Ellis Park win crucial for Boks’ 2027 launch

THERE is an erroneous perception that the Springboks are nigh on unbeatable at Ellis Park in Johannesburg and this is backed up by the All Blacks’ record at the spiritual home of the game in this country.

The Kiwis have won four of the last seven games played between the sides at Ellis Park, the venue for Saturday’s Rugby Championship match before the teams move to the Cape Town Stadium next week.

Most of the All Blacks squad that is on tour played in their 2022 victory over the Boks. They had been given no chance after being outplayed in the Lowveld the week before but were stung into action while the Boks lapsed into indifference and were humbled.

All Blacks coach Ian Foster was on the point of being fired, but the shock win in Joburg gave him a stay of execution, and a year later, Foster’s team lost the World Cup final to the Boks, 12-11.

A major point of discussion this week between Bok coach Rassie Erasmus and his players will be the 2022 failure to pitch up at Ellis Park after total dominance at the Mbombela Stadium.

That lack of consistency in the Rugby Championship match between World Cups is a massive focus for the Boks and they have already shown their commitment to addressing their inconsistency by hammering the Wallabies in Brisbane and Perth.

Erasmus is open about his disappointment about the Boks’ inconsistency during the four years between World Cups. He has spoken about the Boks’ failure to back up big wins at home, notably in the drawn series with Ireland.

Erasmus will be telling his troops that if they are to establish strong momentum and belief leading up to the Webb Ellis Cup in Australia 2027, they have to beat New Zealand in Joburg and a week later in Cape Town.

These are home games the world champions ought to win to emphasise their status as world champions.

A major part of the new push forward for the Boks is the deployment of former Highlanders and Japan attack coach Tony Brown into the Bok structures.

Brown told reporters that his appetite for attack means he can equally contribute to defending against his countrymen.

“I can coach all parts of the game,” he said. “When I first started with Otago, I was head coach and we had only one assistant. He just did a little bit of lineout and scrum stuff. So I was doing the defence, the attack, the kicking game, and all the parts of the rugby that needed to be done.

“The game is moving so fast and in the last five or six years the defensive side of the game’s become so good,” Brown added.

“There have been a lot of coaches influencing that from rugby league around the line speed and how to tackle and shut down the ball and dominate attacks.

“Defence has become a massive part of the game and there are so many well-coached teams now, everyone specialises in defence, so it’s tough to create an attack that’s going to beat a really good defensive side, but that’s the challenge.

“Then the key part about being innovative and changing the game is trying to find little things, but you do need your players to first understand why you’re doing it, then they need to be able to execute it.

“If you had asked us at the beginning of the season if we thought it was possible to get 10 points against Australia at home, we would have probably said you are joking because it’s always tough against them Down Under,” the assistant coach said.

“But we’ll take those results. It was very positive for us as a team, but we are now facing a different challenge. The All Blacks have been one of the best teams for a while now and it showed in how they bounced back against Argentina after losing their first game.

“On a good day they can be very dangerous, so the keys for us are to prepare well, ensure that we are aligned as a team, and execute our game plan well because if you are not at your best on the day against the All Blacks they can punish you.”