Wynona Louw identifies five factors that could shift the series back in the Boks' favour heading into the Cape Town Test. The central thread is that last week's loss was less about being outclassed up front and more about self-inflicted damage — 23 turnovers, 12 entries into the All Blacks' 22, and just one try tells its own story. Fix the execution and the platform is already there.
Kolisi's return anchors the piece. Louw draws a direct line between his record in high-stakes comebacks — the 2019 World Cup pool-stage recovery, the 2021 Lions series reversal — and what the Boks need now. Beyond the skipper, Louw argues the Pollard-at-10 selection is a deliberate recalibration: more tactical discipline and reliable goal-kicking, with Feinberg-Mngomezulu eased back via the bench rather than dropped cold. The scrum's first-Test dominance gets its own chapter — the set-piece advantage was real but produced nothing; with the same front-row architecture plus du Toit and Steenekamp in reserve, the argument is that the weapon is loaded and just needs to be fired. The early team announcement gets a nod too, read as a small but deliberate signal of restored confidence in a week where the psychological reset matters as much as the tactical one.