All Blacks will be focused on staying calm under Springboks pressure at Ellis Park

Discipline will be stressed by New Zealand when it faces South Africa at Ellis Park on Saturday in a rugby rivalry that never needs extra motivation.

The Springboks have won the last two matchups after the All Blacks were burned by red and yellow cards.

In the Rugby World Cup final in Paris last October, then-captain Sam Cane’s yellow card for head contact on Jesse Kriel was upgraded to an historic red. At the time, the 34th minute, South Africa led 9-3 and held on to prevail 12-11.

Just two months earlier, in a last World Cup warmup for both teams at Twickenham, Scott Barrett was dismissed for earning two yellow cards in the first half. The Springboks’ 14-0 lead blew out to 35-7 as they handed the All Blacks their heaviest defeat in history. Cane happened to be sin-binned earlier.

In each game, New Zealand came under severe early pressure from South Africa and lost its composure. Across both matches, South Africa scored 47 points, 37 of them while they had a one-man or even two-man advantage.

Cane and Barrett (and Kriel) will run out again this weekend in a Rugby Championship showdown between the defending champion and world champion.

It favors the Springboks.

They are home, even though the All Blacks arrived earlier than usual to acclimatize to altitude and have no fear of Ellis Park, and the Springboks showed off their depth by comfortably handling the Wallabies in Australia with two different teams, conceding only one try.

The Springboks started the season by playing their World Cup side against touring Ireland but coach Rassie Erasmus has slowly begun to trust new backs Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Aphelele Fassi under new assistant Tony Brown, the former All Blacks flyhalf.

Erasmus has also given World Cup winner Jasper Wies the No. 8 jersey at the end of a six-game suspension imposed for a spear tackle in a May club game. Wiese has seemingly compensated by training with the Springboks for nearly three months.

Pieter-Steph du Toit has responded to a long list of injured locks that has eased after Eben Etzebeth fully recovered from a knee issue to be a late addition to the reserves. Etzebeth is a sensational boost to the ‘bomb squad’ that is split 6-2. His 125th cap will lift him above Bryan Habana on South Africa’s all-time list and make him second only to Victor Matfield.

Erasmus says Etzebeth, who leads the championship with 13 lineout takes, and the concussed Salmaan Moerat will be available to start next week against the All Blacks in Cape Town.

Cane makes his first test start for the All Blacks since the World Cup final, and captain successor Scott Barrett has recovered from a broken finger that forced him to miss the first two rounds that were split against Argentina at home.

Cane, who has said this is his final international season, came off the bench two weeks ago as the Pumas were thrashed 42-10 at Eden Park, and Dalton Papali’i’s thumb injury has also boosted his hopes.

Coach Scott Robertson needs the leadership on the field after last week cutting assistant Leon MacDonald just five games into his tenure. Robertson and MacDonald had opposing ideas and the latter’s duties have been picked up within the staff, for now.

Most of the questions around the All Blacks involve the lack of sharpness of veteran midfielders Jordie Barrett and Rieko Ioane, who have also been struggling with blitz defenses. New Zealand is still kicking more than anyone else, and scoring most of its tries from set-pieces. In that area the All Blacks have been reliable. They have yet to lose a scrum tighthead, and their lineout success is running at 91%.

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Lineups:

South Africa: Aphelele Fassi, Cheslin Kolbe, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Cobus Reinach; Jasper Wiese, Ben-Jason Dixon, Siya Kolisi (captain), Ruan Nortje, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Frans Malherbe, Bongi Mbonambi, Ox Nche. Reserves: Malcolm Marx, Gerhard Steenekamp, Vincent Koch, Eben Etzebeth, Elrigh Louw, Kwagga Smith, Grant Williams, Handre Pollard.

New Zealand: Beauden Barrett, Will Jordan, Rieko Ioane, Jordie Barrett, Caleb Clarke, Damian McKenzie, T.J. Perenara; Ardie Savea, Sam Cane, Ethan Blackadder, Tupou Vaa’i, Scott Barrett (captain), Tyrel Lomax, Codie Taylor, Tamaiti Williams. Reserves: Asafo Aumua, Ofa Tu’ungafasi, Fletcher Newell, Sam Darry, Samipeni Finau, Cortez Ratima, Anton Lienert-Brown, Mark Tele’a.

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AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby