It was noticeable how much respect the Springboks showed to the beaten All Blacks in the postmatch media conference at Mbombela Stadium and it was right that they did so for the South Africans know better than anyone how quickly the wheel can turn.
Some of them were part of the Bok team that lost 57-0 to the Kiwis in Albany in 2017, a result that came after a 57-15 savaging at Kings Park the previous October. A year later, the Boks avenged that defeat with a heroic win in Wellington, and a year-and-a-half after that, they won the Rugby World Cup.
Historically, the All Blacks effected a similar phoenix-like rise from the ashes themselves. In 2009 the Boks thrashed them 3-0 in the miniseries that was part of that year’s Tri-Nations, and it forced them to absorb lessons that were applied successfully and led to a World Cup win in 2011.
But in both of those instances, there was something the teams were not doing that the current All Blacks are doing. They did not live in denial. They faced the facts and reacted to them. In the Bok case, the coach was sacked and replaced with Rassie Erasmus. In the Kiwi case in 2009, their coach Graham Henry ordered a drastic overhaul of aspects of the way rugby was being coached across franchise level in New Zealand.
Under Henry’s direction, more attention was paid to the line-outs and aspects of the kicking game where the All Blacks had fallen short against the Boks. He also absorbed lessons from the Bok culture that he picked up visiting the SA changeroom after the final Tri-Nations game in Hamilton.
If current All Black coach Ian Foster is being proactive it is happening well below the radar. For every time he fronts the media what we are presented with is not the truth and honest appraisal, but denial.
It is a measure of just how far the Boks have travelled since Erasmus took over at the start of 2018 that an All Black coach is finding positives in a game that his team lost by 16 points
An example was when he was asked about the performance of his pack at maul time in the 26-10 defeat at Mbombela Stadium. Foster has brought in former Crusaders forwards coach Jason Ryan as a replacement for his original forwards coach John Plumtree and much was made of Ryan’s apparent brilliance when it comes to stopping mauls.
According to the Kiwi media, Ryan has gone several years now, across a number of coaching designations, without one of his teams conceding a driving maul try. That remained the case after Saturday, but my memory of the game is of the Bok pack walking several metres with the All Black pack and appearing to gain ground through that avenue of assault with apparent ease, particularly in the second half.
But what did Foster say afterwards? He spoke about it being a big improvement and underlined his point by pointing out that his pack had not conceded a penalty through the game from a driving maul. Yes, that may have been true, but he was clutching at straws. For there was no denying the Bok dominance and it was one of the areas on which the hosts laid the platform for their win.
Then there was Foster’s contention that the All Black performance was a step in the right direction and it was actually their best performance of the year. If that were the case, the All Blacks must have been even more woeful against Ireland than we remember them being, for they were poor against the Boks.
Becoming champions
There again, the Boks did make them look poor, so perhaps credit should be given to the winners, which is what Foster did afterwards. It is a measure of just how far the Boks have travelled since Erasmus took over at the start of 2018 that an All Black coach is finding positives in a game that his team lost by 16 points.
That Bok resurgence would not have occurred though were it not for the change made to the coach at end-2017. It would also not have taken place had the Bok minders persisted with the sort of denial that the Kiwis are now becoming champions at.
The sacking of the assistant coaches was a cosmetic change for the All Blacks, one of those knee-jerk reactions that take place when an under-pressure organisation feels it has to be seen to be doing something.
But I wrote at the time that the changes might not have helped Foster as they just tighten the noose more firmly around his neck. As in, where do the All Blacks go if they continue to lose after making the change of assistants? We will have the answer shortly as it is hard to see Foster surviving beyond next week.
The Boks should be hoping the Kiwi decisionmakers dally a bit longer over the decision though, as there is still enough time for a new coach to turn the All Blacks around.
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