All Blacks were superb at Eden Park but an angry Springboks response is coming
Tuesday, 9 September 2025
ANALYSIS: Two weeks after the worst performance of Scott Robertson’s reign, the All Blacks produced their best one against the Springboks on Saturday.
No one could dispute their grit and intelligence as they ended a four-test losing streak against South Africa, but it quickly became clear after the test that the Springboks were viewing the result through a very different lens.
You didn’t have to read too closely between the lines in the post-test comments to pick up that Rassie Erasmus, Jesse Kriel and Kwagga Smith were confident of rolling into Eden Park and winning the test, and subsequently believed they had lost it as much as the All Blacks had won it.
There was obligatory praise for the All Blacks, of course, but there were coded little daggers everywhere for Scott Robertson and co as the Springboks bemoaned their own errors and instantly flagged selection changes for the Wellington rematch.
The Wellington test will determine whose version of events is closest to reality - whether the All Blacks were really that good at Eden Park or the Springboks shot themselves in the foot.
As with all interpretations, there is an element of truth in both.
The Springboks were full of errors on Saturday, some of them a result of All Blacks pressure but some of them not.
It makes them incredibly dangerous for the Wellington test, because even in defeat it was clear that this ageing Springboks team isn’t about to fall off a cliff.
One or two of their senior citizens had sub-par games. Iconic flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit made close to 1000 tackles in the Rugby World Cup final in 2023, missing none, but on Saturday he made 11 and missed three - including a costly one on Quinn Tupaea, who stepped inside him for the All Blacks’ third try.
However, it was the simple skill and execution errors that really hurt the Springboks, rather than a collective lack of legs in their thirty-somethings.
No 10 Handre Pollard’s wild pass into touch in the second half summed up their night, but the All Blacks won’t be expecting many such gifts in the capital.
The All Blacks are more likely anticipating a response from the Springboks that will double down on their strengths: scrum, maul, kicking, defence and heavy carries.
There were some fantastic defensive efforts from the All Blacks at Eden Park - the first contact in the tackle was frequently heavy, allowing them to really make a mess of the Springboks breakdown and bring back the lost art of counterrucking.
But the Springboks’ size and direct running means they are going to have some gainline wins and they might not be as wasteful as they were in Auckland.
As a result, the All Blacks will have to recommit to the creative and brave approach they took with ball in hand at Eden Park.
They now know they can beat the Springboks blitz not just with crossfield kicks but by holding a bit of depth, while there was also period in the third quarter when they started to get some offloads away and looked just one or two accurate passes away from really causing some damage on the edge.
A review of those moments should fill their game drivers with confidence that the space is there, and if they can manufacture a second test win against a quietly seething Springboks side it will be hard evidence the balance of power has shifted.