The All Blacks’ difficulty in dealing with contestable kicks will be a major concern for coach Dave Rennie after their 38-21 victory over the Stormers on Friday 7 August.

New Zealand struggled to secure possession from high balls throughout the opening match of the World’s Greatest Rivalry tour, an area of the game in which the Springboks have become particularly effective.

The All Blacks won possession from just one of seven contestable kicks, while they failed to make a single clean catch from seven high balls.

It is a weakness Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus is likely to have noted ahead of the four-Test series between South Africa and New Zealand, which begins in Johannesburg on 22 August.

The Stormers also showed that the All Blacks can be put under pressure in the aerial contest, despite New Zealand ultimately securing a comfortable 38-21 victory.

The All Blacks had the advantage in several key attacking statistics, including line breaks, carries and rucks won, while the Stormers made more tackles and won more turnovers.

However, their struggles under the high ball could provide the Springboks with a clear area to target during the upcoming series.

Match statistics

22-metre entries

• All Blacks: 9 for 4.2 points on average
• Stormers: 10 for 2.1 points on average

Line breaks

• All Blacks: 7
• Stormers: 5

Carries

• All Blacks: 141 with 417 post-contact metres
• Stormers: 98 with 243 post-contact metres

Kicks

• All Blacks: 16
• Stormers: 15

Tackles made

• All Blacks: 120
• Stormers: 151

Dominant tackles

• All Blacks: 7
• Stormers: 6

Tackles missed

• All Blacks: 20
• Stormers: 29

Turnovers won

• All Blacks: 3 (of which one was a tackle turnover)
• Stormers: 5 (of which three were tackle turnovers)

Tackle offload

• All Blacks: 14
• Stormers: 16

Ruck speed

• All Blacks: 0-3 seconds (64%), 3-6 seconds (25%), 6+ seconds (10%)
• Stormers: 0-3 seconds (64%), 3-6 seconds (25%), 6+ seconds (12%)

Rucks won

• All Blacks: 93
• Stormers: 70

High-ball success

• All Blacks: possession gained on one of seven occasions
• All Blacks: clean catches on ZERO out of seven occasions

Source: Kick Off. All stats from Rugby Pass.