The All Blacks’ forward pack showed clear set-piece improvement during their 50–15 victory over the Vodacom Bulls in Pretoria, but forwards coach Jason Ryan has warned that the Springboks will provide a much sterner test in Saturday's series opener.
The win at Loftus Versfeld provided a timely boost for the touring squad, which had previously struggled with scrum consistency and heavy penalty counts in their opening tour matches against the DHL Stormers and Hollywoodbets Sharks.
“We took a step forward [against the Bulls],” Ryan told All Blacks legend Justin Marshall on Sky Sport. “We’ve worked really hard in the last two weeks as a pack around our reaction time and maul defence, getting set if we’re going to have a crack in the air, we’ll stay down, and getting a really good platform for our scrum.”
However, looking ahead to the First Test at Ellis Park this Saturday, 22 August 2026, Ryan acknowledged the sheer scale of the challenge awaiting his front row.
“You know, we know, and we will acknowledge this week that they are the best in the world [at scrum time],” Ryan admitted. “But we’ll also acknowledge that we should hit this game with some confidence.”
New Zealand's front-row performance was a major positive against the Bulls. Starting props Xavier Numia and Tyrel Lomax secured important first-half penalties, while reserve props Siale Lauaki and George Bower maintained that set-piece pressure late into the game.
Beyond the scrum, Ryan also highlighted the breakdown as another area requiring attention after the Bulls' victory, even though loose forwards Anton Segner and Peter Lakai both made successful steals during the match.
“Defensively we made some good decisions on when we were going to hunt and when we were going to stay on our feet and go through,” Ryan explained. “On the attacking side of the breakdown, we’re missing a few inside cleans, so we’ve got a little bit of work to do there as we head into next week.”