PREVIEW-Rugby-Sloppy Springboks seek massive improvement against New Zealand

South Africa were well-beaten in the opening fixture of ​their Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series against old foes New ​Zealand last weekend but are unlikely to be ‌as ​error-prone again in the second test in Cape Town on Saturday.

The world champion Springboks had the edge in the scrum battle, the contact area and under the high ball, but despite ‌numerous entries into the All Blacks’ 22, scored one try as handling errors and poor decision-making cost them dear. They have not lost two games in a row since 2022, and at home for 11 years, but now face a New Zealand side who came into the series ‌as underdogs but have their tails up.

The hosts welcome back influential captain Siya Kolisi from injury, and have gone into ‘World Cup ‌knockout mode’ by picking steady flyhalf Handre Pollard in the pivot position. It suggests a side trying less ‘frills’ with their game-plan and rather focussing on their core strengths.

Coach Rassie Erasmus pulled no punches this week and shouldered much of the blame for the Johannesburg defeat with his technical staff. But he will also have told the ⁠players their ​performance was well below the ⁠standards they have set in recent years.

"I'm taking responsibility for some decisions we made. The truth is that a lot of the things that we asked from ⁠them (the players), they did," Erasmus told reporters. "The plan didn't win the game for us, but it's definitely not the players that lost the game. I ​think this game was very much lost on decisions I made during the week."

New Zealand coach Dave Rennie has had ⁠two concussion-enforced changes to his starting XV and is without lock Josh Lord and prop Ethan de Groot, while his only other change was to bring wing Leroy ⁠Carter ​into the team. Rennie wants his side to be better in the physical side of the game having largely lost the contact area last week.

"I’m not going to tell you, tactically, how we’re doing that," Rennie said. "But it’s been a real focus. They’re big ⁠men, and when they’re full of energy, if they can get into a tackle, it’s hard to get go-forward. "But we still want ⁠to be able to play ⁠at a tempo that will give us opportunities. They did a really good job of denying us gainline and lightning-quick ball early in that game."

The remaining tests in the series will be played ‌in Johannesburg on September ‌5 and Baltimore in the United States a week later.