Former All Blacks captain Taine Randell says the Springboks’ “bullying tactics” have given them the edge in Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry.
The world champions hold a 2-1 series lead over New Zealand heading into Saturday’s series finale at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.
Randell, who won 51 All Black caps between 1997 and 2002, says the contrast in styles has been central to the series.
“This was just such a stunning Test series. I know we’ve got one to go, but for a lot of people, these three in South Africa were the big deal,” Randell told The Platform NZ podcast.
“It was also a massive contrast in style. Bullying tactics of the Springboks, with these whopping big props and second-rowers, against the All Blacks, the craftsmen of the international game of rugby.
“We scored more points than them. We scored, I think, 13 tries to eight or nine tries that they got, so we played like craftsmen. We played some fantastic rugby. But on this occasion, the Springboks’ style won. They battered us into submission.”
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Rassie Erasmus has been in charge of the Springboks since 2018, overseeing back-to-back World Cup titles in 2019 and 2023, while Dave Rennie only took over the All Blacks this year. Randell believes that gap in experience told as the series wore on.
“The longer this series went, how physical and how much more experience the Boks have,” Randell said.
“They’ve had Rassie for nine years. How much more experience they’ve had and how three physical games in a row impacted the All Blacks – we talked about that a couple of weeks ago, about how are we going to handle playing so many games in a row, which we don’t normally do.
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“And it told. I mean, the first two games, we had the Bomb Squad and we won the last 20 minutes. But three intense weeks, maybe a couple of selections, but essentially they won the last half.
“That ultimately showed that they were the better team, albeit we scored more points and scored more tries.”
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The post Randell: Boks ‘bullied’ All Blacks into submission appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Former All Blacks captain Taine Randell says the Springboks’ “bullying tactics” have given them the edge in Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry.
The post Randell: Boks ‘bullied’ All Blacks into submission appeared first on SA Rugby magazine. Read More
