{"id":568767,"date":"2026-08-14T11:50:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T11:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/568767\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T11:50:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T11:50:09","slug":"all-blacks-great-reveals-admiration-for-springboks-over-contrasting-mentalities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/568767\/","title":{"rendered":"All Blacks great reveals ‘admiration’ for Springboks over contrasting ‘mentalities’"},"content":{"rendered":"

All Blacks great Murray Mexted has hailed the South African mentality ahead of the four-Test series in Rugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry.<\/p>\n

The Springboks are renowned for their physicality in what could well be a clash of styles when the arch-rivals go head-to-head for the first time next weekend.<\/p>\n

While Rassie Erasmus\u2019<\/a> side have expanded their game since the 2023 Rugby World Cup, the Boks<\/a> still place a massive emphasis on the fundamentals of set-piece, defence and kicking.<\/p>\n

However, according to Mexted, the intensity they bring on the field is contrasted by what they are off it.<\/p>\n

\u2018There\u2019s always the exception\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one thing about South African rugby players is they are channelled. We talk about focus, they are really, really good at focusing on what\u2019s important. The important thing is the confrontation, and they like confrontation,\u201d he told the DSPN podcast with Martin Devlin.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey definitely have an on-field, off-field mentality which I really admire. They leave it on the field, a disciplined team and they always have been.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just the Springboks, it\u2019s rugby players per se [in South Africa]. When you\u2019re over there and playing interprovincial competitions, you sense that same factor with players that are a step lower.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve still got that really hard-minded attitude towards the game and after the game they\u2019re perfect gentlemen.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot 100 per cent, there\u2019s always the exception!\u201d<\/p>\n

All Blacks great: Springboks have got 150 Test-ready players<\/a><\/p>\n

The All Blacks<\/a> looked to follow the Springboks\u2019 example under Dave Rennie\u2019s predecessor, Scott Robertson, in certain areas of the game, but the new head coach has reverted to the type of game New Zealand teams have been renowned for over the years.<\/p>\n

They are more willing to chance their arm from deep, trusting their skills and looking to get their dangerous runners into space.<\/p>\n

It proved successful in the Nations Championship as they defeated France, Italy and Ireland, but this will be a truer test of their capabilities.<\/p>\n

Can the All Blacks break down the Boks defence?<\/p>\n

The Springboks will employ an extreme blitz defence that will no doubt challenge the All Blacks\u2019 ball in hand approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir priority is defence and our priority is attack so we\u2019re quite different teams in many respects,\u201d Mexted said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s in their DNA, just like people talk about New Zealand rugby. It\u2019s a different world, there\u2019s no doubt about it and when they click on, they\u2019re awesome.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a yardstick, you can see where you\u2019re at and that\u2019s why Dave Rennie and co. will be able to expose who those players are that have really got the level we need to be number one in the world again and to win the next Rugby World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Springboks coach \u2018headhunted\u2019 by Rassie Erasmus could hold the key to Greatest Rivalry victory over All Blacks<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All Blacks great Murray Mexted has hailed the South African mentality ahead of the four-Test series in Rugby\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":568768,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,1463,1464,111,43,6327,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-568767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/568768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}