Departing Springboks assistant coach Felix Jones alongside players Kwagga Smith and Willie Le Roux detail how the side plans to take down the All Blacks in a Rugby World Cup final ‘spectacle’. Video / NZ Herald
OPINION
Gregor Paul in Paris
David Kirk was right when he said that the All Blacks have an irrefutable advantage over their World Cup final opponents South Africa, which is that they possess a more mobile, athletic, quicker trio of loose forwards.
Before the tournament started,there were some good analysts who felt that the All Blacks would ultimately come unstuck because they wouldn’t be able to compete with the vibrant, all-court back rows of Ireland and France.
Few people rated Sam Cane as a world-class openside and there were doubts about whether Shannon Frizell would firstly recover from a hamstring injury, and secondly prove to be as robust and bruising as he was in the Rugby Championship.
But the All Blacks are in the final and when it came down to it, New Zealand’s loose trio had the dynamism, the tackling power, turnover technique, timing and ball-carrying grunt to outplay their vaunted Irish opponents in the quarter-finals.
Cane, who is benefitting now from having enjoyed a run of games since recovering from a back strain, has been the balance-shifter.
His destructive tackling and sharp foraging have enabled him and Ardie Savea to work in tandem, much as Richie McCaw and Kieran Read did back in the 2015 tournament.
And in keeping with the 2015 similarity, Frizell has been able to take on the role of Jerome Kaino – being left to damage teams with his head-on defence and crunching ball-carrying.
The All Blacks then have three in-form players, and a unit that looks balanced, cohesive and capable of playing effectively, no matter if the game is an arm wrestle close to the ruck or a free-flowing festival.
The Boks, on the other hand, have a distinct power advantage if the game is played only a few metres from the tackled ball area, but Duane Vermeulen, a great player and warrior, doesn’t look like he’s got the legs or lungs to survive a high-tempo game and Siya Kolisi only tends to play 50 minutes, which is perhaps a sign that even the Springboks think his value is more spiritual than physical.
If the All Blacks can generate the same sort of tempo they did in the opening 20 minutes of the Rugby Championship clash against the Boks, their back-row superiority could become a significant factor In determining the outcome.
But Kirk wasn’t right when he said this was New Zealand’s only indisputable advantage.
What they also have is a significant height advantage among their key kick-chasers and with that, an opportunity to target South Africa’s two relatively short wings, Cheslin Kolbe and Kurt-Lee Arendse.
There’s an embedded narrative that the All Blacks and Springboks are stylistically at opposite ends of the spectrum.
New Zealand are all about trying to play high-tempo, multi-phase, ball-in-hand rugby, while the Boks are about the power of their set piece, the accuracy of their kicking and efficiency of their driving maul.
All Blacks winger Will Jordan battles for the ball in the air during the Rugby World Cup semifinal win over Argentina. Photo / Getty Images
It’s broadly true that they do respectively work towards those wider themes, but the All Blacks build plenty off their kicking game, just as the Boks can produce the sharpness of pass and catch and nuanced running lines to be lethal with ball in hand when they choose to be.
And the All Blacks’ kicking game will have a critical hand in shaping the outcome of this final, just as it was a vital component in breaking down the Boks when they played earlier this year in the Rugby Championship.
Back in July, New Zealand used the successful ploy of kicking high to the openside wing, where Will Jordan’s pace was used to good effect to either win the ball or pressure the Springboks’ back three in the air to force a mistake.
If anything, they will be yet more encouraged to try to isolate Kolbe and Arendse under high balls, following the success England had in doing just that last week in the semifinal.
England, who did nothing other than rain high ball upon the Boks, dominated the aerial battle by using the height of their wings Johnny May and Elliot Daly to get up and over the two South African wings.
The Boks have said they will look at how England managed to be so successful with that ploy, but it largely comes down to the simple fact that Kolbe is 1.71 metres tall and Arendse is 1.76m.
In comparison, Jordan is 1.88m and Mark Tele’a 1.85m – and no one needs to be a rocket scientist to work out why, in an aerial battle, that matters.
But the All Blacks’ real trump card in all this is likely going to be Jordie Barrett, who may occasionally plant himself on the wing – particularly inside the Boks’ 22.
At 1.95m, Barrett is the height of a short lock and he’s a great athlete, capable of getting off the ground with the bulk to not be knocked around in the air.
The attacking cross-kick could be the All Blacks’ most effective weapon on Sunday (NZT) and where their irrefutable advantage truly lies.
