This piece uses Lions tour history to argue that midweek results between Tests are poor predictors of what follows on Saturday. The 2001 Lions beat the Brumbies impressively and still lost the series; the 2017 Lions blew a lead against the Hurricanes and still levelled the series the following weekend. The parallel drawn here is that the All Blacks' comeback win over the Lions franchise at Ellis Park — overturning a 35-17 deficit to win 41-35 — tells us less about Saturday's second Test than the scoreline suggests. The more pointed argument is about what Erasmus takes from Tuesday night: the Lions franchise showed that a dominant scrum paired with structured attacking intent genuinely troubles New Zealand, which is precisely what the Boks failed to bring in the first Test. The piece frames the Boks' red-zone wastefulness and tactical bluntness in Cape Town as self-inflicted rather than a reflection of All Blacks superiority — and notes that in four years, Erasmus has not lost back-to-back Tests.
Don't read too much into the All Blacks' midweek win — Rassie rarely gets caught twice
Midweek Lions-franchise results have historically misled tour predictions, and this piece argues the Boks' route back into the series is clearer than the first-Test scoreline implies — if Erasmus fixes the attacking structure that the provincial Lions exposed as New Zealand's vulnerability.
- New Zealand
- Emirates Lions
- Rassie Erasmus
- Springboks
All Blacks' loosehead crisis hands Springboks a ready-made weapon in Greatest Rivalry Series
Jeff Wilson has publicly identified loosehead prop as the All Blacks' most dangerous weakness ahead of four consecutive Tests against the Springboks — with Williams likely out, Tu'ungafasi's future uncertain, and the remaining options short on caps and experience. Set against the depth Erasmus has built across the prop positions, this piece maps out why scrum time could be where the Greatest Rivalry Series is decided.
Stephen Donald: Robertson copied the Boks — Rennie must go back to All Blacks DNA
Stephen Donald backs Hansen's anti-copycat argument, saying Robertson erred by chasing the Springbok blueprint rather than New Zealand's tempo-based strengths — and expects Rennie to correct that course ahead of a blockbuster four-Test series in South Africa.
Mulder's '95 Warning: Don't Sleep on the All Blacks
1995 World Cup winner Japie Mulder warns against writing off the All Blacks ahead of the four-Test series, drawing on South Africa's own underdog story to argue the gap in rankings doesn't guarantee a comfortable series win.
So how deep is the Springbok squad?
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Hansen's Right to Back Himself — But the Boks' Five-Match Streak Tells a Different Story
Jean de Villiers acknowledges Hansen's logic but argues last year's results and performances make it hard to see the All Blacks closing the gap on the Boks — and the panel get genuinely animated over what a 2-2 series tiebreaker would even look like.