OPINION: The Springboks need to address their bench selections and second-half approach if they want to remain in the Rugby Championship title race.
Still struggling to get your head around the 22-38 defeat at Ellis Park?
You’re not alone.
The Boks were abrasive, accurate, and adventurous for the first 20 minutes, yet reckless and rudderless for the final 40.
The final result will shape perceptions, and rightly so.
The Boks blew a game that they should have won – and really should have won with a try-scoring bonus point.
At the very least, they should have fought tooth and nail to salvage a losing bonus point in the dying stages, instead of meekly accepting their fate.
As things stand, the All Blacks – who thrashed Argentina 41-24 in Cordoba in the early hours of Sunday morning – sit at the top of the Rugby Championship table, while the Boks sit in third. Five points separate the two title contenders at this stage.
The Boks will play catch-up for the remainder of the campaign, and may need to win both games in New Zealand to retain their Rugby Championship crown.
There’s still time for the Boks to turn things around, although they will need to address several issues that continue to plague their performance.
A few misfires were expected in the recent Tests against Italy and Georgia – as coach Rassie Erasmus rotated his extended squad for myriad reasons – but the group was supposed to be settled and switched on for the start of the Rugby Championship.
Why then have some of these worrying trends persisted?
The lineout is a mess, the team has lost all confidence in its maul, and the attacking breakdowns are woefully inconsistent.
Every second carry seems to culminate in an offload – although perhaps this is linked to a lack of faith in the attacking breakdowns.
Overall, the fight and spirit that defined this team for so long are sorely lacking – and that is best reflected by some of the team’s second-half performances.
Several rugby enthusiasts have described the Ellis Park result as one of the worst in the Erasmus era – and there is statistical evidence to support this statement.
Most won’t look beyond the obvious, namely a first loss to the Wallabies at Ellis Park since 1963, and a first loss to Australia on South African soil since 2011.
But what about the 38 points and six tries that were conceded by the home side?
Since Erasmus took the coaching reins in 2018, the Bok defence has leaked more than 38 points on just one occasion.
While the Boks went on to beat England in the first Test of the 2018 series, they conceded 39 points in a frantic contest at Ellis Park.
Later that year, the Boks conceded six tries in what was a landmark 36-34 win against the All Blacks in Wellington.
It’s the only other fixture – apart from the recent clash with the Wallabies – in which Erasmus’ Boks have conceded six tries.
Dig a little deeper into the second-half stats, and you start to see why the recent performance was so monumentally bad.
The Boks leaked 33 points and five tries in the second stanza.
Until last Saturday, Erasmus’ Boks had never conceded 30 points in the second half.
You’d have to go back to the 2018 Rugby Championship finale against the All Blacks in Pretoria for the last time they leaked more than 25 points in this period (26).
And until last Saturday, Erasmus’ side had never conceded five tries in the second stanza.
It would be unfair to lay the blame at defence coach Jerry Flannery’s door – and it’s worth remembering how stingy the Bok defence was across a monumental 2024 season, where they won 11 out of 13 matches.
It begs the question, though: What’s changed in 2025?
There were great expectations ahead of the two-Test series against Italy, especially after it was announced that the Azzurri would be touring South Africa with a young and inexperienced squad.
In the lead-up to the first match at Loftus, I was among the critics who predicted a second-half landslide.
That prediction was based on the strength and experience of the Bomb Squad, the lack of experience on the Italian bench, and the altitude factor at Loftus.
In the end, Italy’s “Grenade Squad” won the second half 21-14, and outscored the Boks by three tries to two.
After watching Australia capitulate in the second Test against the Lions – throwing away a 23-5 lead to lose 26-29 – I felt that the Wallabies were there for the taking in the first game of the Rugby Championship.
Again, I believed that altitude would sap the strength and will of the visitors, and that the Boks’ Bomb Squad would prove decisive.
But as we saw, the Wallabies showed more grit and intensity in that period to rack up some impressive numbers and close out the game.
What’s more, they kept the Boks scoreless in the second half.
That simply doesn’t happen, certainly not to Erasmus’ team in South Africa.
Only three teams have completed a ‘second-half shut-out’ against the Boks over the past eight years.
The Wallabies blanked the Boks in the second stanza when the sides met in Brisbane in 2018, while New Zealand kept South Africa quiet – at least on the attacking front – in the 2023 World Cup final.
On Saturday, Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies became the first team to keep the Boks scoreless during this period on South African soil.
There’s a lot to like about the current Bok squad, and reason to believe that Erasmus is building something special ahead of the 2027 World Cup.
And yet, the drop in performance during specific periods of the game and in certain departments cannot go ignored.
After losing the second-half battle against Italy in Pretoria and against Australia in Johannesburg, Erasmus and company need to rethink their strategy in terms of approach and selection.
The Boks should win the second Test against the Wallabies in Cape Town this Saturday, although they will need a much-improved performance by the bench.
Whether Erasmus favours a 5-3, 6-2 or 7-1 combination, attitude and composure will be all-important in the closing stages.
It wouldn’t come as a surprise to see lock RG Snyman rejoining the Bomb Squad, or hooker Bongi Mbonambi making way for a more explosive player – and notable breakdown exponent – such as Marnus van der Merwe.
Handré Pollard will be a key figure over the next few Tests, but Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu should also have a role to play in the matchday 23.