Dave Rennie is treating a wounded Springbok as the most dangerous animal in rugby. Despite the 33-16 win at Ellis Park, he's publicly cautioning his squad against complacency and anticipates Erasmus's side will be sharper and more clinical in Cape Town — leaning harder into their scrum dominance and aerial game, particularly with wet conditions forecast. Rennie sees the Boks' uncharacteristic error count in the first Test as a correctable problem, not a structural weakness, which explains why he's treating Saturday as a genuine threat rather than a formality. The All Blacks have their own logistical headache — a midweek Lions fixture at Ellis Park before flying to Cape Town the next morning — and Rennie acknowledges they'll need to lift their own performance even to stay level with an improved Bok side.
Rennie warns All Blacks not to get carried away — expects Boks to double down in Cape Town
Rennie expects the Boks to tighten their set-piece and aerial game in Cape Town and is treating the second Test as a genuine threat, even after the Ellis Park blowout — the piece breaks down his tactical read on how Erasmus's side will respond.
- Springboks
- Rassie Erasmus
- New Zealand
- Emirates Lions
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.