The All Blacks are preparing for the world champion Springboks to provide them with their most physical Test of the year when the teams collide at Twickenham on Saturday.
The South Africans will be upbeat from their recent 52-16 victory over Wales in Cardiff but any happy vibes will be tempered by what the All Blacks did to them in the first quarter of their Rugby Championship Test at Mount Smart Stadium in July.
Then the visitors were physically dominated by the All Blacks – a smorgasbord of set piece and breakdown dominance that allowed Ian Foster’s men to open a scoreboard buffer the Boks couldn’t overcome.
It was a remarkable performance in a 35-20 victory and while the All Blacks had begun the tournament well with a comprehensive victory over Argentina in Mendoza, it was also a little unexpected given the side’s inconsistencies last year.
Science dictates that for every action there is a reaction, however, and the breakdown in particular will be fiercely contested by a side hoping to set up their World Cup defence in the best way. Another important factor to remember is that the Boks, led by the returning captain Siya Kolisi, have named a far stronger line-up than the one which took the field in Auckland last month.
“They’re big men and they’re physical,” loose forward Ardie Savea said today.
“They’ll be looking at that last Test and that first 20 and will want to come out firing and nullify us. The way we started against Aussie [in Dunedin], if we give that to South Africa it will be a long day at the office. They pose a massive threat around their physicality at the breakdown.”
The All Blacks will have to meet that challenge head on but are likely to test the hard-charging Boks’ defence with their kicking game – they consistently kicked more than their Rugby Championship opponents this year, and generally very effectively.
Given what is at stake around the corner – a World Cup opener against France in Paris on September 9 – some have questioned the need for such a physical challenge.
In 2015, the All Blacks warmed up for their World Cup defence in the United Kingdom by playing Manu Samoa in Apia. Four years later, they played Tonga in Hamilton before leaving for Japan.
But Savea said the risk of injury or suspension through foul play transgressions was “not even in our thought process. We understand what’s going on with the cards and we try our best to practice good technique and make sure we don’t put ourselves in that position. But that’s footy – sometimes you get it wrong”.
Hooker Dane Coles, a 36-year-old hoping to nurse his temperamental calf muscles through another three months of professional rugby, said of his injury risk: “You can’t control that… and as an older athlete who has had a few injuries, you can only control your effort during the week and things will take care of themselves.”
Tackle height is controllable too, and after several high-profile recent incidents, it’s highly relevant.
Coles said: “We put a lot of work into it. Because if you don’t get it right it’s hard to win an international with 13 or 14 players… it's just practice, honestly… because if you get it wrong you’re gone. There’s enough chat about it. I know the boys are all over it and trying their best to get it right.”
For Coles, an occasional master of the understatement, the Boks Test is the right way to prepare for France and beyond. “It creates a good intensity during the week,” he said.
And for Savea, the looming Test should not be referred to as a “warm-up”. It’s more important than that – a sentiment the Boks would highly likely agree with.
“We’ve talked about there’s no such thing as a warm-up for us,” Savea said. “Every time we put on that black jersey, every time we run out we’re trying to do the jersey proud and I guess the legacy proud.”
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