All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie pinpointed key moments and set-piece struggles as the decisive factors in his side's 24-29 defeat to the Springboks in Soweto on Saturday evening. The result handed South Africa back-to-back victories and a 2-1 series advantage heading into the final Test in Baltimore.
The visitors started brightly and matched the Springboks at 12-12 by half-time, but conceded 17 second-half points to the hosts' 12. Rennie said his team's inability to maintain tempo proved costly. "We were able to play high tempo in the first half, and we saw a lot of their big man struggling, and we were keen to try and make them pay in the second half," he said. "We made a few errors which slowed the game down to a scrum, and then often a penalty and field possession for them."
The coach highlighted a critical period after the All Blacks had taken the lead, when the Springboks seized control at set piece and won the collisions. "They dominated us at set piece, won all the scraps, and had all the momentum for that period, and got reasonably well in front," Rennie said. "It's frustrating because there was a lot of effort out there and we just weren't clinical in the first half and couldn't wrestle momentum back when it mattered in the second half."
Despite consecutive defeats, Rennie insisted the margin between the sides remained narrow. "I don't reckon there's much in it," he added. "It's key moments." Left wing Ethan Hooker, named man of the match, credited the Springbok pack's second-half ascendancy and the crowd's influence. "I think a lot of it came from scrum dominance," Hooker said. "We really did get the ball rolling there, and then also I think we got our contestable kicking game right, started getting our ball back quite a bit."