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1,656 items · Springboks · Analysis
Rennie expects a different Bok beast in Cape Town
Rennie and Savea praised the All Blacks' Ellis Park composure but are bracing for a fired-up Bok reply in Cape Town — the piece captures their cautious post-match tone.
Bok dominance wasted: How inaccuracy and ill-discipline handed the All Blacks a shock Ellis Park win
Rich's analysis argues the Boks were the better team for long periods but gifted the All Blacks a win through a Marx knock-on over the line, tactical naivety at scrum penalties, and two yellow cards that left them with 13 men — handing New Zealand a 33-16 win and a 1-0 series lead heading to Cape Town.
All Blacks deliver a statement at Ellis Park — and the Boks must answer
New Zealand put 33 points on the Boks at Ellis Park, exposing uncharacteristic handling errors and a discipline collapse that left South Africa with two men in the bin. The All Blacks were clinical where it mattered — five tries, a first Ellis Park win since 2022, and a series lead that will demand a significant Bok response.
Wiese carries the fight, but errors and injuries sink the Boks at Ellis Park
Wiese, Louw and Nche were the rare bright spots in an 8 vs 4 spread that tells the story — Bok forward grunt was there, but backline errors and a brutal injury toll gifted the All Blacks the margin.
All Blacks player ratings: Jordan and Jordie the difference-makers as Rennie's big calls pay off
Jordan and Jordie Barrett were the standout performers in the 33-16 win, but the ratings piece digs into Rennie's selection calls — Holland and Jacobson both justified their inclusions — while the scrum remains an area of concern despite a bench-driven recovery.
Ruthless All Blacks punish wasteful Boks despite scrum hammering
The Boks obliterated the All Blacks at scrum time yet lost 33-16 — the piece breaks down why South Africa's failure to convert 22-metre dominance into points was the decisive factor, and what both teams must fix before Cape Town.
All Blacks player ratings: Jordan and Jordie the difference-makers as Boks pay for second-half fade
Jordan and Barrett carried the All Blacks to a 33-16 win, but the scrum was a genuine weak point — Planet Rugby's ratings break down where Rennie's big calls paid off and where the Boks inflicted real damage.
Scrum dominance means nothing if you can't finish: Five takeaways from Ellis Park
Ellis Park delivered atmosphere and scrum carnage, but the Boks' inability to convert 22-metre dominance into points — 1.1 points per entry vs New Zealand's 4.3 — was the real story of a 33-16 defeat. Full breakdown of the tactical and physical toll across both squads.
Vermeulen: Rassie has gone from physically intense to psychologically ruthless
Vermeulen gives a candid 20-year read on Erasmus's evolution — from physically disruptive training presence to surgical psychological operator — with De Villiers adding that nothing Rassie says or does is accidental.
Kolbe on broken ribs, All Black fans in the family, and why he's finally coming home
Kolbe opens up ahead of the All Blacks Test on the Francois Steyn hit that may have cracked his ribs, his favourite tries, the All Black fans still in his family circle, and why coming home to Cape Town was finally the right call.
Why the Bomb Squad's absence changes everything — and why Planet Rugby is calling an All Blacks upset at Ellis Park
Planet Rugby flips its prediction from a nine-point Bok win to an eight-point All Blacks upset, with Erasmus's shock 5-3 bench the decisive factor — stripping out the fourth-quarter front-row advantage that has defined Springbok series dominance for years.
Roigard flags Williams and Reinach as genuine threats ahead of Ellis Park Test
Roigard previews the Ellis Park Test with a frank assessment of Williams and Reinach — their speed, ruck threat, and kicking platform — while revealing the All Blacks have a specific plan to neutralise the Bok box-kick. He believes adaptability on the night will be the deciding factor.
Five All Blacks who could shape the Ellis Park Test
Rugby365 profiles the five All Blacks most likely to shape Saturday's Ellis Park Test — Love, Jordie Barrett, Moorby, Roigard and De Groot — weighing their threats against specific Springbok match-ups and the unknowns each brings into the fixture.
De Villiers gets his All Blacks baptism — and the coaches back him to deliver
With Kolisi out again, De Villiers starts against the All Blacks at Ellis Park for just his fourth cap. Erasmus and Stick give an unusually candid read of the challenge ahead — and explain why they back him regardless.
Ellis Park opener: Everything on the line for the All Blacks, just the beginning for the Boks
Keohane argues the All Blacks need this first Test far more than the Boks do, frames the New Zealand 'stop-start' critique of South Africa as lazy, and predicts the 2024 Ellis Park narrative — All Blacks fast start, Bok bench the difference — will repeat on Saturday.
Rassie's RGR gamble: Winning game three, not game one
Erasmus has publicly framed the RGR Series as a depth and fitness contest rather than a game-by-game battle, deliberately holding back Kolisi, Mostert, and De Jager while pointing to a significant playing-minutes advantage over the All Blacks as the series edge he's banking on.
Erasmus asks Ellis Park crowd to let the Haka breathe
Erasmus has shelved any Haka counter-strategy, crediting Tony Brown with shifting the squad's mindset — and he's urging the Ellis Park crowd to stay quiet through it so the moment lands. The piece captures a rare candid admission of nerves ahead of the RGR series opener.
Hansen: Springboks have outgrown the quota system
Hansen argues the Springboks have organically outgrown the quota system, with genuine on-field unity making transformation targets redundant — while also warning that South Africa's winning mentality makes them a formidable proposition for his former side at Ellis Park.
Built in a shed in the Free State: The doctrine behind the Springbok scrum
A forensic breakdown of how the Springbok scrum was built — tracing it from a single Erasmus question in a team room to the training culture, bonus structures and Daan Human's methods that made it the sport's most dominant set-piece weapon, with a pointed argument about what World Rugby's proposed law changes would actually mean.
Four Boks with points to prove against the All Blacks at Ellis Park
Louw builds the case for four Boks who face heightened scrutiny at Ellis Park — De Allende's 100th cap, the Louw-over-Du Toit selection call, Pieter-Steph's succession narrative, and the SFM-vs-Libbok flyhalf subplot.