Ben Smith's assessment of the Rugby's Greatest Rivalry series cuts straight to the tactical heart of why South Africa won 3-1. As someone who built a career on reading the high ball, Smith is well-placed to analyse it — and his verdict is that Tony Brown systematically dismantled New Zealand's attempts to neutralise the Springboks' aerial game. When the All Blacks deployed wingers tracking backwards to receive high balls rather than running onto them, Brown simply shifted the kick placement, turning a tactical adjustment into a cat-and-mouse contest South Africa consistently won. Smith frames it as an extension of the Boks' set-piece philosophy — deliberate, drilled, and designed to generate pressure rather than tries. He also notes the Baltimore shift in the final Test, where the Boks added width, as bearing Brown's signature. Smith's broader point is that aerial dominance is extraordinarily difficult to replicate under match pressure, and South Africa's advantage there fed directly into their ability to 'squeeze' New Zealand at key moments despite the All Blacks actually crossing for more tries across the series.