All Blacks target Soweto redemption after Springboks expose set-piece frailties in Cape Town

New Zealand’s forwards coach Jason Ryan has admitted set-piece errors derailed the All Blacks in their Cape Town defeat to the Springboks, but insists the squad’s “optimistic” blueprint for the Greatest Rivalry series remains intact ahead of the third Test in Soweto.

South Africa controlled the scoreboard throughout the match, with Jesse Kriel crashing over inside the first minute to exploit a gap in the New Zealand defence. Springbok captain Siya Kolisi repeated the trick in the 37th minute, and the Boks accumulated points in all three quarters to leave the All Blacks chasing the game from the outset.

“I thought we didn’t quite start the Test match with the intensity that we wanted to,” Ryan told media the morning after the defeat. “Right from that first kickoff, they put us under pressure. In the lineout, they mauled a penalty and went straight to the corner. It just felt like we were on the back foot from the start.”

New Zealand’s lineout completed at 83 per cent — a figure Ryan conceded flattered his side given how much disruption South Africa caused. The maul defence also regressed from the previous week’s performance, with the coach pinpointing a timing problem that allowed the Springboks to build momentum from set-piece positions.

“We missed a couple of roles in that lineout, and that really cost us,” Ryan said. “We were like two seconds too late in two areas, and then they got a bit of a corner and kept it in there. Once a maul starts, it’s hard to stop it. We needed to be a little bit earlier — but it’s a fine line, because in the last Test we went too early. We’ll just have to train that a lot better this week.”

Despite the defeat, Ryan pointed to the team’s resilience in nearly snatching a draw late in the match as evidence of character. “You can see the resilience of the team from where they were to still potentially snatch a draw, and we probably would have been okay with that. But disappointed that we didn’t get across the line.”

The All Blacks will benefit from a cleaner preparation week heading into Soweto, having now completed their final midweek fixture against South Africa’s URC provincial sides. Ryan acknowledged the dual-game weeks had complicated the coaching staff’s planning, recalling telling assistant Neil Barnes mid-week: “Mate, we got a game tonight” — a logistical reality that will no longer apply.

With the series poised and the Soweto Test described by Ryan as “right up there” with the most important matches of his coaching career, New Zealand will look to the lessons of Cape Town rather than its result as they prepare to level the series.