Josh Kronfeld wants a word before anyone starts marking Dave Rennie's homework. The four-Test Rugby's Greatest Rivalry series against the Springboks begins at Ellis Park on Saturday, and the former All Blacks openside argues it is the wrong yardstick for a coach barely a year into the job.
"I'm not all about the win, I'm about how they present themselves, how the game pans out and if we get the win on top of that, I'm okay," Kronfeld told the DSPN podcast with Martin Devlin.
His case rests on the calendar. Rennie inherited the side after a four-year tenure was cut short, with the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia as the actual destination.
"This deal that Rens is having to roll with, it's a deal for the World Cup, it's building just for that moment. We've pulled the pin on someone else who had a four-year tenure," he said. "He's got two years to find a pathway, to find a way of building this team into something special, to go away and hopefully win a World Cup."
What Kronfeld says he wants from the next four weeks is competitiveness, not a scoreline. "If the game goes tight and we're still scoring points, and they're still scoring points, or we're both stopping each other from getting over the line, and it comes down to the wire, that's pretty close to a win," he said. "That's what I'm hoping for, I just don't want blowouts."
He was candid about the fairness of the assignment. "It's not super fair is it? But life isn't fair and that's what he's taken on board and he's definitely got a great aptitude towards how he deals with people, how he deals with his individuals."
Kronfeld's tactical read is more specific, and it centres on one man in the South African coaching box. The Springboks won consecutive World Cups on set-piece, kicking and defence, but since Tony Brown arrived as attack coach they have widened their range considerably.
"I've always thought they're a team that can be beaten because when things go wrong you know what they're going to go back to, they go back to the same stuff," Kronfeld said. "They have a kicking game, they'll be abrasive, they'll just look to take it into the forwards and then it's just up to you to play sensible rugby around them at high tempo because they just can't keep up with it."
Brown, he argues, is the variable that breaks the pattern. "My biggest issue is Tony Brown because he doesn't really fit into that system," he said. "He's the danger factor for the South African team and he understands New Zealand teams, and we're just going to have to deal with what we see next weekend."
Pressed on what sensible rugby actually means, Kronfeld was practical: "Shifting the ball, making the pass before the contact and knowing when to take the contact or knowing when to make a good option on a correct kick."
He also thinks New Zealand have too often obliged the hosts. "If you can run stuff that opens channels just on the outside of what they're trying to do, that's where the holes are. I sometimes don't think that we do that, we have in the last few years played into their strengths rather than looking to highlight their weaknesses."
Not everyone shares his interest in moral victories. Tendai 'Beast' Mtawarira, who played plenty of these fixtures at Ellis Park, expects the series to be settled up front and settled early.
"I think it's going to be a massive contest. I think it's really exciting to have a tour of this kind happen for the first time in 30 years," the former Springbok prop told IOL. "That is where the All Blacks will probably stumble, against our forward pack, although they have the ability to play at a very high tempo with an agile backline that can make opponents chase shadows."
His conclusion left little room for doubt. "I think we can prepare ourselves for a massive battle, but I am convinced the Springboks' forwards have too much firepower. Our pack of forwards will overwhelm the All Blacks."
Mtawarira does expect the crowd factor to fade as the series wears on — "They start feeling at home, so the crowd factor actually doesn't come into play, especially when it comes to probably that second or third Test match" — and picks the neutral-venue finale in Baltimore on 12 September as New Zealand's best chance.
Rassie Erasmus, for his part, is not treating any of it as a warm-up. "It will undoubtedly be a very challenging tournament, but we are looking forward to it as a collective," the Springbok coach said after his squad completed a two-day training block in Johannesburg.
The series opener is at Ellis Park on 22 August, followed by Cape Town on 29 August, Johannesburg on 5 September and Baltimore on 12 September.
