The All Black jersey simply demands more, from both players and coaches. If you aren’t giving it, it will find a way to make you pay the price it demands.
It demands sacrifice, it demands pain, it demands selflessness, it demands everything you can ask for in order to maintain the legacy and uphold the mana. The black jersey demands change from within.
The experienced players in the squad know this, they’ve been through the trials and tribulations of multiple coaching eras. They’ve experienced it. It’s not nice. It can be nasty. But overall, it makes those who experience it stronger.
Springboks Cheslin Kolbe and Marco van Staden about the crunch match against the All Blacks at Eden Park
Springboks Cheslin Kolbe and Marco van Staden about the crunch match against the All Blacks at Eden Park
Those players who started their careers under Steve Hansen, the Sam Cane’s and Beauden Barrett’s came into an experienced World Cup-winning team in 2012 where the head coach had paid his dues.
Through the 2007 World Cup debacle, Hansen was one of the assistants that went through the fire and came out the other side with two Rugby World Cup wins and the greatest era of All Black rugby ever.
That next generation of players didn’t go through the fire until after 2019, during the early phase of Ian Foster’s tenure. When they came out the other side in 2022, it made them all much better. It shaped a killer instinct that propelled them to knock off the number one ranked team in the quarter-finals. They were a transformed side in 18 months.
They rode that experience to the 2023 Rugby World Cup final where they produced one of the all-time valiant performances, going within a whisker of victory fighting with a man down.
This new coaching team haven’t yet experienced much. They haven’t been through the fire to really feel the heat of media and the public when it comes to the All Blacks. It’s been a honeymoon phase, dilly-dallying around.
Robertson’s coaching group don’t have a lot of international coaching experience. Some have been ex-All Blacks and Scott Hansen has served as an assistant with Canada and Japan.
But this is very different. This is control and ownership over the country’s biggest asset and the most successful team in sport. This is not for the faint of heart. It can get very ugly and that can happen very quickly.
They shipped four losses in 2024 which historically is one more than than is generally tolerated. It was a good record. But it wasn’t great. Remember that the black jersey will always demand more. It demands greatness.
And that’s why a Springbok win at Eden Park is what this coaching unit really needs. It will end this honeymoon phase and things will get real, real fast. It will get very uncomfortable, but in the longer run they will be better for it.
All the things that have been left to fester in the background will need to get flushed out real quick. You can’t paper over the cracks of two losses to the Springboks at home. It will force Scott Robertson into change or it will get messy from within.
The black jersey comes with a high price and payment is always due. If you ignore the price, it will come and get it.
Now on the Springbok side of the fence, they desperately want this one. You can smell it. This one is a glorious trophy kill, the prized hunt. This will feel so good, the testosterone hit will be as good as any.
This will go on Rassie’s wall above the fireplace, “the Springbok team who ended the 50-game unbeaten Eden Park run”.
Because we know that Erasmus just loves the big ones. The Lions series, the World Cups, it’s all about the posture and prestige. All the icing, forget about the cake.
It doesn’t matter how they win, it just matters that they won. Beat a team down a man? We’re world champions! Run through half a Six Nations campaign? We’re world champions!
He’s brought every one of the double Rugby World Cup winners over that he can get his hands on. Faf de Klerk is back. Pollard, Kolisi, the whole gang is back for this big Eden Park raid.
He’s almost too excited that the prey is in the line of the scope. He changed script from an early team naming, with too many nerves to jump in first. His trigger finger is shaking with anticipation.
Hopefully the rugby Gods will give Erasmus this prized win. Give him more validation and confirmation that he can trust his double World Cup winners to deliver. Further delay the introduction of fresh talent into the squad.
Because what the rest of the rugby world really wants is Erasmus to sleepwalk his aging squad all the way to 2027 where they will get dog-walked. The only way to do that is if the cart isn’t tipped up too early.
So with that in mind, let’s toast to a Springbok victory at Eden Park and give this man the trophy kill he so desperately needs to bolster his record.
Erasmus has a 50 per cent win rate against the All Blacks as head coach, with three wins, one draw, and two losses. His predecessor Jacques Nienaber holds a better one with four wins, three losses at a 57 win rate.
Four from seven Rassie, not too bad at all!