The more than 80,000 spectators who made the trip for the last preparation match before the World Cup of New Zealand and South Africa, Friday August 25 in London, had to rub their eyes when the clock posted the seventieth minute. On the scoreboard, the score for the All Blacks, the greatest rugby team in history, showed an infamous zero point, 35 points behind their evening opponents.
When the eighty minutes of play had passed, the All Blacks, arms dangling, could only see the damage. Despite a personal feat from young scrum half replacement Cam Roigard softening the addition slightly, the New Zealanders had just conceded the worst defeat in their history (35-7). Two weeks before kicking off the World Cup (September 8 – October 28) against France, the New Zealanders could not have imagined a worse nightmare.
Twickenham Stadium, the usual home of the England rugby team, was full for this meeting with an appetizing taste of the World Cup, between two teams which could find themselves in the quarter-finals of the competition. . Even the weather had a hand in it: with dark clouds, squalls and even rain at the start of the match, the autumnal weather in south-west London gave a glimpse of what the French weather could be like in the heart of the month. ‘october.
A bitter and brutal match
Did the All Blacks and South Africans know the World Cup hadn’t started? To see the intensity put into the races and the collisions, we have the right to doubt it. It took only forty-two seconds in this match for a first player, the South African Duane Vermeulen, to find himself on the ground, his shoulder numbed by a shock. A fleeting first impression: it was the Springboks who won the physical battle. The South Africans passed the All Blacks in their relentless laundry, imposing their power in each collision and in each ruck, martyring the black pack in melee.
Admittedly, the All Blacks spent long minutes outnumbered. Their second line Scott Barrett received a first yellow card during the first period, then a second just before returning to the locker room, synonymous with final expulsion. The All Blacks even briefly moved to 13 in the first half after a yellow card against their captain Sam Cane.
New Zealanders made a poor copy
But that is not enough to explain their poor copy of the evening. Although New Zealand coach Ian Foster had lined up his best players – probably those who will face the French in two weeks – the All Blacks have hardly ever shown themselves to be dangerous. Clumsy with the ball in hand, very often penalized (14 penalties) and often contained in their camp by the relentless pressure of the Springboks, they showed nothing of their attacking game usually so lethal. Two weeks before the opening shock of the World Cup at the Stade de France, it is difficult to say what the analysts of the XV of France will have to put in their mouths. “As we approach the World Cup, this match is a reminder that it takes a good touch, a good scrum and staying disciplined. We have received a good lesson. We have two weeks to put things right,” reacted Ian Foster after the meeting.
As if the bitterness of the defeat were not enough, this match could handicap the New Zealanders for a long time. Prop Tyrel Lomax came out early in the game, his knee encased in a large orange brace. “It’s quite serious, we’re worried,” whispered Ian Foster after the match. The pillar could be lacking in the squad for the World Cup, in a position where the New Zealanders had only just found some form of balance. The expulsion of Scott Barrett could mean suspension matches. A blow for the player, who flew over the last Rugby Championship, and for the team, already deprived of the essential Brodie Retallick.
Jacques Nienaber, the South Africans’ coach, may have said that he “won no points for the World Cup tonight” and saw in the meeting a simple “opportunity to prepare”, the winners of the 2019 World Cup sent a clear message: they are more candidates than ever for their own succession and woe betide the team that crosses their path in the quarter-finals of the World Cup. It will probably be New Zealand, again, or France. Fabien Galthié and his men are warned.