The South Africa Springboks and New Zealand All Blacks second match in the last seven days lived in favor of Springboks with a final score of 18-12. The Springboks clinched the Freedom Cup trophy for the first time in 15 years.
It is said that Siya Kolisi who is one of the most decorated captains of the Springbok ship was in grade 12 when South Africa last won the Cup in question. Rassie Erasmus and his lads knew very well that it would not be easy to mastermind the All Blacks as they have managed to go victorious times before Saturday’s game. Well, the hardships against the brutal and tough New Zealand side were indeed evident in the game as they managed to edge the Springboks into an early first half lead 9-3, which required coach Rassie to come up with tactics on how to turn things around and show how managed to beat his opponent in the previous games.
Rassie took a courageous decision when he trusted an injured Siya Kolisi and took his word when he said he is okay and will manage to play with a broken nose. The Springboks had a sloppy start which seemed as if they would not be able to turn things around in their favor. Came second half it was a different story, a turn of events where anybody could see that the coach had a serious talk with the players. Kolisi’s try early in the second half enabled the Boks to turn things around from the All Blacks 9-3 first half time lead. Saturday’s game was dubbed to be South Africa’s most crucial and significant game since they won the World Cup final against the same opponents in France’ capital City; Paris last year.
The All Blacks returned home licking off their wounds off from a two match Castle Lager Rugby Championship tour having suffered defeat in both games in the hands of world champions. These recent results offer the Kiwis an unpleasant record of sitting with a record of one win in four starts. Such a record is not appealing to a nation that is known for dominating southern hemisphere series for almost three decades. It could have been different should Damian McKenzie have converted the three second-half attempts at Cape Town DHL Stadium, the last All Blacks’ attempt would have afforded them the
lead with only minutes into stoppage time.
Rassie Erasmus was found muted and modest despite their fourth successive win against their ach-rivals in a professional era. He went on claimed that winning against them is indeed nice, but they have won with big margines against the Boks and, they have suffered six defeats in a row in the hands of New Zealand. Scott Robertson, who is sitting on the helm of coach All Blacks highlighted key points which he thinks that affected his side resulting to a defeat against Springboks, in the midst of that conversation he lauded the South Africa Springboks saying that even though his team showed to be a better side on the day, Springboks took their chances and capitalized on their errors. Erasmus hinted that would field two different squads for their upcoming matches against Argentina away on 21 September and at home in Mbombela a week later.
By Olothando Mpapama
Twitter: @Molothando_22
