All Blacks captain claims they 'nailed moments' against Bulls which will be key in Springboks series
· Colin Newboult · 2026-08-16T11:48:00+00:00 · nguồn gốc
All Blacks captain claims they ‘nailed moments’ against Bulls which will be key in Springboks series
Bulls v All Blacks scrum and Codie Taylor scoring a try.
Codie Taylor believes that the Bulls clash has allowed the All Blacks to “nail moments” which will “pay dividends” against the Springboks next weekend.
South Africa and New Zealand begin their four-Test series in Johannesburg after completing preparations with a 50-19 victory in Pretoria on Saturday.
That followed successes over the Stormers and Sharks as they made it six successive wins under new head coach Dave Rennie.
They were unconvincing in their opening match of the tour but have improved as the month has gone on and Taylor is positive the All Blacks will take that into the match next weekend.
Taylor’s return from injury
The 35-year-old was making his return from injury and captained the team for the first half before powerhouse lock Patrick Tuipulotu took over in the second period.
He watched on as New Zealand produced another impressive display after the break to claim a dominant triumph over the Bulls.
“Paddy and that did a great job. This week we talked around this tour’s going to be tough, there’s going to be a lot of tough moments in it so one of the main focuses is when we have those tough times, we’re really connecting as a group and walking towards those moments,” Taylor told reporters.
“I feel like there were a few times where the Bulls had us under pressure or down in our five we had a scrum, we reacted well to that and got out of our half with a penalty.
“There was some great scrambling from the back three which got us out of trouble. There’s going to be a lot of that in the Tests and for us to be able to galvanise as a group and nail those moments, it’s going to be pay dividends hopefully when it comes to Test week.”
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All Blacks forwards improving
Taylor impressed on his return to action as part of a forward pack which has developed nicely since the start of the tour.
It will be a much tougher challenge against the Springboks but the hooker is “confident” with the progress they have made.
“I’m sure they’re going to be asking a lot more questions come next week. From where we started with the Stormers and built our way through these club games, I feel we’ve made some great strides as a forward pack,” Taylor added.
“By no means are we the finished product, there’s going to be so much more we can work on and it’s going to be even tougher come next week, but we can be really happy and confident with the steps we’re taking.