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All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie has defended Chiefs winger Leroy Carter after they went down 29-24 in Soweto to trail Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry, 2-1.
The Springboks bounced back after a slow start to counter-punch the All Blacks in the second half. Rassie Erasmus’ men physically imposed themselves in the second half, dominating the visitors at scrum time.
Carter, who impressed last week in Cape Town, missed two key tackles on defence that resulted in two Springbok tries, changing the momentum of the contest.
He did, though, add value in attack, providing the try assist for Will Jordan’s second-half try.
Rennie, addressing the defeat in his post-match press conference, weighed in on Carter’s missed tackles.
“I think, you know, a big fella misses a tackle around the fringe, and no one notices you,” the All Blacks head coach said.
“The winger misses the tackle out wide, and they score. And so, oh look, I feel for Leroy, he’s a bloody good man and he’s a very good defender, and yeah I’m sure he’s hurting about that.
The 62-year-old head coach added that the response hurt them more than the tackle.
“I mean, our job once that score was to bounce back and try and take control of possession, but they were able to dominate the next sort of 10 minutes, and that was pivotal.”
When asked directly about Carter’s positioning on defence, and whether it was an error of judgement, Rennie described what he saw.
“Yeah, no, that’s part of a structure about him defending high in the line.
“So the idea is to force [the attacker] him to throw one over the top or go in and try and nail the ball carrier, with cover.”
Despite falling to two straight defeats, and his second as All Blacks head coach, Rennie is convinced it’s not all bad for his side.
“So yeah, look, it’s hard when you’ve lost the Test. It’s easier to reflect on all the negative things, and so yeah,” Rennie said in Soweto.
“Look, I can guarantee you, the room’s pretty gutted. I just walked in there before, and there’s a lot of heads down, and so there’s no doubt our mindset will be to bounce back next week.”