The All Blacks will reinforce their squad for the Test in Baltimore next Sunday \u2013 the additions are yet to be confirmed \u2013 and while a victory Stateside will ostensibly draw the series 2-2 there is no doubt the Boks and their supporters will claim the moral high ground after a performance this morning that was worthy of their No.1 ranking. <\/p>\n
Going 2-1 up on South African soil tells its own story \u2013 never mind the money-making exercise in the USA – but a successful All Blacks’ response would be a hugely worthwhile achievement.<\/p>\n
While they overpowered the All Blacks in the second half through their pack, the Boks put in their best attacking performance of the series in matching the visitors four tries apiece.<\/p>\n
They were also far better defensively than Rennie\u2019s men, with wing Leroy Carter missing two one-on-one tackles in the lead-up to two tries, and they were far more clinical in front of goal. <\/p>\n
Ruben Love\u2019s three missed kicks off the tee \u2013 two in the second half that should have been converted \u2013 turned out to be extremely costly.<\/p>\n
There will now be calls to select Richie Mo\u2019unga to start at the M&T Bank Stadium after Love\u2019s six starts in the last six Tests under Rennie. <\/p>\n
Love\u2019s best Test in the Republic was the first one at Ellis Park. Since then he has appeared a little overwhelmed but that is perhaps not surprising given his pack\u2019s struggles and the intense line speed the Boks have defended with.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/the-springboks-forwards-turn-up-the-power-in-soweto-FYE4J64J2FC3DLA5KFN4S4PAYM.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The Springboks’ forwards turn up the power in Soweto. (Source: Photosport)<\/p>\n
Rennie may elect to keep changes to a minimum given the injuries to three of his key men but it would not surprise to see Mo’unga in the No.10 jersey, with left wing Carter likely to be given a rest, too. Anton Lienert-Brown will come into the frame for the No.13 jersey, with Ethan Blackadder a possibility to start at openside flanker.<\/p>\n
Rennie said afterwards that he did not feel the All Blacks were far away from the Boks in terms of ability over this series but it will take a thorough healing process to get his men in the right frame of mind to win the fourth Test.<\/p>\n
The Boks\u2019 scrum was again a dominant force and the lineout drive which led to hooker Malcolm Marx\u2019s try may leave short-term mental scars for Rennie\u2019s men, if not forwards coach Neil Barnes.<\/p>\n
There is no doubting that Savea\u2019s absence after he was cleaned out in a ruck by hooker Marx nine minutes before halftime was a huge blow.<\/p>\n
He had just scored his second try of the match \u2013 his 35th in Tests \u2013 and was having one of those days where he is rarely out of the spotlight. But more than that, his leadership was missed. <\/p>\n
The All Blacks had to take risks in the final quarter as they chased the game but they appeared frantic and disorganised under the scoreboard pressure and this match underlined how important Savea is as his side\u2019s spiritual leader \u2013 much like Siya Kolisi, absent in the first Test, is for the Boks.<\/p>\n
He will miss the two Bledisloe Cup Tests next month and probably November\u2019s Nations Championship Tests in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n
The stop-start nature of the second half suited the Boks but Will Jordan\u2019s try 15 minutes after halftime, which broke the 12-12 deadlock, appeared hugely promising for the visitors.<\/p>\n
However, they promptly lost the re-start and Jesse Kriel took full advantage of Carter\u2019s missed tackle for the try that gave the Boks back a lead they never relinquished.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Springboks got a fair bit of momentum mid second half,\u201d Rennie said afterwards. \u201cWe were able to play with high tempo in the first half and we saw a lot of their big men struggling. We were keen to make that pay in the second half but we made a few errors which slows the game down to a scrum and often a penalty and then field possession for them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t reckon there\u2019s much in it. I don\u2019t think there was much in the first Test which we won quite convincingly in the end according to the scoreboard. It\u2019s key moments. A big moment today was Will Jordan kicking it dead. That\u2019s just unlucky \u2013 it was a good option. But you come back to a scrum which is a penalty to a maul which they drive how many metres to score.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey made hay when they had momentum tonight. We probably didn\u2019t do that enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cDiscipline hurt us at times. They\u2019re world champions for a reason. They\u2019re very good up front and they played a bit of footy tonight. We probably made a few errors that allowed them to play and I thought they were a lot stronger in that area than they have been in the first two Tests.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Injured All Blacks Ardie Savea, Quinn Tupaea and Luke Jacobson will travel home to New Zealand rather than…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":591556,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[789,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-591555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-all-blacks","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591555","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=591555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/591556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}