All Blacks v Springboks
Kick-off: 7:05pm Saturday 13 September
Sky Stadium, Wellington
Live blog updates on RNZ Sport
Two-time World Cup winning All Black captain Richie McCaw has been back in the All Black environment. While it's not unusual for former players to pop back in and be a part of the build up to a test match, McCaw's presence did prompt Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus to wonder if he is helping with All Black training.
"I think Richie McCaw might have also been with him last week. The way they were to breakdown, they were awesome at the breakdown," said Erasmus, referring to the All Blacks' performances in the 24-17 result at Eden Park.
McCaw's presence was confirmed today by All Black assistant coach Tamati Ellison.
"He's a legend…you'd have to ask the players, he wasn't at training specifically. But his legacy lives on and they were real intense around that breakdown so it shows the boys care about that legacy," said Ellison at the team's NZCIS training base.
Wayne Smith. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Erasmus also pointed out the influence of Sir Wayne Smith, who was in the All Black coaching box at Eden Park.
"You could see Wayne's Smith's hand in there, the way they put pressure on our box kicks."
The Springboks have made seven changes to their side, rolling out almost an entirely different starting backline for this weekend's test in Wellington. Only wing Cheslin Kolbe remains, although Erasmus has prior form when it comes to tinkering with his lineup after naming it on Mondays. He also said that changes were coming regardless of the result in Auckland, with an eye on the World Cup in two years' time.
"It would have been paradise if we won last weekend and we still could have made the changes, which was the plan," he said.
All Blacks coach Scott Robertson and South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus. Photo: Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
"Not a lot of players get the opportunity to play New Zealand and after this game, we probably only have the year of the World Cup (cycle) where we're playing them away here.So the plan was to try and win and then also give some (players) the pressure of playing against the top team currently in the world. Maybe not so many...but definitely we would have made changes."
He also said the blame was equally shared between the players and staff for the loss, which he put down to a poor start and lack of control in key moments.
"We all know there were a lot of guys that didn't play well and there are a lot of coaches who didn't coach well last week, including myself," said Erasmus.
"If I have to look at the positives (with the way) the game ended, it almost felt like the World Cup, that Ireland pool match where we clawed ourselves back into the game and then we didn't score at the end. I thought the guys that that came on brought a lot of energy and brought a lot of fight which, after 15 minutes, you know we were 14-0 down and then they only scored another 10 points, which is irrelevant - we lost the game and that's the bottom line."
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