At the match level….the ABs again out-gained us 373 meters to 270. They made 12 line breaks to our 5. They beat 32 tackles to our 21. We had to make 150 tackles to their 106. Once again they were the more creative team ball in hand. The difference was Carter missing two tackles which resulted in tries…two critical AB failures.
Then Love left 5 points on the table whereas we missed only one. Sacha’s kicking today was encouraging. Then there were a series of NZ handling mistakes and Jordan’s disastrous dead ball kick, which led directly to the maul that defined the game.
The territory and possession stats are interesting. The ABs had 57% of the possession, but only 47% of the territory. With the wind behind them in the second half there was a chance for Love and Roigard to pin the Boks in their half. Instead they persisted with ball in hand rugby from deep inside their half. It’s what has made them competitive but they should have focused on territory as well.
On an individual basis Dud Toit 4 of 17, Nortje 4 of 20, Hooker 5 of 16 and Dud Allende 3of 17 were statistically our worst defenders. These high missed tackle counts are now becoming a feature of Dud Toit’s game.
Eleven of 12 offloads were by NZ players.
Our ball-carrying did shift today….away from Dud Toit, who only carried twice and was used in a tighter role. No moonlighting on the wing. We used our backs more and it worked well. In prior tests some of that ball would have gone to more forward phases. When you have a Niagara of front foot ball, the backs should benefit.
Another big difference today was the kicking percentage 1 to 5.5 passes for the Boks vs 1 to 9.1 for the ABs. The penalties were even, which is surprising given how many penalties NZ seemed to be conceding at ruck and scrum.
This was a close match and the statistics don’t fully explain why NZ lost. The fact that they couldn’t use the wind effectively, demonstrated in the territory stat is perhaps the most interesting finding. The fact is it’s astonishing that a team so outgunned in the tight 5 could play us so close. As long as NZ is playing the likes of Newel in the front row, they will be under the gun. The difference in tight 5 talent has never been this stark.
