81-cap All Black, Justin Marshall, has named two key areas that the All Blacks need to show an improvement in ahead of their first test with the Springboks next Saturday.
The All Blacks started their tour of South Africa with a 38-21 win over the Stormers. The Stormers did a good job of disrupting the All Blacks early on mk
Set-piece and maul fears
When playing against the Springboks, the set-piece is always going to be a crucial area to monitor. The Stormers are a strong side in both the scrum and lineout, but the Springboks set-piece will be at a different level.
The All Blacks went in to compete hard with the Stormers lineout but their ill-discipline saw them give away a range of penalties at the maul.
Marshal said“Look at the end of the day, they’ll be really worried about how the set piece functioned, and that affects the front row, doesn’t it?”
He added more about the Stormers strength stating, “You know, the fact that they went into the game knowing that the Stormers, the URC, they had the best stats out of that competition in maul and scrum, so the All Blacks knew that they would bring that, but yet they still couldn’t combat it very well. We got on the receiving end of both of those challenges throughout the game, so that’ll be a concern for the All Blacks, and that then puts pressure on individuals.”
Aerial ball
The Stormers also showed another chink in the armour of the rotated All Blacks side was the pressure they felt under the aerial ball. In the Springboks win over Argentina, we saw the Springboks kick a huge amount more than their regular. This could be a tactic that Rassie Erasmus is looking to build towards the first test. Beauden Barrett found it particularly difficult in the first half when the Stormers were landing the ball on his head.
Marshall commented, “You know, equally, the aerial game probably not as dominant as what we would have been, and as accurate. So the All Blacks will look at that because they’ll know that there’s going to be a lot of that coming. Particularly also when you get to the Test matches, and you need to get that area right.”
