Springbok legend John Smit calls out All Blacks ahead of final Test with huge accusation
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Set piece.
Springbok legend John Smit has accused the All Blacks of showing a “defeatist attitude” at the lineout ahead of Saturday’s final Test against South Africa in Baltimore.
The former Springbok captain believes New Zealand have avoided challenging South Africa directly in that area, despite the All Blacks traditionally possessing a formidable set-piece.
“The All Blacks have always been unbelievably handy and powerful at set-piece, and the worry for them is… it’s a bit of a defeatist attitude not being able to have a system that can outwit the opposition from a lineout point of view,” Smit said on the I Love Rugby podcast.
“You want to get that ball middle to back as often as possible and create those opportunities, get the ball wide and faster, and you see all these quick little throws to try and avoid the traffic of what’s being created from the Springboks side.”
Smit had a different assessment of New Zealand’s approach to the scrum.
The Springboks have enjoyed significant success in that area throughout the Greatest Rivalry series, but New Zealand managed to restrict the number of opportunities South Africa had to use their scrum as a weapon at FNB Stadium.
“When I watched the game again, we only had five scrums; New Zealand only gave us five scrums, and that is a testament to their skill level,” Smit said.
“They don’t make mistakes, they don’t knock the ball on willy-nilly, so we got five feeds into the scrum, and we got five penalties, but it’s only five whereas on average we’re probably looking at that to be eight or nine.
“It was interesting to see New Zealand not wanting to take on that first phase fight, but the beauty of that was they were smart enough and skilful enough to say: ‘Let’s not give these big boys any more scrums than they need’.”
Smit also believes All Blacks boss Dave Rennie chose the wrong way to try and tackle the issues at scrum time.
“Rennie had to do something, the scrum had been a problem in the first two Tests, but he probably chose the wrong way to do it from a legality point of view, purely because how technically good the Springboks scrummage has been over the last couple of years. It’s quite difficult to argue with the stats.”
South Africa lead the Greatest Rivalry series 2-1 after consecutive victories in Cape Town and Soweto.
The Springboks can secure a 3-1 series victory in Baltimore on Saturday, while an All Blacks win would leave the four-Test series level at 2-2.
