Consistency from coaches helped turn Boks around

The Springboks have first-hand experience of the type of slump the All Blacks are now enduring. They too hit the skids in 2016 and 2017 with their nadir arriving at the hands of the All Blacks in a 57-0 humiliation in Albany.

A change of coaching staff helped turn the tide and the Boks have not just won a Rugby World Cup and a series against the British & Irish Lions since, they now get to start favourites in Tests against their old adversaries.

Loosehead prop Steven Kitshoff, in the build-up to this weekend’s Test at Ellis Park, was asked to put his finger on what brought about the change in fortune.

“Convince everybody to align with the plan and play a certain brand of rugby that will get us to win Test matches,” Kitshoff recalled of the environment Rassie Erasmus (then coach) and Jacques Nienaber tried to create.

“It was the buy-in from the squad. The consistency they had in the way they talked, the way they coached, in the way they motivated us to play a good game of rugby is what stood out for me since that 57-0 loss,” said Kitshoff.

Inside-centre Damian de Allende explained that the building blocks in the team’s restoration of confidence started in the series win against England in 2018 before an away win over New Zealand further emboldened them.

“In that first Test against New Zealand we were 14 points behind. Against England, Jacques asked us to go harder [the Boks came from behind to win 42-39] and make decisions that didn’t put us under pressure. Luckily we went on to win our first Test against New Zealand since 2014 and the first one there for a while.”

Of course, the Boks went on to greater heights. As their star began to rise, the All Blacks star started to fade.

The Springboks have not just closed the gap on their traditional rivals, they have shot past. Many believe the 26-10 score-line last Saturday did not adequately reflect the Springboks’ domination.

De Allende, however, left no doubt that while the Springboks’ star is in higher orbit, their feet are on the ground.

“Just to beat them in SA, we take a lot of confidence [from that], but we also know what they can bring to the field. They also like playing at Ellis Park. The last time we played them there in 2015, just before the World Cup, they beat us. I know NZ will come back a lot stronger,” De Allende said.