SA’s brute strength, coupled with blistering pace on the outside, will be too hot for New Zealand to handle when the teams square up in a blockbuster double-header, former Springbok JP Pietersen predicts.
After flattening the Wallabies in their opening two outings in the Rugby Championship, the Boks want to shine on home soil in Johannesburg and Cape Town over the next two weekends.
Pietersen, who coaches the Sharks in the Currie Cup, says the jury is still out on whether New Zealand and Australia have been disadvantaged by SA’s exit from Super Rugby.
“I will definitely go with the Springboks winning the Rugby Championship and I will tell you why,” Pietersen said.
“New Zealand won’t match the Springboks physically, we saw what Argentina did to them in the opening game of the Rugby Championship.
“With the scrum dominance the Springboks have, including two different sets of packs, I don’t think New Zealand can take the Springboks’ physicality in the scrum, set piece and in the line speed of the defence. They will struggle to get passes across, especially with Handré Pollard, Manie Libbok and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who have the kicking game that can transfer pressure.
“The Boks played some outstanding rugby against the Wallabies. Rassie still talks about the frustration of the unforced errors they made, but to look at it from an outside perspective it was really some good rugby to watch.
“The Springboks were really physical on defence, scrums and mauls and to open it up with the flair to move the ball around with guys like Feinberg-Mngomezulu and [connect] with the speed on the outside with Kurt-Lee Arendse.”
Asked whether it was a disadvantage for Australia and New Zealand not to have SA playing in the Super Rugby competition, Pietersen said: “We shouldn’t look too far ahead and look at the advantages and disadvantages rather than judge after the competition.
“Australia is not in the same position as New Zealand, with a coach coming in at the last minute and players moving around. They are in a difficult position currently and New Zealand are in a better position.”
Several law variations have been implemented for the Rugby Championship and the thought process behind the variations is to speed up the game by reducing the number of unnecessary stoppages and to clarify law interpretations.
These variations include the 20-minute red card, countdown clock for scrums (30sec), line-outs (30sec) and kicks at goal (60sec), protection of the No 9 at the base of the scrum, ruck and maul, and play on for a line-out not straight if the throw-in is uncontested.
“It’s a variation with the red card, you always want 15 versus 15 players on the field,” Pietersen said.
“Rugby is a fast sport and collisions happen, then you take it up to the TMO (television match official) who looks at the incident in slow motion which gives the impression that the player [transgressor] had so much time to make the decision.”
“It’s a great call to bring in a decision to have 20 minutes for a red card. And of course, there is also the bunker call which enables a decision to be reviewed if a yellow [card] should stay or be elevated to a red card.”
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