The two test series between the world champion South Africans and Six Nations title holders Ireland didn’t deliver a decisive blow for either team and told us what we knew already - that there is little if anything to choose between the sides.
What the flow of momentum that switched either way should also have told us is that the Springbok evolution that started in the first half of the opening game at Loftus is necessary. Both games were determined by fine margins, which has been the trend between these sides since Rassie Erasmus first took over the South African national coaching job in 2018.
And while the Boks were deserved winners of a second successive Rugby World Cup, and fourth overall, in France last year, sight should also not be lost of the fact that the margins were as narrow as they could possibly have been, one solitary point, in all three playoff games.
The margin doesn’t matter when two top teams play each other, it just matters that you win, and that is how Ireland would have felt when they celebrated a victory achieved by two excellent drop goals from their replacement flyhalf Ciaran Frawley in the space of 10 minutes. They got home by one, but you could see it meant the world to them.
Bok captain Siya Kolisi said afterwards his team didn’t enjoy the feeling of defeat and while his coach Rassie Erasmus didn’t use the same words, his face during the post-match press conference at Hollywoodbets Kings Park told a story.
Not that to Ireland victory meant they thought they’d now usurped the Bok right to be identified as world champions and the best team in the world. Bok assistant coach Mzwandile Stick was right on the eve of the second test when he said that was an argument sorted out at the World Cup. For his part, Farrell appeared to feel the debate about who was best was irrelevant at this point.
“I couldn’t care a less, there were two really good sides that played in this series and I wouldn’t want to separate them,” said Farrell. He added that there might be another two or three sides that belonged in the same category, with England clearly making some strides.
ADDING RAPIER TO BROADSWORD
In the early parts of the Loftus game though there did appear to be some separation between No 1 and No 2, and given the growth opportunity the Boks have if they continue to grow their game so that they can add rapier to broadsword, there could well be a gap between the two when next they meet in Dublin in November 2025.
It is just dependent on the Boks and their supporters and other stakeholders being patient and letting what Erasmus is trying to facilitate with the influence he is allowing Brown to take its course. It’s not about turning away from what worked before, it is about supplementing it, introducing a different angle like South African cricket did when spinners started emerging to bring the variation that was previously lacking from an attack dominated by world class fast bowlers/seamers.
It would have been naive to think the Boks would evolve their attacking game to where Brown would like to see it go in just two games. And anyway in the Durban game it appeared the Boks put those plans aside, as the 25-24 Ireland win came in a game where the Boks very much relied on the boot and on scrum. We didn’t see Siya Kolisi and Pieter-Steph du Toit in the wide channels this time.
It may not be the case that it was by design, but by circumstances forced on the Boks. Firstly, while reluctant to make excuses, Erasmus acknowledged afterwards that the second minute injury to Willie le Roux made a big difference to what the Boks had planned around their attacking game.
“You can lose your attacking ability when one specific player is lost,” said Erasmus.
Any new plan can also very quickly fall by the wayside, and the players return to what they know, when placed under proper pressure. And Ireland, who thoroughly deserved their win, did place the Boks under massive pressure in that first half. For the Boks to reproduce what they had hinted at with their wide game in Pretoria it required them to get momentum, and Ireland just never allowed that.
FRONTING SA PHYSICALLY IS HALF THE BATTLE WON
It was clear from the outset that the Irish were out to do what has generally been the accepted plan for teams with ambition against the Boks in recent decades - front them physically and don’t let the Boks get on top.
It is of course easier said than done, but when it is achieved by an opposition team, it is half the battle won for them. That is particularly so at those times when the Boks are employing a more limited game plan, which until a switch was flicked in Marseilles in 2022, and the South Africans started to run back kick receipt, was almost always.
Which is why the Boks in their quest to remain top of the pile and forge further ahead than they are now, do need to evolve their game. Winning two consecutive World Cups might have obscured this reality to many Bok fans, but not all the Bok ploys that they are lauded for and which have helped them to success will work all the time.
Apart from the constant law changes that make it a necessity for the Boks to keep plotting ahead and moving forward, the Kings Park game provided a reason why Erasmus should be flexible with his renowned (in South Africa) though infamous in some overseas quarters six/two split between backs and forwards on the bench.
SWITCH OF EMPHASIS MAY DEMAND BOMB SQUAD RETHINK
If it was really Le Roux’s injury that stymied the Bok attacking plans, then this was an instance where the bomb squad split was to blame. For it meant that the only backup flyhalf ended up forced into playing 77 minutes of the game at fullback, and Erasmus was denied the option of replacing Handre Pollard, who kicked all 24 Bok points but was again poor in general play.
If the Boks are going to revolve more of their game around the backs, there are going to have to be times they go five/three, or they are going to be making it difficult for themselves. Like they did at the weekend.
Talking of Pollard, flyhalf is something that Erasmus must be thinking hard about too. Pollard just doesn’t look comfortable with what is being asked of him and while it might be throwing him to the wolves if Erasmus backed Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu to start at 10 in a big match in the short term, Manie Libbok has the skill sets that could take the Bok attack to the new level being sought.
It is true that Libbok’s place-kicking isn’t as reliable as Pollard’s, but if Feinberg-Mngomezulu is playing another position in the same team, as was the case for most of the Durban game, then it may not matter that much.
If the Boks are to get their attacking game on point, they have the ability to score a lot of tries, which against many opponents will mean they win comfortably enough for the place kicking not to matter that much.
DEFENCE ALSO NEEDS TIME POST JACQUES
There is risk and reward when it comes to this point of the Bok evolution, and there will be times when mistakes will lead to the opposition profiting. But it is also obvious that there’s an area where the Boks were world leaders where they have slipped during what could be a period of adjustment - their defence.
The defence does not look as connected as it was under the architect of the Bok system, Jacques Nienaber, and while there are many who wondered when he linked up with Leinster how the 2023 World Cup winning coach would go without Erasmus, the question can also be asked the other way around. Nienaber’s status as one of the world’s best, if not the best, defence coaches is underlined by the progress England have made since Felix Jones transported Nienaber’s ideas to Steve Borthwick’s team.
Ireland drew the series because a) they were able to front the Boks’ physical assault and even turn the tables in the first half and b) because they were the better side defensively. If you look back over the past four games between the two sides, the Boks do struggle to break down the Irish defensive system more than they do other teams.
However, when they surprised the Irish in the first half at Loftus with their willingness to go wide, they showed they have the potential to turn the key to unlocking their opponents. As Caelan Doris said after that game, the Boks when they play that way have so many more threats, while still retaining their ability to create pressure by playing the old way. Like they did for most of the second half in Durban.
They need to kick better next time (meaning field/tactical kicking), they need to be more clinical and efficient. Which is pretty much what we would have said after Dublin in 2022 and Paris last year. So not too much has changed, but the Boks have the opportunity now to change it. The talk of world dominance wasn’t a reference to the here and now, but the potential of what could be coming.