Jerry Flannery's simple advice for Springboks ahead of massive All Blacks Test at Eden Park

The Springboks know all too well that if they are to break the Eden Park curse, they’ll need to produce a level of rugby they haven’t come close to achieving this season.

The last time South Africa beat the All Blacks at their Auckland fortress was 88 years ago. Since then, Eden Park has remained an impenetrable bastion, with the All Blacks unbeaten there since 1994.

Assistant coach Jerry Flannery didn’t mince words this week. “I have not tracked everything since 1937,” the Irishman joked in reference to that historic Springbok win under Philip Nel. “But we must just play our game. We must play Springbok rugby — play our best game.”

That best game has been elusive this year. Flannery, who joined Rassie Erasmus’ staff after coaching with him at Munster, admitted the Boks have been inconsistent in 2025.

“We have had some good performances — we were good against the Barbarians and in the second Test against Italy — but in the other games, we did not hit the heights we should have,” he said. “We have to be much better against the All Blacks. What we have delivered so far won’t be enough.”

The defensive lapses have been particularly troubling. Nine tries were conceded in the recent series against Australia — an uncharacteristically high number for the Springboks, long known for their defensive steel.

“We conceded more than what we would have liked, especially in the first Test against Australia, where we overplayed a bit and that took some juice out of our legs,” Flannery explained. “But we’ve learned our lessons before coming to New Zealand.”

The Boks’ blitz defence has always come with risks, and Flannery is aware that such an aggressive system will result in more missed tackles than others. Still, individual errors have crept in, and fixing them has become a top priority. “We are working harder than ever to increase our tackle completion,” he said.

Yet, for Flannery, defence isn’t just about stopping runners. It’s intricately tied to how a team attacks.

“If your attack is more expansive than usual, then your defence gets stretched more when the ball is turned over. This has been a progression for this team because as we grow our attack, our defence has to become more adaptable.”

That adaptability will be sorely tested this weekend. The All Blacks have settled on a stable side filled with players capable of producing moments of magic.

“We don’t know exactly what they are going to throw at us, but they have individuals with X factor, and you have to prepare for that,” Flannery said. “They’ve tightened up on a lot of their plays. They maul a lot more now, and we have to work on our maul defence because it has not been where we want it to be.”

That aspect of the game is shaping up to be a battleground. “They have very good individual players with X factor — we’ll try to defend them in our system, and maul defence will be a challenge for us.”

Flannery, a veteran of 45 caps for Ireland, holds the Rugby Championship in high regard. “It’s a phenomenal competition. There are no weak teams,” he said.

“Last year, Argentina were the dark horses. They came out of nowhere and shocked New Zealand and beat us as well.”

That element of unpredictability is part of what makes this tournament so unforgiving.

“Looking at last year objectively, Joe Schmidt had only just taken over the Wallabies after the World Cup, where they looked rudderless,” Flannery noted.

“So the Wallabies started slowly, and we benefited from that because we played them early in the tournament. That’s not the case now.”

Since the tournament’s inception in 1996, the Springboks have never won back-to-back Rugby Championship titles. If they are to change that, they’ll need to do something they haven’t done in nearly a century — beat the All Blacks at Eden Park.