Blair admits All Blacks squandered 12 line breaks in 29-24 defeat to Springboks

All Blacks assistant coach Mike Blair has pointed to a string of wasted attacking opportunities as the root cause of New Zealand’s 29-24 defeat to South Africa at FNB Stadium in Soweto, a result that handed the Springboks a series victory over Dave Rennie’s side.

Blair, speaking after the third Test of what is billed as Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry, acknowledged that the All Blacks created genuine pressure on an experienced Springbok squad but could not convert it into points when it mattered. The defeat follows a similar loss in Cape Town the previous week, and Blair drew a direct line between the two performances.

“We’re obviously really disappointed with the result. We felt in the first half we put a lot of our game on the pitch,” Blair told Newstalk ZB’s Weekend Sport. “We were able to move South Africa around. We scored a couple of great tries, and we felt we were going to bear fruit for the work that we put in the first half. Unfortunately, in the second half, we struggled to get any momentum in the game for one reason or another.”

The Scotland-born attack coach highlighted a particularly telling statistic: New Zealand registered 12 line breaks against one of the most formidable defensive systems in world rugby, yet could not turn that dominance into a winning score.

“We had 12 line breaks, which is a great stat against the South African defence,” Blair said. “But it was the same story last week — we just need to finish those opportunities.”

Despite the frustration, Blair was careful to credit the Springboks, noting that Rassie Erasmus’s side were clinical in exploiting New Zealand’s errors while their own set piece and defensive structure proved decisive in the second half.

“I thought the South Africans defended well, and their set piece was excellent as well, and they were able to get their game on the pitch,” he said.

Rennie retained the same backline that had fallen to defeat in Cape Town, a selection that created chances but ultimately could not deliver the finishing that the occasion demanded. Blair remained publicly confident in the team’s direction, insisting the underlying quality of their attacking play was evident, even if the execution fell short at critical moments.

“We’re really confident in what we’re trying to do; we’ve got to just put our game together for longer,” he added. “When we can get momentum in our game, we’re going to put the best defences in the world, like South Africa’s, under pressure. Just maybe one pass off, finishing things on a number of occasions.”

The result leaves the All Blacks reflecting on back-to-back defeats to the Springboks, with the series now settled in South Africa’s favour.