Josh Kronfeld has claimed that Tony Brown will be the Springboks’ key man during the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series by making sure the hosts don’t become too conservative.
South Africa won back-to-back Rugby World Cups by focusing on set-piece, kicking and defence, but there has been a more attacking mindset since the arrival of the New Zealander.
With World Rugby looking to promote adventurous rugby, the Boks have followed that trend and it has paid dividends with them remaining at the top of the rankings.
However, Kronfeld thinks that before Brown’s arrival, they have a propensity to go back into their shell when the pressure came on.
Springboks ‘can’t keep up’
“I’ve always thought they’re a team that can be beaten because when things go wrong you know what they’re going to go back to, they go back to the same stuff,” the All Blacks legend told the DSPN podcast with Martin Devlin.
“They have a kicking game, they’ll be abrasive, they’ll just look to take it into the forwards and then it’s just up to you to play sensible rugby around them at high tempo because they just can’t keep up with it.”
When asked what he meant by ‘sensible rugby’, Kronfeld responded: “Shifting the ball, making the pass before the contact and knowing when to take the contact or knowing when to make a good option on a correct kick.
“They’re all the sparks to make sure things go right, especially if it’s against a South African team that’s reverting back to the things they know well.
“My biggest issue is Tony Brown because he doesn’t really fit into that system.”
Beast Mtawarira: Springboks have ‘too much firepower’ and will ‘overwhelm’ the All Blacks
Devlin then suggested that Brown has given the Springboks the confidence to keep attacking and Kronfeld agreed.
“He’s Tony Brown mate, for sure,” he said. “He’s the danger factor for the South African team and he understands New Zealand teams, and we’re just going to have to deal with what we see next weekend and come up with bits and pieces that can combat what South Africa offer.
“You’re going to have to put pressure on them so that they forget about the things that they’ve learned and they go back to the old school because that’s what they do.
“They are a bigger and a better team than from our tenure, there are way more dynamics and unique individuals and skill sets across the board with the South African team.
“The Bomb Squad, that ebbs and flows and changes depending on the personnel that they pick, but it’s definitely a thing.”
All Blacks to go with the Bomb Squad?
Despite their more adventurous approach, Rassie Erasmus’ side will still target the All Blacks forwards, but Kronfeld believes that the tourists have the versatility and quality to counteract the hosts.
“I do think you can go Bomb Squad for Bomb Squad but I think you can go with the old school split as well, but it’s what you’re doing around the edges of what South Africa do with their defensive patterns and their attacking patterns,” he added.
“If you can run stuff that opens channels just on the outside of what they’re trying to do, that’s where the holes are.
“I sometimes don’t think that we do that, we have in the last few years played into their strengths rather than looking to highlight their weaknesses.”