How NZ Media rated Siya’s Super Springboks

The New Zealand rugby media’s verdict was emphatic: the Springboks are a class apart.

Siya Kolisi’s Super Springboks were unanimously lauded for fining stronger, fitter, smart and being more complete than the All Blacks in the four-Test series.

The Boks’ 43-28 win in Baltimore completed three successive Test victories after New Zealand had started the series with an outstanding 33-16 win at Ellis Park. The Boks have won eight of their last 10 Tests against the All Blacks.

Super Springboks

By the end of the fourth Test, that opening All Blacks triumph felt distant.

New Zealand Herald senior rugby writer Gregor Paul described Baltimore as “sobering” for the All Blacks and concluded that there was “daylight” between the teams.

Paul wrote that the All Blacks had been tracking close to the Springboks at the start of the series but had subsequently “slipped a length behind”.

His assessment of the Boks was without qualification.

According to Paul, the All Blacks had been beaten by a team with more power, greater rugby intelligence and more creativity. South Africa’s physicality was expected, but the extent of their attacking threat was not.

The pre-series narrative had been framed as Springbok power against All Blacks pace. Paul’s conclusion was that the Boks won both contests.

South Africa were as comfortable passing and attacking as they were kicking, scrumming and mauling. The belief that the All Blacks could exhaust them with tempo was exposed as a fallacy.

The Boks finished Baltimore full of running. The All Blacks finished it exhausted. (NZ Herald’s Gregor) Paul could not identify one area of the game in which New Zealand had been superior.

It was a brutal appraisal, but not an isolated one.

Stuff rugby writer Richard Knowler said the All Blacks had to look in the mirror rather than blame referee Karl Dickson for several contentious decisions in Baltimore.

Knowler’s view was that New Zealand’s flaws had been exposed across the series. The All Blacks were outplayed by a slick Springbok operation that beat them with ball in hand, punished them with contestable kicks and overpowered them at the set piece.

He also highlighted New Zealand’s discipline. The All Blacks conceded too many avoidable penalties throughout the four Tests and repeatedly hurt themselves at decisive moments.

Knowler called for coach Dave Rennie to deliver some “tough love” to his players. The message was simple: refereeing complaints could not disguise the superiority of the series winners.

Patrick McKendry, writing for 1News, went even further in describing the separation between the teams.

McKendry said Baltimore exposed a gulf that had grown during the four weeks of Test rugby. The Boks were more accurate, more pragmatic and more streetwise.

Most significantly, he wrote that South Africa had beaten the All Blacks at their own game.

Rassie Erasmus promised more ambition on attack and the Boks delivered six tries. They combined their traditional forward strengths with speed, width and individual brilliance.

New Zealand had moments of excellence and scored four tries, but South Africa were more clinical. The Boks also dealt better with the pressure points that decide Test matches.

McKendry acknowledged that the All Blacks did not enjoy the best of the officiating, particularly around Kurt-Lee Arendse’s decisive try, but he was unequivocal that South Africa deserved the Test and the series.

1News described the final Test as the most comprehensive Bok win of the tour.

In its match report, 1News identified the All Blacks’ continuing vulnerability under the high ball and South Africa’s superiority in the scrum and maul. The Boks, it said, would be extremely difficult to beat at the 2027 World Cup.

The outlet credited South Africa’s accuracy and attacking spark.

Radio New Zealand’s report, also carried by the Otago Daily Times, said the 3-1 outcome confirmed that South Africa deserved their world No 1 ranking.

The All Blacks were brave and competitive, but also error-ridden and clearly second best in Baltimore.

South Africa were superior at the scrum, lineout and breakdown, where their turnovers repeatedly frustrated New Zealand. RNZ’s verdict was that the Boks were the better team in the decisive areas.

There were Kiwi complaints about the officials, the exhausting length of the tour and the injuries that removed captain Ardie Savea and other frontline players before Baltimore.

None of it changed the broad media conclusion.

The All Blacks remain dangerous. They scored 17 tries in four Tests and showed enough attacking quality to reinforce their status as South Africa’s greatest threat at the World Cup.

But the Springboks won three Tests in succession, absorbed everything New Zealand offered and finished the series by beating the All Blacks with power, skill, pace, depth and intelligence, scoring six tries in Baltimore’s fourth and final Test of the series.