New-look Boks need to write their own Wellington chapter by being more clinical

In 2018 and 2019 the Springboks put a huge emphasis on gaining a positive result in New Zealand against the All Blacks as part of their Rugby World Cup planning.

They won 36-34 in Wellington in 2018 and earned a 16-all draw in the same city in 2019. Those two outcomes had a significant impact on the players’ mentalities because they understood they could match the best team in the world (at the time), away from home.

Tomorrow the Boks face a similar line-in-the-sand moment, again in Wellington, when they take on the No 1-ranked All Blacks.

This is a must-win game in the context of the 2025 Rugby Championship and Freedom Cup battles. Lose, and both those pieces of silverware, which they fought so valiantly to win in 2024, will slip from the Boks’ grasp.

Win, and the Boks retain the Freedom Cup and stay in the fight to hold onto the Rugby Championship title. Those are the immediate stakes.

But widen the narrow lens and the clash takes on even greater value. This is the last time the Boks will meet the All Blacks in New Zealand until 2027, just a few months before they start the defence of their Rugby World Cup title in Australia.

Victory in Wellington this weekend would again prove to this team, which is going through a period of rebuilding, readjustment and possibly even self-doubt, that they are still the best.

The little dollops of confidence that victory in Wellington would provide would be stored in the memory banks, tucked away to be drawn on in some desperate moment in the future when they need it.

Elite sport is as much a psychological battle as it is a physical one. Should the Boks prevail, they not only give themselves a mental boost, but add a chink to the All Black armour. The stakes are high.

How to win?

Which brings us to the fundamental question of what the Boks need to do to win? Especially with a team loaded with new combinations, if not new faces. Quite simply, they must be more ruthless. Creating threats was not the problem last week. Finishing was. 

Much has been made of the backline for this match, suggesting it’s a bunch of youngsters. But apart from left wing Ethan Hooker who will earn his third Test cap, this is an experienced unit, albeit involving some callow combinations.

“A lot of the players in the backline have been in the system for a long time, and we think they are good combinations,” said Bok assistant coach Mzwandile Stick.

“Last week we had two soft moments early in the match, and we’ve learned from that. So, this week we must be at our best for the full 80 minutes.

 “We also need to make sure that we are clinical in our execution and that we convert our chances into points.”

Willemse is key

Damian Willemse at inside centre, partnering with Canan Moodie in the midfield is probably going to be a decisive component. They will be responsible for the Boks’ defensive organisation and attacking shape.

Willemse is an incisive playmaker and the chance to start at No 12 for the first time in the absence of the magnificent Damian de Allende, is both necessary and pragmatic.

De Allende suffered a knock during last week’s 24-17 loss at Eden Park and wasn’t 100% for this week. Willemse’s selection therefore was partially enforced.

But it was also a chance for coach Rassie Erasmus to throw an experienced player of Willemse’s calibre into the highest possible pressure cooker, in a position where he needs to find a post-De Allende solution, and challenge him to stake his claim.

That would be an unfair challenge if the decision was made last Sunday night as a knee-jerk reaction in the aftermath of the Auckland loss.

But it was not. This was a part of a calculated plan to incorporate Willemse’s special gifts into a vital playmaking position with a bigger-picture view.

Willemse, in between flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Moodie, has been preparing for this role for weeks. This is his coming out party as a Test No 12 and the Boks’ vision for the future.

André Esterhuizen is on the bench and is a quality inside centre himself. He provides sensible back-up in case of injury and a bruising blunt instrument later in the game.

But as Erasmus admitted earlier this year, Esterhuizen’s chances of making the “first-choice” match 23 lie in being a hybrid player who operates at flank.

Willemse is the heir apparent to the No 12 jersey and has been given an opportunity and the tools to make a good fist of it.

The suspicion is that this is a Bok backline built to run the ball and play wild and loose. They certainly have the potential to be expansive, but between Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Willemse there are also two fine rugby brains with educated boots.

Rain is expected, so it should be a more pragmatic approach by the Boks.

“Expressing yourself does not mean playing flashy rugby,” Willemse said this week from Wellington. “If there’s an opportunity and it presents itself, we must take it. That is expressing yourself.

“We are really focused on those small moments and making sure that we are dialled in for when opportunity presents itself.”

Clinical

The Boks’ biggest failing last week was their lack of execution, not only in the red zone but in little battles in other areas.

They were slow off the line defensively several times, especially in the first half. Those extra metres and momentum the All Blacks gained had an impact on the outcome.

We’re talking about a few metres here and there, but in a game defined by tight margins, those moments can be critical.

The Bok line-out was not good enough, and they’ve accepted that was the case. Bok hooker Malcolm Marx admitted as much earlier this week. They lost three line-outs, but at least two others which were counted as wins were scrappy and nullified any strike plays from the set piece.

“The review was tough to watch,” Bok skipper Siya Kolisi admitted. “I mean, to create 13 opportunities in the All Blacks’ 22 and only take two of them… Some teams maybe get that in a year. And you rarely get that against the All Blacks. We saw how we stuffed it up.

“A lot of it was our own doing. It was frustrating watching it afterwards. Sometimes with individual errors that led to another error. Hopefully we learn from it and fix it this weekend when we get opportunities and take them.”

Jasper Wiese is back at No 8, providing more balance to the loose trio, with Kolisi in his more familiar openside role. Lood de Jager also starts at lock. He brought more cohesion to the set piece when he arrived in the second half last week.

While the biggest changes have come in the backline, the pack must provide solid ball and a strong foundation.

All Black coach Scott Robertson is expecting a Bok backlash and some variations from the new-look unit, and he had most of the week to prepare for the Bok changes after the world champions named their team on Monday.

“The way Rassie operates, there’ll be variations in the gameplay,” Robertson said about the seven Bok changes.

“They’ll have a little bit of innovation like they did last week. We expect a little bit of everything, like one-off plays, but the fundamentals will be the same.” DM

Teams:

New Zealand: 15-Damian McKenzie, 14-Will Jordan, 13-Billy Proctor, 12-Jordie Barrett, 11-Leroy Carter, 10-Beauden Barrett, 9-Noah Hotham, 8-Wallace Sititi, 7-Ardie Savea, 6-Simon Parker, 5-Tupou Vaa’i, 4-Scott Barrett (captain), 3-Tyrel Lomax, 2-Samisoni Taukei’aho, 1-Ethan de Groot.
Replacements: 16-Brodie McAlister, 17-Tamaiti Williams, 18-Fletcher Newell, 19-Fabian Holland, 20-Du’Plessis Kirifi, 21-Finlay Christie, 22-Quinn Tupaea, 23-Ruben Love. 

South Africa: 15-Aphelele Fassi, 14-Cheslin Kolbe, 13-Canan Moodie, 12-Damian Willemse, 11-Ethan Hooker, 10-Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9-Cobus Reinach, 8-Jasper Wiese, 7-Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6-Siya Kolisi (captain), 5-Ruan Nortjé, 4-Lood de Jager, 3-Thomas du Toit, 2-Malcolm Marx, 1-Ox Nché.
Replacements: 16-Marnus van der Merwe, 17-Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 18-Wilco Louw, 19-RG Snyman, 20-Kwagga Smith, 21-Grant Williams, 22-Manie Libbok, 23-André Esterhuizen.

Kick-off: 9:05am SA time

TV: Supersport
Referee: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia)
Assistant referees: Angus Gardner (Australia), Jordan Way (Australia)
TMO: Eric Gauzins (France)