This column contains the opinions of senior rugby writer Brenden Nel, and does not necessarily reflect the views of SuperSport or Canal+.
The war of words that caused Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus to explode on Saturday night in the post-match press conference and utter a few expletives may have surprised a number of people who have been enthralled by Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry, but it comes down to a well-planned campaign to disrupt the World Champions.
The bones of the campaign to disrupt the Boks started long before the tour, when the All Black management seems to have recognised that they would have two weeks unfettered coverage in the media and knew very well what the outside world thinks about Erasmus following his 2021 video on referees.
Now Erasmus served his ban and even appointed former test referee Jaco Peyper as a laws adviser to ensure the Boks were on the right side of the whistle. He has consistently been careful not to invoke the displeasure of World Rugby since then and has coached the Springboks to No 1 in the world (or are they No 2 now, who knows with World Rugby’s rankings).
REFEREE PROTOCOLS SET UP THE SCENE
Still, smarting from the Boks alignment with other countries at the recent Shape of the Game conference, there has been a series of moves that set up a situation for All Black coach Dave Rennie to exploit, and he wasn’t going to waste that chance to get under Erasmus’ skin.
First, while most coaches thought the referee protocols were decided - World Rugby’s new Chief of Rugby Mark Robinson decided to change all that without consultation and hand down new rules to teams that no team could meet a referee without the other coach being present. They also limited teams to five video clips post match for review by World Rugby’s Head of Referees Joel Jutge.
This unilateral decision - made by the same man who basically threw South Africa out of Super Rugby when he was New Zealand Rugby’s CEO - has already seen Italian coach Gonzalo Quesada banned for a game for his comments after his side’s game against the All Blacks.
There is widespread frustration and as Erasmus has noted in press conferences, this forces teams to use the media to get their points out, because the system is so flawed they cannot use the protocols anymore.
With that in mind, let’s have a look at the All Blacks conduct on this tour. They appointed the highly-respected Gilbert Enoka as their Mental Skills coach. Enoka, who has been hailed as the most influential non-coach in the All Blacks history, was the man behind the “no d*&&heads” policy of the All Blacks and the “sweep the sheds” approach under Graham Henry and Steve Hansen.
ENOKA MOST LIKELY THE ARCHITECT OF MESSAGE
A former Volleyball international, he is known for analysing the opposition and creating dossiers on them, and while nobody has said it publicly, he is also likely the architect of the narratives that have come out of the All Black camp to try and disrupt the Springboks.
But coaches trying to get an edge is nothing new. What is different to this tour is the All Blacks have painted themselves as purists, as “saviours” of the game and tried at every opportunity to suggest the Boks are doing the game a disservice.
It started very early on as the Boks quietly went about their business, with Rennie and assistant coach Tana Umaga both talking about the Boks slowing the game down, and that the future of rugby is the way they want to play it.
Codie Taylor, early tour captain even said it plainly. “We do the game justice by the way we play.”
Behind the scenes there was frustration from the franchises that their clips were brushed aside by World Rugby while there was no sanction that the All Blacks had sent more than double the allowed clips on the AMS system for clarification. World Rugby simply let this slide, including some franchises' worries about head contact and other issues.
ONE SCRUM SHIFTED THE NARRATIVE
And then the Ellis Park test came and the All Blacks won. The Boks won six scrum penalties and the crucial one in the 55th minute saw them lose focus and the All Blacks stormed back against 13 men to win the test handsomely.
But that one scrum changed the narrative and the All Blacks seized on it, trying to paint a scrum that had dominated every team they played for as illegal - all because of one scrum.
They were further helped by Nika Amashukeli falling ill and Angus Gardner taking the whistle in Cape Town, and his absolute abdication of enforcing the scrum laws. The first two scrums collapsed but Gardner played on.
The All Blacks cleverly shifted just before packing down to make the Boks look as if they were shifting left to target the tighthead. Gardner never listened to Malcolm Marx or Deon Fourie’s protestations, he simply didn’t care.
𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆: Rassie Erasmus names his Springbok team for Test three of #RugbysGreatestRivalry at FNB Stadium on Saturday 🇿🇦🚨 pic.twitter.com/pXVYsuotAo
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) August 31, 2026
The All Blacks got away with negating the scrum in the second test, helped by a referee who didn’t want scrum penalties to be anywhere near his whistle. By the second half they were simply feeding the ball under the lock's feet and they got away with it.
RASSIE EXPLODES
But then Rennie went and had a go at the Bok scrum afterwards and Rassie exploded.
There was never going to be sympathy from anywhere outside South Africa. Too many in the north, jealous of Bok success and still smarting from the Lions tour, had already decided Erasmus was the villain here.
Rennie and Enoka know this, and they capitalised. And their media fell into step.
Over the tour we have heard of two hour sessions every Wednesday with the All Black coach where the media have off-record briefings and coincidentally the same storylines appear in their press.
This is nothing new in rugby journalism. Certain countries’ media hunt in packs and we know this.
The Springboks will play their final home Test for the year at FNB Stadium and coach Rassie says they need fire in the belly and ice in the veins to say goodbye in the best possible way 🇿🇦🗣️#RugbysGreatestRivalry pic.twitter.com/H1ANHJsT1E
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) August 31, 2026
But it is difficult to see it as anything other than a narrative that the Boks are bad and the All Blacks are everything that is good in rugby.
The New Zealand Herald even called Rassie the “Lex Luther” of rugby, painting him as the villain and urging World Rugby to act before he becomes “too big for the game".
They even said “at the very least World Rugby should sanction him for swearing in the press conference". The pearl-clutching had reached fever pitch.
Another Herald writer said Rennie had Rassie “running scared”.
Their cause was aided by Erasmus’ squad rotations, including swapping the front row before the test - something that is not against the laws but suddenly was called “against the spirit of the game".
CLEARLY ORCHESTRATED
And all the while not a word of criticism about their own team.
The narrative is clearly orchestrated. The All Blacks had this planned all along. They knew Erasmus would not get sympathy from World Rugby or the wider rugby community and they exploited it.
And it has soured the tour with its sideshow.
The truth is rugby is good enough to stand on its own and the rivalry was exceptional without the narratives. World Rugby share part of the blame because they created the situation to be exploited and the frustration that followed.
The test series didn’t need this, but once it was uttered, you can’t blame Erasmus for getting frustrated.
South Africans tend to do their best work when their backs are against the wall. By forcing Rassie against his own wall, the All Blacks will be remembered as a team that were welcomed with open arms by fans, but chose to take the low road.
And how it soured a great series of rugby.