{"id":569132,"date":"2026-08-14T20:14:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T20:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/569132\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T20:14:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T20:14:11","slug":"all-blacks-legend-springboks-danger-factor-tony-brown-the-biggest-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/569132\/","title":{"rendered":"All Blacks legend: Springboks ‘danger factor’ Tony Brown the ‘biggest issue’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Josh Kronfeld has claimed that Tony Brown will be the Springboks<\/a>\u2019 key man during the Rugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry series by making sure the hosts don\u2019t become too conservative.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

With World Rugby looking to promote adventurous rugby, the Boks<\/a> have followed that trend and it has paid dividends with them remaining at the top of the rankings.<\/p>\n

However, Kronfeld thinks that before Brown\u2019s<\/a> arrival, they have a propensity to go back into their shell when the pressure came on.<\/p>\n

Springboks \u2018can\u2019t keep up\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always thought they\u2019re a team that can be beaten because when things go wrong you know what they\u2019re going to go back to, they go back to the same stuff,\u201d the All Blacks<\/a> legend told the DSPN podcast with Martin Devlin.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have a kicking game, they\u2019ll be abrasive, they\u2019ll just look to take it into the forwards and then it\u2019s just up to you to play sensible rugby around them at high tempo because they just can\u2019t keep up with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked what he meant by \u2018sensible rugby\u2019, Kronfeld responded: \u201cShifting 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re all the sparks to make sure things go right, especially if it\u2019s against a South African team that\u2019s reverting back to the things they know well.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy biggest issue is Tony Brown because he doesn\u2019t really fit into that system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beast Mtawarira: Springboks have \u2018too much firepower\u2019 and will \u2018overwhelm\u2019 the All Blacks<\/a><\/p>\n

Devlin then suggested that Brown has given the Springboks the confidence to keep attacking and Kronfeld agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s Tony Brown mate, for sure,\u201d he said.<\/a> \u201cHe\u2019s the danger factor for the South African team and he understands New Zealand teams, and we\u2019re 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re going to have to put pressure on them so that they forget about the things that they\u2019ve learned and they go back to the old school because that\u2019s what they do.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Bomb Squad, that ebbs and flows and changes depending on the personnel that they pick, but it\u2019s definitely a thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

All Blacks to go with the Bomb Squad?<\/p>\n

Despite their more adventurous approach, Rassie Erasmus\u2019 side will still target the All Blacks forwards, but Kronfeld believes that the tourists have the versatility and quality to counteract the hosts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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\u2019s what you\u2019re doing around the edges of what South Africa do with their defensive patterns and their attacking patterns,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you can run stuff that opens channels just on the outside of what they\u2019re trying to do, that\u2019s where the holes are.<\/p>\n

\u201cI sometimes don\u2019t think that we do that, we have in the last few years played into their strengths rather than looking to highlight their weaknesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Bulls v All Blacks prediction: Greatest Rivalry theme to continue with Dave Rennie\u2019s charges overcoming \u2018toughest challenge\u2019 before Springboks<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Josh Kronfeld has claimed that Tony Brown will be the Springboks\u2019 key man during the Rugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":569133,"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-569132","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\/569132","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=569132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/569133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}