 17-10 in Buenos Aires last Saturday, with several players returning from injury and without 15 players who remained in South Africa, along with attack coach Tony Brown, to prepare for the first Test against the All Blacks at Ellis Park on 22 August.
New Zealand, meanwhile, dug deep to beat the Stormers 38-21 in the tour opener at Cape Town Stadium before thrashing the Sharks 54-0 at Kings Park on Tuesday night. They will next face the Vodacom Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Sunday.
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Plumtree felt Argentina’s physicality and defensive pressure disrupted the Bok attack in Buenos Aires and believes the All Blacks will have taken note.
“When I watched that game, I just felt Argentina got into the Boks physically,” said on PlayZN’s TMO show.
“They were putting a lot of pressure on the breakdown. Their defence was folding fast, they got set quickly, they were moving off the line together and were really working well as a team.
“It just looked to me like it frustrated the Bok attack. Then the Boks decided, ‘OK, well, this has now become a sh*t fight. Let’s rip into them physically.’
“But the Argentinians stood up and then the Bok attack just lost its structure. It looked like the boys thought, ‘Well, they’ve stopped us, so the only way we’re going to get some momentum here is to bash these walls down,’ but they really didn’t get anywhere.
“I thought their attacking structure – and potentially it was without Brownie being around for a while – they lost their way and their shape, and it turned into just a carry-clean battle.”
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Plumtree believes Los Pumas also showed where New Zealand’s playmakers could find space against the Bok defence.
“There are a couple of things that I think the All Blacks will look at in that game,” he said.
“They’ll go, ‘OK, Argentina actually created some opportunities to get the ball to space, but they didn’t get it there.’
“Now, the skill sets of, for me, Ruben Love, Jordie Barrett and Cam Roigard can expose the Bok defence because, if you look at the wingers, they’re defending inside the 15m line. There are 15m of space on the edges of that field to play with.
“Ruben’s good at getting there with his little kicking game or with his bridge passing over the top.
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“I know the Boks will scramble back. We’ve got speed with Cheslin [Kolbe] and [Kurt-Lee] Arendse and co, but for me there is space there for the All Blacks to take on the edge that the Argentinians weren’t good enough to get to.”
Photo: Steve Haag/Gallo Images
The post Plum: All Blacks can expose Bok defence appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Former Sharks coach John Plumtree believes the All Blacks will target space on the edge of the Springboks’ defence in the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series.
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