{"id":604542,"date":"2026-09-18T18:28:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T18:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/604542\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T18:28:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T18:28:09","slug":"jake-white-springboks-onslaught-proves-that-this-all-blacks-team-lacks-terminators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/604542\/","title":{"rendered":"Jake White: Springboks’ onslaught proves that this All Blacks team lacks ‘Terminators’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Springboks<\/a> head coach Jake White believes that the All Blacks lack \u2018Terminators\u2019 following Richie Mo\u2019unga\u2019s comments after Rugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry Series.<\/p>\n

The 2007 World Cup-winning coach was stunned by how often South Africa were able to win the gain-line battle during the last three Tests in particular.<\/p>\n

Jake White stunned by Springboks\u2019 dominance<\/p>\n

The Springboks<\/a> are renowned for their physicality and ability on the gain-line, but White<\/a> states that while they are able to boss the post-contact metres against most nations, it\u2019s always been different against the All Blacks.<\/p>\n

Still, the former Bulls boss is adamant that New Zealand<\/a> have turned the corner under Dave Rennie and are trending in the right direction with the World Cup on the horizon.<\/p>\n

Reviewing Rugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry Series<\/a> in his Rugby Pass column, White believed that Ardie Savea\u2019s injury in the third Test match was a deciding factor.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, the All Blacks getting off to a winning start in Johannesburg gave the series the perfect platform, but in the deciding Test, when Ardie Savea went off in the 31st minute, it appeared New Zealand\u2019s hopes went with him,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Commenting on how the Springboks bossed the gain-line, he added: \u201cAs for the All Blacks, we can justifiably say they\u2019ve truly turned a corner, but what I\u2019ve picked up from numerous commentators is them documenting how the Springboks have \u2018made yards with every carry\u2019. In living memory, I am struggling to remember when that has happened before. Sure, it happens to other sides, but not the All Blacks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jake White: Springboks don\u2019t need to change anything, the chasing pack has to catch up<\/a><\/p>\n

Sir Steve Hansen: The \u2018inconvenient fact\u2019 is that the All Blacks are \u2018not good enough\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

All Blacks are lacking \u2018Terminators\u2019<\/p>\n

New Zealand\u2019s personnel and mindset are part of the issue, according to White, who did single out centre Jordie Barrett as an exception, particularly on defence.<\/p>\n

While he highlighted some of the big, strong ball carriers that the Springboks have, he said that the All Blacks don\u2019t have the same kind of threats that they used to possess.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow one of the key principles of rugby is to go forward, but it\u2019s easier said than done with modern defences. That momentum allows you to put the defence under pressure. Look at Jasper Wiese, Ox Nche, Damian de Allende. They are all comfortable carrying straight and hard and it hurt New Zealand. A word for Jordie Barrett, however. Amidst the onslaught, I thought he was outstanding in defence,\u201d he continued<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they were on the back foot, they used their power to drive the All Blacks backwards, inch-by-inch, away from the try-line. To the naked eye, they don\u2019t have the likes of Jonah Lomu, Jerome Kaino, Ma\u2019a Nonu, Brodie Retallick or Tana Umaga to punch holes in the same way. Take that 32-phase try, finished off by Will Jordan. It was incredible, but it must have taken so much out of them. You can\u2019t do that for 80 minutes. It\u2019s too much. They need to find guys who can get post-contact metres. Maybe with Caleb Clarke and Leicester Fainga\u2019anuku back in situ, they might have more punch.<\/p>\n

All Blacks great: Springboks achievement \u2018extraordinary\u2019 with 4-0 thrashing \u2018a realistic possibility\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAs much as they\u2019re making progress, they\u2019re still chasing the Springboks\u2019 tails. In the post-match interview, reporters asked Richie Mo\u2019unga if this Springbok team was better than the 2023 World Cup vintage. His answer, \u2018yes, they are incredibly good at creating pressure without the ball\u2019. Kieran Read agreed, when he said, \u2018they fight for everything on the ground. Every player goes hard at the breakdown, whether it\u2019s the scrum-half, the hooker or the outside backs, they don\u2019t give away any territory lightly\u2019.<\/p>\n

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a collective decision. A collective responsibility and collective physicality. It comes off the bench; it comes with rotation, and behind closed doors is most likely Rassie holding them to account. The secret for any coach is how you keep that burning desire on the field. I\u2019ve coached against them and New Zealand used to have it in spades. The Jerry Collins, Sam Whitelocks and Richie McCaws gave you absolutely nothing. They were like Terminators. They just kept coming back. Those comments tell me Mo\u2019unga was left feeling under the pump, and if you can make the 10 feel under pressure all the time, the whole game plan starts to shift in your favour.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0Nick Mallett: Springboks faced \u2018different challenges\u2019 to beat the All Blacks as the referee didn\u2019t give us the benefit<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Springboks head coach Jake White believes that the All Blacks lack \u2018Terminators\u2019 following Richie Mo\u2019unga\u2019s comments after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":604543,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1463,1464,111,43,139,69,6327,213],"class_list":["post-604542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604542","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=604542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}