Mallett, speaking on the Talking Boks podcast, expressed disappointment in the Springboks' kicking game. “Getting so many players coming back from injury, not having played for quite a while, the team looked disconnected and inaccurate,” he remarked.
“And areas of our game which are normally real strong points – the contestable kicking – were very poor in this game. We either kicked it too long, which gave them very easy marks or an ability to counter-attack, or else we kicked it just straight up in the air and it came down on our own heads. So we didn’t get any forward momentum and get behind their pack.”
Mallett was unimpressed with the halfbacks' performance. “I thought the kicking from the halfbacks, [Cobus] Reinach and Sacha [Feinberg-Mngomezulu], and from [fullback Aphelele] Fassi was very poor in this game,” he added.
While the kicking game struggled, Mallett praised the Boks' scrumming prowess. “Thankfully, our scrum, with both front rows that came on, was excellent, except for the first scrum of the game when Thomas du Toit was penalised,” he noted.
The defensive efforts of the team also received some plaudits. “When they had the ball and moved it around nicely, our defence was well set all the time. We were really well organised,” Mallett observed. He was particularly impressed in crucial moments. “I was really impressed at the end, where they had 16 or 17 phases in our 22, not to give another penalty away and to make some very, very good hits to actually knock them back away from our tryline.”
With the All Blacks showcasing a 38-21 victory against the Stormers, Mallett pinpointed weaknesses that the Boks could exploit. “The areas of the All Blacks’ game that were weak against the Stormers were scrums, maul defence and contestables in particular,” he said.
Mallett emphasized the importance of improving the contestable kicks in preparation for the upcoming series. “We need to get our contestable kicking back on point,” he stressed. “That is a very strong area of our game that was way off this last weekend.”
The Springboks are now focusing on their next challenge against the All Blacks, where both teams will look to capitalize on each other's recent performances to gain an upper hand in the highly anticipated series.
