Former New Zealand star Israel Dagg says the Springboks’ emphatic 43-10 victory over the All Blacks was one of the most impressive displays he has ever seen.
Dagg, a former All Blacks fullback and wing, earned 66 caps for New Zealand between 2009 and 2019 and was widely regarded for his speed, agility, and try-scoring ability, playing a key role in their 2015 Rugby World Cup triumph.
“First of all, I want to pay respect to South Africa, that was by far the best power-speed game, with skill sets to boot, that I have seen from any nation,” Dagg said.
The former All Blacks fullback was blown away by the combination of physicality, skill, and depth on display.
“Some of the tries, some of the runs, the impact. You think when you’re playing rugby and you have pivotal injuries, so when I saw some of those injuries happening to South Africa, I’m like, ‘here we go, this is a time to turn the dial, put the pressure on’,” he said.
Dagg was particularly impressed by the bench, noting the substitutes didn’t just maintain the momentum, but elevated it.
“That bench that came on, wow, they were even better than the starters.”
He singled out several key contributors, including Manie Libbok, Damian Willemse, and Grant Williams.
“Manie Libbok comes in and runs an absolute clinic, you’ve got Damian Willemse in a centre position, where he hasn’t played a hell of a lot, who’s running around like he’s the best 12 in the world,” Dagg said.
“Then you’ve got Grant Williams coming on and playing wing, and he was putting in some footwork and bravery on like a mini Jonah Lomu. I was thinking holy hecka, these guys are on another planet.”
As for the All Blacks’ performance, Dagg said the hosts were undone by their lack of parity in the set-pieces and under the high ball.
“From an All Blacks point of view, it’s always going to be a tough night when the set-piece is going backwards, you can’t get any continuity going, you’re constantly on the back foot,” he said.
“[And] the same old questions, the same old problems at the moment with the high ball,” he added. “We’re just losing the air and I say it most weeks, if you lose the air, you lose the game – it’s just clear and obvious now.”
Dagg was also critical of some of the All Blacks’ substitutions, who didn’t seem to bring the same level as some of the starters.
“From a bench point of view, it looked like they came on and it looked like they were a little bit amiss. There was that RG Snyman try when Fabian [Holland] just shot out and he left a little corridor where they weren’t really on the same page,” Dagg said.
“I’d love to know some of the conversations out there. Were the leaders standing up and being pivotal in those moments?”
