The Springboks are banking on creative flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu to carve open the All Blacks during the opening exchanges of what promises to be a brutal rugby battle in the US city of Baltimore on Saturday, coach Rassie Erasmus says.
The world champions are confident the mercurial No 10 can punch a few early holes in New Zealand’s defence in the final Test of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series at the M&T Bank Stadium (kickoff 11pm SA time).
Thanks to a stirring win in front of almost 90,000 fans in Soweto last week, the Boks will start favourites in a match the All Blacks need to win to level the four-match series at 2-2.
When he named his team for the deciding Test in the series, Erasmus provided insights into the roles Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Manie Libbok and Handre Pollard would feature in his strategic planning for upcoming games.
“I think the first thing about the flyhalves is Handre. He’s ready. We could have selected him, and he’ll play against Australia,” Erasmus said.
“Consistency probably comes into it, and then also the game is different. The last 30 minutes, when everybody is a little bit more tired, there are obviously more gaps and forwards are a little bit more heavy-footed and struggle to fill the gaps.
“That suits Manie playing off the bench.
“Sacha has obvious skills and many things that he can do well, but he’s also a really good defender.
“That’s normally one of the big things because the All Blacks try to get a really fast start.
“Manie definitely did really well for us when he played off the bench in Soweto.
“With Sacha, obviously there are some areas where he’s not 100% hitting his straps for us yet.
“But we must remember he was out for a very long time and it’s only his fourth game back.”
Erasmus says Libbok provides security for the Boks from the bench.
“Manie, we feel he can come on after five minutes if Sacha gets injured and we know he can handle the pressure, but we might need him later in the game, like we did last weekend.”
Forwards coach Deon Davids says the Bok pack are reaping the rewards of putting in the hard yards at training.
“Going into this series, we understood that it was going to be very important for us to have a good set piece,” he said.
“I think the hard work that has been put into the scrums, the lineouts and our mauling is starting to show now.
“We’re just happy that things have come together at this stage to provide a solid platform for our attack and defence.
“We’re continuously evaluating our systems, our individual effort and our effort as a pack of forwards.
“There’s still room for improvement and, from a set-piece perspective, we continue to strive to improve and find better cohesion with our attack and defence.
“It was quite challenging for us last week in the lineouts because the conditions were very, very difficult.
“There were winds from different angles all over the field, so it was quite difficult for the hookers to find the right spot and get the timing right with the jumpers.
“I must commend them on how they executed and read the conditions. It allowed us to get a 100% success rate.
“We’ve got a lot of experience in the pack, and we’ve got players coming from different franchises.
“The Boks always try to learn from each other and share ideas. Obviously, we also analyse the opponents in terms of where the opportunities lie for us, but also where their strengths are.
“We build a plan according to that for the specific game, and we’re just glad that it worked for us in Soweto.”
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