All Blacks slammed over ‘aimless’ kicking

Former All Blacks scrumhalf Ant Strachan has taken aim at New Zealand’s kicking strategy after their 33-26 defeat to the Springboks in Cape Town.

The All Blacks kicked 23 times in the second Test, four more than in the first Test at Ellis Park, while the Boks increased their in-game kicks and contestables from 17 to 35.

But Strachan questioned the execution of New Zealand’s approach, claiming they too often kicked directly to South Africa without putting their opponents under pressure.

“I just thought a lot of our kicks were aimless and just weren’t put in the right places,” he said on the DSPN Podcast.

“I couldn’t tell you exactly what our kicking strategy was, because when you go to kick the ball in behind, you normally try and kick to the grass. So at least the ball bounces, and you’ve got to move the defensive backfield around; it gives you time to put real good line speed pressure on.

“And I don’t know how many times we just kicked it straight to them, and we didn’t have a wealth of possession, did we?”

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Strachan believes the All Blacks need to make their kicking game more effective rather than abandon it.

“You’re better off just going to high contestables, which is still another issue for us,” he said.

“We still lost the aerial battle, let’s be blunt, but a couple of times it was pretty good. Jordie Barrett was probably the one who was the most effective in the air.

“But yeah, I’m just not quite sure exactly what our kicking strategy was because I thought the execution was poor.”

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The former All Black also warned that the Boks’ ability to regain possession makes an ineffective kicking game particularly dangerous.

“They are better than us right now,” Strachan said. “But there’s no reason I say that our kicking game can’t improve, because you can’t just keep attacking all the time.”

Photo: Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images