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All Blacks to provide ultimate litmus test for new coach Tony Brown's flourishing Springboks attack
Stephen Foote • August 29th, 2024 3:18 pm
There'll be one very familiar face to NZ rugby fans behind enemy lines this weekend, when the All Blacks square off with the Springboks at Johannesburg's famous Ellis Park.
This year, former All Black turned coach Tony Brown has joined Rassie Erasmus' coaching staff as an assistant with the world champions, taking on the responsibility of moulding the Springboks' attack.
According to great Springboks midfielder Jean de Villiers, who knows Brown well from the former Highlanders pivot's stint with the Stormers, his fingerprints are all over what he believes is a much-improved South African offence.
Through their six-game start to the season, where their only loss has come via a single point in the second Test against Ireland, South Africa have averaged a shade under 37 points per game.
"I think we saw (Tony Brown's influence) immediately in that first Test match that we played against Ireland at Loftus Versfeld," De Villiers told SENZ's Scotty & Izzy.
"He's come in and certainly has, I think, changed the way that the South African team approaches the attack.
"It's been, from my point of view, very exciting."
While Springboks rugby is - and likely always will be - founded on their forwards horsepower and setpiece dominance, De Villiers believes there's already been a shift in the team's mindset, where their tactics have expanded beyond the patented kick-heavy 'bomb squad' barrage.
"If you think in years past, we've been very one dimensional at times," noted the 2007 World Cup winner. "Whereas I think now, there's a lot more variety.
"The ability to attack the wider channels a bit more, the skillset to be able to do it and also the comfort to be able to do it."
One significant contributing factor to that adjustment in Erasmus' philosophy has been in their selections, opting for young sparkplug Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu as starting first-five rather than the educated veteran boot of Handre Pollard.
Their starting XV against the All Blacks on Sunday (NZ time) features only eight players from last year's World Cup final in Paris, where they edged New Zealand in an absorbing and highly tense contest that exemplified the Test heavyweights' age-old rivalry.
In De Villiers estimation, the ultimate litmus test of their attack's development will come this weekend against the All Blacks, who he says have always set the standard for backline prowess, particularly on counterattack.
"It'll be interesting to see how it goes this weekend because, I think, certainly in my career and even after that, (the All Blacks) have always been the benchmark in terms of ball in hand and being able to play an attacking game," said De Villiers, who played 109 Tests for the Boks.
"I think for a long time we just felt that we didn't have the players or the skillset to be able to take you on at your own game, whereas I think we're closer to that now.
"Looking at the team that's selected from a South African point of view, it's a very mobile squad that can certainly do that."
Just days out from the resumption of world rugby's greatest beef, De Villiers says Johannesburg has been humming in anticipation.
There are All Blacks v Springboks Tests - and then there are All Blacks v Springboks Tests at Ellis Park, arguably the hottest cauldron in international rugby.
"Everything is non-stop rugby in South Africa at the moment," said de Villiers. "It's crazy.
"It's a special occasion. I won't say that it’s the same as an Eden Park for you guys, where you're just so formidable, but the history that goes with Ellis Park, and certainly the history that goes with South Africa v New Zealand - all the way back to 1995 and our reintroduction into test match rugby - is immense.
"I think it grew from there, and I think every single time that these two teams play at that venue it's a special occasion and you relive all of those memories
"It will be absolutely jam-packed at Ellis Park and next week in Cape Town it'll be even bigger."
Listen to the full interview below:
