Former star centre Sonny Bill Williams says the All Blacks must emulate the Springboks’ and employ their own “Bomb Squad” off the bench if they want to get back to dominating the rugby world.
Williams says the All Blacks must “fight power with power” by putting an extra forward on the bench and sacrificing a backline player. The popular former player used the Boks and Ireland as examples in this regard.
Williams also noted the All Blacks’ shortcoming in the last quarter during the recent Rugby Championship, when they went scoreless in the last 20 minutes in two matches against the Springboks.
“We like to blow teams away at the minute, it’s kind of like that Super Rugby style of play. The way your leading, playing well, everything is free flowing and things are comfortable as a rugby player,” Williams said on Off the Ball.
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“But as soon as the heat comes on, as soon as that battle intensifies, and we’ve seen it ... Like you said, three out of the last six games, that last 20 minute period when the heat is on, we’re struggling and falling away.
“I try and look at the things from an open perspective. We can’t just blow teams away anymore. We’ve got to look at what the greatest teams in the world at the moment are doing, what’s Ireland doing, what’s South Africa doing?”
Williams says the All Blacks have enough talent and versatility to be able to employ a 6-2 bench split in favour of the forwards.
The Springboks’ bench was probably the difference between the two teams during their recent meetings in Johannesburg and Cape Town, and Williams says the All Blacks should take the lessons from these defeats.
“Example, the Bomb Squad, they’ve been putting no backs on the bench, these guys are crazy. Well, how about we meet power with power?” Williams asked.
“We’ve got Beauden Barrett that can play a few different positions, we’ve got Rieko Ioane who can slide onto the wing.
“How about we mix it up and put Dalton Papali’i on the bench? We should be carrying an extra forward. We’ve got the depth, we’ve got the talent, I just feel like the coaches need to accept that we are not where we once were.
“We’ve got to fight power with power, test the waters so to speak.”
@JohnGoliath82