All Blacks coach Dave Rennie admitted his side was made to sweat after surviving a massive 41-35 scare against a dogged 10bet Lions team at the 10bet Ellis Park. Despite trailing by as much as 18 points early in the second half, a late surge saw New Zealand preserve their unbeaten record on their South African tour.
Crucially, the hard-fought victory completes a clean sweep of South Africa’s United Rugby Championship (URC) franchises. It keeps the All Blacks on track to become the most successful touring New Zealand side in South African history, leaving them just one more Test victory away from securing that legendary status.
The Lions caught the visitors completely off guard, exploding out of the blocks to establish an early 14-0 lead and extending it to a commanding 35-17 advantage by the 47th minute.
“The Lions got off to a flyer at the start of both halves,” Rennie said after the final whistle in Johannesburg. “Our boys showed a lot of character to fight our way back into it.
“You’ve got to give credit to the Lions. They came to play tonight; they got off to a good start, got the crowd into the game and at 35-17 we were under a bit of heat. So I was pleased with the composure and our ability to grind out that last 30 minutes or so to finish in front.”
While the stat sheet ultimately favoured New Zealand in defenders beaten, offloads, and clean line breaks, Rennie was deeply frustrated by his side’s lack of clinical finish. Rather than building phases, the All Blacks repeatedly looked for the miracle play.
“We created so many opportunities. If you look at the numbers, we dominated defenders beaten, linebreaks, offloads and so on, but we just didn’t do the obvious thing enough,” Rennie lamented. “At times we threw a miss-pass when just going through the hands, sitting defenders down and picking them off would have done it.”
On the balance between patience and ambition, Rennie noted that the execution was mixed: “At times we tried to play too much. There was a lot of space to kick that would have put them under plenty of pressure, where they’d probably hack it back to us and give us a chance to counter. They certainly kicked a lot more than us and benefited from that.”
Fielding a mix of capped campaigners and players with only a handful of Tests behind them, Rennie called the midweek win invaluable for the Kiwis’ growth. Flanker Ethan Blackadder put on a masterclass, carrying the team on his back with a tireless work ethic and two crucial tries that sparked the second-half comeback.
“It’s awesome, and they’re going to learn a lot from that,” Rennie said, adding that having to dig deep would serve the youngsters well.
By passing this severe examination at Ellis Park, the All Blacks move to 5-0 on tour. With the provincial matches cleared, the ultimate prize is now firmly in sight. If Rennie's men can secure just one more Test victory against the Springboks, this squad will officially cement its legacy as the greatest New Zealand team ever to tour South African soil.
Looking ahead to Saturday’s rematch with the Springboks in Cape Town, Rennie felt the Lions’ edge defence had been “softer” than what awaits his men against the world champions.
“The Springboks will come hard at us, so we felt we had to play on top of the Lions a lot more,” he said. “I don’t want to talk down the performance of the Lions. I thought they were excellent tonight and they made us work very hard.”