All Blacks assistant Barnes admits Springboks' set-piece dominance demands humble pie before Baltimore

All Blacks assistant coach Neil Barnes has acknowledged New Zealand’s set-piece was comprehensively outclassed by the Springboks in Soweto, admitting he and scrum coach Jason Ryan face urgent work ahead of the third Test in Baltimore this weekend. The defeat — the All Blacks’ second in succession under new head coach Dave Rennie — leaves them facing a 3-1 series loss if they cannot level the four-match contest in the United States.

Speaking to New Zealand media before the squad boarded a flight to the US, Barnes was candid about the scale of the problem. “You can’t hide from it. Their set piece is pretty damn dominant, and they get a gravy train of penalties from it,” he said. “So we’re going to have to eat humble pie and be honest in our reviews and be solution-based because we’ve got to go better and be on the other side of that scoreboard.”

The Springboks’ scrum dominance was a recurring theme across both Tests, most visibly when a penalty try was awarded against the All Blacks late in the first half in Soweto. Barnes noted that New Zealand’s own ball was relatively clean — “there’s hardly a penalty, the ball comes out and plays” — but conceded that the Springboks’ ability to generate a stream of penalties from their own feed is a tactical reality that must be neutralised.

Barnes was careful not to fully accept every official’s decision, suggesting the All Blacks also need to shift referee perception in their favour. “I’m not going to say they’re all legit, but at the end of the day, we’ve got to change the perception for the officials as well, so we get a fair rub of the green,” he said.

A late maul try conceded compounded the scrum troubles, though Barnes pointed to moments where New Zealand had the Springboks under pressure, only for individual skill errors to cost them. “Our skill set let us down at times when we had them in trouble,” he said. “We’ll review ourselves tough and make sure we’re better for the next game in Baltimore.”

Dave Rennie has now overseen six Tests and four midweek fixtures since taking charge, with the Baltimore match representing a pivotal opportunity to keep the series alive. Barnes, a former Taranaki head coach, was unflinching about the emotional toll of consecutive defeats. “We’re coming second to this crew, and we tried bloody hard to get the right result for our country and it hurts.”