All Blacks Legend Makes Huge Claim After Springboks Series Win: ‘We Could Have Won All 3’ SA Tests
- The Springboks won the series 3-1, but a former All Blacks coach believes the scoreline does not reflect how close the contests were
- Laurie Mains says New Zealand could have won all three Tests played in South Africa, despite the eventual series defeat
- The All Blacks legend also revealed the area where he felt South Africa had a clear advantage throughout the series
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The Springboks may have walked away with a 3-1 series victory over the All Blacks, but a former New Zealand head coach believes the rivalry was far closer than the final result suggests. Former All Blacks coach Laurie Mains has made the bold claim that New Zealand “could have won all three of the first three” Tests against South Africa.
The Springboks wrapped up the Greatest Rivalry series with a 43-28 victory over New Zealand in Baltimore on Saturday.
That followed South Africa’s wins in Cape Town and Soweto after the All Blacks had stunned the world champions with victory at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.
‘We could have won all three’
Mains, who coached the All Blacks between 1992 and 1995, believes the scoreline in Baltimore did not tell the full story.
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“It was difficult but that game was an awful lot closer than the score indicated,” he said on The Platform NZ podcast as reported by Planet Rugby.
The former coach also pointed to injuries in New Zealand’s squad, specifically mentioning Ardie Savea, while arguing that little separated the two teams.
“I think that when you take into account that the players of the All Blacks were injured and didn’t play, and in particular Ardie Savea.
"For me there’s a couple of tweaks required in the team to get it to its best but when you look at that series overall, we could have won all three of the first three.”
Springboks exposed one major weakness
Mains acknowledged that South Africa enjoyed a period of dominance in Baltimore but felt the match could easily have developed differently. The area that concerned him most was New Zealand’s aerial game.
According to Mains, the Springboks repeatedly gained valuable territory from high kicks, with South Africa often getting another 30 or 40 metres every time they launched an up-and-under.
He suggested New Zealand need players such as Will Jordan or Jordie Barrett competing for those balls because of their height and ability in the air.
“That was the biggest single area I felt that they were on top of us,” Mains said.
Despite the 3-1 defeat, Mains believes the All Blacks will learn from the series and “get considerably better” from their experience against the world champions.
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Springboks’ Greatest Rivalry series leaves All Blacks with plenty to fix
South Africa's 3-1 triumph gave the Springboks another series victory over their oldest rivals, but New Zealand now have a clear indication of the areas they need to address.
The aerial battle could prove particularly important when the two teams meet again, with Mains identifying it as a key area where the All Blacks struggled against the Springboks.
The former New Zealand coach's comments also add another layer to a series that produced four closely fought Tests despite the eventual scoreline.
Springboks dominate Greatest Rivalry XV with 9 players
Briefly News previously reported that nine Springboks were selected in a combined Greatest Rivalry XV after South Africa’s 3-1 series victory over the All Blacks.
Former Springbok props Steven Kitshoff and Trevor Nyakane named their star-studded XV, with Malcolm Marx earning particular praise for his performances across the four-Test series. The selection also contained some surprise omissions.
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Source: Briefly News
