Former All Blacks No.8 and more famous in recent times for his television work Murray Mexted has commended the Springboks on the success in 2009 but warned that they will have to change.
Mexted commentates for Sky Sports in New Zealand and said that the Springboks success in the 2009 TriNations Series was the best he had seen from the side in 16 years.
Mexted is also involved in coach rugby and whilst working at Dick Muir's International Rugby Academy he told the Cape Times that the Springboks TriNations success was possible because of the series against the British and Irish Lions.
"The Springboks had a fantastic Tri (Nations) Series, absolutely fantastic. I think it is the best that I can remember, and I have been commentating for 16 years now," Mexted said.
"The series against the Lions was great preparation for the Tri Series, and by the time you played us (New Zealand), you were more Test-hardened than we were. And I think that helped your team considerably," he said.
Mexted pointed out that the loss of 25 Test players by the All Blacks in the previous two years was a lot for a country New Zealand's size to lose and that this loss had not helped the team's performance.
"I think it has forced us to look further, and this year we have had some really fantastic development in some of our younger players coming through the system. That has been very healthy for New Zealand.
The Springboks started with three matches at home in the TriNations and the first two were without All Black talisman Dan Carter who returned from injury in the latter stages of the TriNations for the All Blacks.
"We now also have Dan Carter back, which always helps, as well as a fully-fit Richie McCaw, and we saw the effect he had on the team on the end-of-year tour," Mexted said.
Mexted was also asked where the Springboks could improve their game and pointed to the approach of the Wallabies and All Blacks in the latter stages of their respective northern tours this year.
"We saw Australia focus on attack, and moving the ball into space and exploiting that space to score five tries against Wales.
"Now that was a fantastic indication of where the future of the game lies.
"And the very next day, the All Blacks did exactly the same thing against a fired-up France in Marseille.
"The French wanted to win that game badly, so they played it at a smaller stadium to ensure it was sold out.
"But the All Blacks just repeated what the Australians did to Wales. They showed their skill to create space with the ball and scored some outstanding tries."
"I think that that is the way of the future, and an indication of the southern hemisphere's advantage over the north."
Mexted also warned the South Africans that their cautious approach, and their kicking game might have been successful in 2009 but in the future the need to score tries would be paramount.
"If you are not scoring tries, you are not going to beat many teams." he pointed out.
"You might win a few on goal-kicks, but generally, particularly with the way the game can be played, you've got to score tries. "
"And I think that would have to be the goal of the Springbok team," he said.
