Justin Marshall believes that ‘micro moments’ going the All Blacks’ way were pivotal in their Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry victory over the Springboks.
The former scrum-half believes that there was little separating the two teams at Ellis Park, with the 33-16 scoreline bloated by the fact that New Zealand won those small battles at match-defining times.
Marshall says that the Springboks will regret their inability to turn pressure into points as they had the All Blacks ‘under the pump’, particularly at scrum time.
Springboks will regret inability to capitalise on chances
South Africa bossed the set-piece early on the game, but that changed when referee Matthew Carley awarded a scrum penalty to New Zealand five metres from their own tryline.
“I feel that for Springboks, when they analyse the game, they’ll probably regret leaving points out there, particularly in the first half, which would have made it a little bit harder for the All Blacks to stay in the contest in the second half, given the way they came out of the sheds as well,” Marshall said on The Good, The Bad and The Rugby AUNZ podcast.
“There’s been a lot of chat already about the significance of their scrum, and they were using that tool to great advantage.
“They had that period of pressure, particularly going into the second half, where they were turning down points going for maximum and for us to win an incredibly important scrum penalty and turn the tide and flow of the game around that time- they probably regretted the fact that they didn’t put points on then because they really had us under the pump.”
All Blacks won three key moments at Ellis Park
That scrum penalty wasn’t the only crucial moment in the game that the visitors won, according to the ex-scrum-half who also singled out Jordie Barrett for his sensational try-saving intervention, stopping Malcolm Marx from scoring in the 35th minute – when the Boks held a one-point advantage.
He also identified one All Blacks’ scrum when Ardie Savea quickly carried from the back, and Fabian Holland’s charge-down try.
“There were some game-changing moments in that Test match. In these types of contests where you got one and two in the world, who are hardly separated at all by anything, you need those micro moments that are massive in the context of a game that sometimes are the unnoticeables that go your way, and they went the All Blacks’ way just through effort,” he continued.
“Those three in my mind were, first of all, when the Springboks had that massive momentum, and they kicked off, and it was their exit, and Fabian Holland made an effort play to charge the ball down.
“Now, when he did that, it swung the game massively in terms of momentum; it just lifted the All Blacks because they were absolutely under fire massively. And a couple of other ones was a defensive scrum where they just had the wood on us, but Ardie somehow managed to pick it up when the scrum was going backwards to towards the goal line and get it away to Quinn Tupeau and then a great clearance from Ruben Love and and to me I look at that as a former player I just think man that’s a massive play.
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“And the other one was obviously the Barrett ‘Hand of God’ on Malcolm Marx. What’s that guy even doing there? That’s a maul on the touchline. Malcolm Marx has gone right through the middle of our lineout, and Jordie Barrett just somehow makes this effort play to come across and dislodge that ball from Malcolm Marx.
“They score there. I think, man, we’re going into the hurt locker big time.”
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Why the scoreline flattered New Zealand
Marshall believes that these moments defined the All Blacks’ victory as Rennie’s side were losing the battle for possession and territory, especially in the first half, and that is why the final scoreline flattered the visitors.
“You look at that game, we didn’t dictate. We lost possession and territory in that game, but when it really counted, there just seemed to be this real determination within that side. To win those moments, the big important moments, and the All Blacks did that in that Test match.
“Dave Rennie said the score flattered us because it looked and felt a lot tougher than what the scoreboard reflected, but they won those key things when they needed to.”
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