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The Springboks registered 14 line breaks and 13 22m entries on Saturday. Against a team with such a historically porous defence as the Wallabies, you have to be converting that into more than 3 tries. This is not a new problem for the ‘Boks - their series against Italy was blighted by breaks not finished and red-zone entries not converted. Go back as far as the 2nd test against Australia last year and Willie Le Roux murdering a golden opportunity with terrible pass selection. Line break conversion must be their biggest work on moving forward. Losing an unsustainable 5 lineouts didn't’t help either.
The Springboks registered 14 line breaks and 13 22m entries on Saturday. Against a team with such a historically porous defence as the Wallabies, you have to be converting that into more than 3 tries. This is not a new problem for the ‘Boks - their series against Italy was blighted by breaks not finished and red-zone entries not converted. Go back as far as the 2nd test against Australia last year and Willie Le Roux murdering a golden opportunity with terrible pass selection. Line break conversion must be their biggest work on moving forward. Losing an unsustainable 5 lineouts didn't’t help either.
If people are talking about Tom Wright after a game, you know things went the Wallabies’ way. He is Australia’s most dangerous attacker and posted ridiculous ball in hand stats this season in Super Rugby - making a full 500 more metres than any other player. He broke the 100m mark in this game, the most of anyone, making 2 line breaks, beating 5 defenders, assisting a try and scoring one himself from just 4 carries. South Africa allowing this man to get the ball in space is something they should have avoided, and it cost them.
Rewind 12 months and we all though James O’Connor’s career was reaching it’s natural conclusion. He had drifted out of the Red’s team and was well into his 16th year as a pro. Now? a Super Rugby winner and played the full 80 at 10 in a test match - something he has not done at any level since 2023. He played his part excellently, using his new found wisdom to get the ball to his teammates. 18 passes, 2 offloads and a try assist to go with his first win as a test starter since the 2019 World Cup against Georgia and first test victory as a starting 10 in, wait for it… 12 years.
Since Razor Robertson came into the New Zealand set up, all of his team’s worst performances have been defined by the same problem: overplaying. Too often we have seen the All Blacks try to throw 250 passes in a game. By contrast, when they tighten things up, they look much better. New Zealand registered just 2 line breaks and beat the fewest defenders of any side in round 1. They threw just 4 offloads in the whole game. What they brought instead was a 100% lineout, a fearsome driving maul and fewer than 100 carries. The results speak for themselves.
Under Contepomi, Argentina have become one of the leanest and fittest teams around - able to maintain their intensity for 80 minutes and often finishing games more strongly than they start. The trade off is that they have lost a physical edge in the collisions. They averaged fewer than 2 post contact metres per carry and made just 1 tackle turnover to New Zealand’s 6. The lack of beef also hurts them at ruck time. If you make Los Pumas go through more than 80 rucks (they had 90 on Saturday) they usually lose.