'All Blacks were robbed of 2023 Rugby World Cup title'

12/09/2024 03:05 AM

Last year the Springboks famously won all three World Cup playoffs games by a single point – including the final over the All Blacks – to clinch a fourth Webb Ellis Cup in South Africa’s history.

In the final itself, the Springboks played a large part of the match with a numerical advantage after All Blacks captain Sam Cane was red carded, while New Zealand were also left to rue a couple of missed goal kicks that could have put them into the lead.

Since then, the Springboks have continued their success under Rassie Erasmus, but it has proved to be another inconsistent year for the All Blacks as Scott Robertson took over as their new coach.

When reflecting on all of this, 2015 Rugby World Cup-winning head coach Steve Hansen suggested that the All Blacks were "robbed" in the 2023 showpiece event.

"I wouldn't say we've made great strides (up front), I still think we're going as well as we were. This is a team that should have won the World Cup, they were robbed of the World Cup as far as I'm concerned with some poor decisions that were out of their control which cost them a World Cup," he told DSPN with Martin Devlin.

"They're a very, very competitive side, they've got some very good rugby players. In the front-row and the prop stocks they've got at the moment, I'd have them in 2019; they're good, young men and playing really well.

"There are a couple of new boys that have arrived on the scene and they look promising players, so there's plenty of depth in that team."

The Springboks have beaten the All Blacks twice since the World Cup final

Meanwhile, when former All Blacks skipper Tana Umaga recently spoke to Prime Casino, he suggested that the All Blacks have lost their aura and are now vulnerable.

“Every time the All Blacks get beaten the aura takes a whack. The All Blacks always have a target on their back and we are now vulnerable.

“The teams that do well are grounded in the foundation of pathways, their development programmes and academy systems. Look at Ireland and France and South Africa.

“It's also about numbers and population sizes. It is no accident that the way those teams are building their pathways is immediately affecting what is coming through at the top level. We are not doing that as well as other countries.”

Umaga also felt that Robertson's start has not been seamless.

“The handover was not seamless with the same team. The wealth of knowledge and experience that left after the World Cup has got to have made a difference. They have left a huge hole.

“It has been a bit of an eye opener for Scott what he has gone into. There was no doubt that he would not have expected to have had the losses that he has had. At the Crusaders he knew nothing but success. He has also seen the gap there is between NPC and Super Rugby and then international rugby. 

“Some people don't appreciate that. Consistency is the tough thing. Not just the consistency of performance, it is the consistency of training, turning up every day ready to do what you need to do. For some players it is a steep learning curve.”

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