Former skipper Kieran Read says the All Blacks subdued the impact of the Springbok replacements to beat the world champions on Saturday.
Speaking on SENZ Radio on the ‘The Run Home Show’, the 2011 and 2015 World Cup winner said the Boks had to look to their bench earlier than usual in the Rugby Championship clash at Ellis Park, which contributed to them tiring later on.
Joseph Dweba struggled with his lineout throws and was replaced by Malcolm Marx in the first half as the All Blacks powered to a 35-23 bonus-point victory, the visitors scoring two tries in the final 10 minutes to secure the win.
“The way the Springboks selected their team, I think the fact that we made them go to their bench early really helped us down that back end,” said Read, who played 128 Tests for the All Blacks.
“They want Marx to come on and only play 40 minutes and [Steven] Kitshoff, a few of their other big players, even [Duane] Vermeulen could only go 30 minutes.
“It was a testament to our start, which hadn’t been at our best all year. Guys put them under pressure and I think it paid dividends in the back end.”
In a complete turnaround from the 2022 Rugby Championship opener in Nelspruit, the much-improved All Blacks were quick out of the blocks in Johannesburg and maintained an up-tempo game to race into a 15-0 lead.
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Read suggested SA were unable to rest at stoppages as often as they would have liked, and he hailed the All Blacks for stopping the “brutal” type of game the Boks enjoy playing.
“Even on the weekend where we played pretty well, there was periods of play where [the Boks] were able to get a bit of a roll on,” he said.
“They could score points on us and put us under a lot of pressure. They are, in some cases you could say a one-trick pony in the way they play. It’s just a brutal gameplan from them.
“It’s so brilliant, you know? [Makazole] Mapimpi chasing high balls, it’s not 50-50 when he’s chasing it. He’s catching everything.
“And they’ve got their maul. So, you’ve got to give kudos to our forward pack for scrumming well and stopping the maul basically over the whole series.
“Stop them winning penalties to then kick to the corner and have another shot.”
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Photo: Dirk Kotze/Gallo Images/Getty Images
