The All Blacks will look to bounce back in South Africa after a 2-1 series defeat to Ireland. Photosport
The All Blacks will look to bounce back in South Africa after a 2-1 series defeat to Ireland. Photosport
Gregor Paul in South Africa
There were plenty of moments, sustained periods even, during the recent Irish series which have left a lingering hurt within the All Blacks.
Nothing has cut deeper, however, and induced a greater sense of disappointment than the concession of two tries to Ireland's driving maul.
To put the level of shame in context, it would be the equivalent of a British middle class family realising they could no longer afford to buy their groceries at Waitrose or underwear at Marks and Spencer.
When the Irish needed to land a momentum-changing blow in the final quarter of the final test they did so in an almost unimaginable way – which was to turn down a kickable three points to push their lead to a safer margin, and instead kick for touch and back their lineout drive to land the try that would take them two scores in front.
It's hard to know what struck the greater psychological blow – the fact they were confident enough to take such a risk, or that they were able to pull it off.
It was probably the former that inflicted the most mental damage as Ireland simply weren't scared about attacking the belly of the beast and the shame was felt with an intensity that clearly still rankles with the All Blacks forwards.
The message was clear – Ireland didn't rate them or fear them in the bread and butter art of defending mauls and it was arguably that one undeniable truth that cost former forwards coach John Plumtree his job and is the absolute highest priority to be fixed ahead of playing South Africa.
"It is something we are always looking at whether we win, lose or draw," All Blacks veteran lock Sam Whitelock said from the team's training base on the fringes of the Kruger National Park when he was asked about what the team has been reviewing in the wake of the series loss to Ireland.
"But at the moment we do know there a number of areas we need to be better at and obviously conceding a couple of maul tries is the obvious one for myself as a tight forward. That is the key area individually I am focusing on and making sure we get better as a forward pack."
Rob Herring of Ireland dives over to score against the All Blacks. Photosport
The maul may well be daft-mad nonsense in that it contradicts every foundation premise of the game – where the attacking team are legally allowed to be in front of the ball carrier and the defending side has no legitimate means to bring it down – but it is the go-to tool of the world's best teams as it can yield penalties, territory and points if it is not well defended.
It's also the flag bearing skill by which rival packs measure themselves and any team that concedes an easy seven points as the All Blacks did twice in Wellington as well as twice in their last game of the 2021 season against France, tends to be viewed as weak and breakable.
And the All Blacks know they can't be viewed like that by the Springboks, who Whitelock imagines will play with their usual direct and simple approach that will lean heavily on their ability to work their driving maul.
"They will definitely play to their strengths as they always do, but in saying that, you never want to go in there and think that you have their gameplan in their head," says Whitelock.
"They are smart guys who play rugby around the world so they have a number of different styles that they can go to, and that is something for us to make sure we can stop their Plan A and then, if they change that, we have to be able to stop that as well.
"That is the beauty of rugby, sometimes you know how they are going to play, and it is stopping it that is the major task."
The arrival of long-serving Crusader Jason Ryan, who has taken over from Plumtree as forwards coach, has given the All Blacks access to one of the best brains in the game at building defensive ploys to stop driving mauls.
The Crusaders famously haven't conceded a maul try on Ryan's watch, but as much as the players have immediately taken to his methods and ideas, Whitelock was eager to point out that the responsibility for better performance sits mostly with the players, rather than with the new coach.
"I have worked with Jason for a couple years at the Crusaders," says Whitelock.
"He has come in and been himself which is great and what we need. The main thing is that it falls to us as players to go out there and perform. It doesn't matter who is coaching us, it comes down to how we perform on the field, and we have got to perform for 80-plus minutes.
"We have got to be consistent across the board whether that is set-piece, around the field or breakdown. That is something we have to drive as players."
