The Springboks entered the All Blacks' 22 ten times at Ellis Park and came away with points just once — a single Esterhuizen try — leaving their red-zone yield at a wretched 0.7 points per visit. That figure puts this performance in rare, unwanted company: it's only the third time since Opta began tracking the metric in 2020 that the Boks have fallen below one point per red-zone entry across 66 matches, and they lost on both previous occasions. The piece traces how a Marx knock-on that prevented a certain try, a baffling Feinberg-Mngomezulu crossfield kick into touch, and a high turnover count collectively strangled what was otherwise genuine territorial dominance. With scrum and gain-line control going to waste, Kolbe's boot was the only functioning attacking outlet — and when the All Blacks shifted gears after half-time, there was no fallback. The broader concern the article flags is a two-game scoring slump of just 33 points, matching the Erasmus-era low, that suggests the Ellis Park collapse isn't entirely isolated from the unconvincing Argentina win that preceded it.
Red-zone conversion collapse: the stat that explains the Ellis Park defeat
A damning Opta stat sits at the heart of this breakdown: the Boks' 0.7 points per red-zone entry at Ellis Park is one of only three sub-one-point showings in 66 Tests since 2020 — and they lost both previous instances too. The piece connects individual errors, turnover count, and a blunt attacking edge to explain how territorial dominance produced almost nothing.
The Barbarians hit-out is a key cog in Rassie's World Cup machine
Nel makes the case that the Barbarians fixture is less about the result and more about Erasmus stress-testing depth, blooding uncapped talent, and keeping the World Cup-winning core fresh — all with 2027 firmly in mind.
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.
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.