Nick Mallet during his tenure as Springbok coach made himself very unpopular by saying that he is not too concerned about criticism from South African rugby fans because in his opinion they don’t know much about the game anyway.
Coincidently, he now seems to be as critical as the SA rugby fans about the rugby dished-up by his prodigy’s Springbok team.
Where Mallet was hostile and pompous towards the media Heynecke Meyer seems to be more open and willing to show the public that their opinions count. Annoyingly, the more Heynek Meyer explains and asks for patience, the more fickle, unhappy and unrealistic SA rugby supporters seem to become.
Is this despondency due to unrealistic expectations that the Springboks should run rampant over everyone else, I’ve been wondering lately?
There has been moments during the matches against Ireland and Scotland when I thought the team was playing well. I could see signs of the Wallabies of 1993, in the Springboks play in the first 15 minutes against Scotland. The Springboks just needed a bit more patience and speed onto the ball but the basic game plan was sound and will work if better executed.
Leading up to the first penalty which Patrick Lambie cross-kicked to JP Pietersen, who caught the ball but was stopped by his direct opponent – the problem here was the timing of the move. It would have worked better if the opponents were first pulled in by some midfield runs. Also, the support was late for JP Pietersen and with quicker support Pietersen could have deflected the ball to an incoming runner. In fact if the kick went to a lock standing wide (after some phase play) he could have deflected the ball towards Pietersen coming in with speed.
From this followed a line-out. The play from that line-out reminded me of the try scored by Jason Little during the second test of the 1993 Springbok tour. In similar fashion as the 1993 Wallabies, Willem Alberts created depth ball by running with speed onto the ball thrown to the back of the line-out. The Springboks then took the recycled ball down the backline with Juan de Jongh attempting to cut to the inside of Jean de Villiers, who drifted slightly laterally to pull the defenders wide. The move didn’t produce the same spectacular results as was the case in 1993 with Jason Little (see here – 3rd video clip).
Multiple reasons can be given why the Springboks could not pull it off with the same efficiency as the 1993 Wallabies:
- Firstly, being not patient enough
- Secondly, the backline being too flat
- Thirdly, not enough speed onto the ball
They took the ball too soon to the backline (after only one charge in the person of Willem Alberts) during the particular move. You need to create a bit more depth and the Springboks required at least two more runners coming from depth to disorganise the defence sufficiently.
More patience was also needed – get the first things right, namely fast recycled ground ball before you take it wide. Because they took the ball too soon to the backline the defenders were still in the backline’s faces and the swivel done between the Wallabies No 10 and No 12 was not possible. That double-around by No 10 is crucial to open the gap in the outside channel as it pulls the opposition No 12 inwards and makes the opposition No 13 hesitate. The end result was that both Jean de Villiers and Juan de Jongh did not hit the ball at full tilt. De Jongh actually had to stop to change direction.
I can see what Heyneke Meyer is trying to do and I believe he is on the right track. The players need a bit more time together. It might help if Heyneke Meyer gets some video clips of the 1993 Wallabies and show them what he wants. In addition, a better backline coach might also help. The lineout is the Springboks strength and they need to create play off the back of the line-out. If the Springboks get that right they’ll be hard to stop.
Tell you what, there was also nothing wrong with the two mauling moves from the line-out – both leading to tries (only one awarded due to sneaky tactics by Scotland during the first of the two).
Disappointingly, things deteriorated in the second half. Replacement of key players was a big part of it but also the tendency of the team to go into defensive mode. It is, I believe the fear of making a mistake which makes the players stop playing once they are far enough ahead.
A barrage of scrum penalties against CJ van der Linde and losing a man for 10 minutes -serial yellow card offender Flip van der Merwe- derailed the Springboks because it prevented them from building any momentum. This kept the Scots in the game and had them gaining confidence when the Springboks should have buried them.
The France vs Argentina match was interesting to watch. The way the French, in particular, used the tactical kick to dissolve the trench defensive lines were very thought-provoking.
The moment the defence get too organised into a trench defensive line they (the French) utilized the tactical kick to open the game up. They used stab-through kicks, box kicks, and long kicks into space as well as dummy runner backline moves to break the defensive line up before suddenly switching to runners charging into the midfield channels.
With the defence then spread they were able to create fast ground ball. There are some lessons for the Springboks in that match, as a consequence. The Springboks are too obsessed with All Black rugby, in stead they should develop and cultivate their own unique strengths and style.
The All Blacks vs Italy match was remarkable in the way Italy countered the All Blacks pattern of using two or three runners around the fringes to create front foot ball. The All Blacks used quick passes between scrumhalf and two or three forwards flat on the defensive line to keep the defence guessing. You never know who is going to receive, who is just going to be a pivot and who is going to charge into the channel and also to whom the charger will off-load. Italy like the Argentinians -in their first encounter against the All Blacks this year- just targeted that channel with a number of defenders creating a bit of havoc. Mostly, however the Italians kept the ball in hand and in doing so prevented the All Blacks from running at them.
As a final thought the Springboks were not spectacular but at least they won which is something that the very experienced 2010 Springbok team did not accomplish.
The Springboks definately need a better backline coach and with a bit more patience with ball in hand and with better replacement selections on the bench, the Springboks might just be able to string two good halves together.
Wouldn’t that be something?
6 @ Stormersboy:
Quite a comprehensive amount of information the Stormersboy where die you find it, it will be interesting to see the same table for Scotland. What does MI TA mean? I thought Lambie was more effective than the stats suggest.
One thing that was clear from being at the ground was that Scotland had tightened up their defence compared to the week before and were in the Boks face with this, looked to me that they got this right by lining up over or very close to the offside line so gave the Boks very little space to work with which must have made it harder to get the ball down the backline. Scotland gave away quite a lot of penalties in this match but it didn’t seem to bother as they weren’t conceding the tries. Only way Boks got tries was by bashing it up by forwards and through lucky intercept.
Scotland S Africa
63% Possession 37%
67% Territory 33%
8 (1) Scrums won (lost) 4 (3)
13 (2) Line-outs won (lost) 12 (0)
11 Pens conceded 14
10 Turnovers conceded 9
97/103 Rucks won 49/52
28 Possession kicked 33
64 (10) Tackles made (missed) 138 (7)
9 Offloads 3
1 Line breaks 2
@ Bullscot:
Missed tackles. I’ll try and post the Scottish stats.
The Scots came at us hard in the second half, we made too many errors which just spurred them on. The scoreling flatters the Boks quite frankly.
One outstanding area for the Boks was the tackling out of 138 only missing 7. But only 37% possesion and I see its the halfbacks of the Boks getting a big bit of the blame for the poor show, not so sure about that.
Players
POS
MIN
RUNS
MTRS
TACK
MI.TA
OFLD
KICKS
TRY.A
LI.BR
RUCK
T.O
Ryan Grant
LHP
80
8
80
6
1
0
0
0
0
9
0
Ross Ford
HOOK
69
7
27
4
1
0
0
0
0
7
2
Euan Murray
THP
69
4
18
7
0
0
0
0
0
4
0
Richie Gray
LCK1
22
1
2
2
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
James Hamilton
LCK2
80
6
31
5
1
0
0
0
0
7
2
Kelly Brown
BSFL
80
10
89
4
0
0
0
0
0
9
0
John Barclay
OSFL
80
8
54
5
0
2
0
0
0
8
0
David Denton
NUM8
80
14
115
5
0
1
0
0
0
14
2
Mike Blair
HB
48
0
0
6
0
0
4
0
0
0
1
Greig Laidlaw
FIV8
69
2
30
6
1
0
4
0
0
2
2
Tim Visser
LWNG
80
4
29
0
0
3
1
0
0
2
2
Matt Scott
ICEN
80
7
45
1
1
0
0
0
0
7
0
Nick De Luca
OCEN
80
5
29
4
0
0
1
0
0
5
0
Sean Lamont
RWNG
80
7
54
4
1
0
1
0
0
7
0
Stuart Hogg
FBCK
80
5
42
2
1
0
2
0
0
7
0
Dougie Hall
RHKR
11
1
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
1
Geoff Cross
RLCK
11
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Alastair Kellock
RFL
58
8
36
1
1
2
0
0
0
6
0
Henry Pyrgos
RBCK
32
5
45
0
0
2
1
0
1
2
1
Ruaridh Jackson
RES1
11
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
That didn’t quite work out sorry
Trying to convert a table to html
@ Bullscot:
I’d say that the forwards kept the ball more than the first half of the Ireland game, which is encouraging, there was less aimless box kicking, but still too much, and when they did kick it was woeful (both Pienaar and Lambie disappointing in this area)
One area that Lambie really stood out in on Saturday was his defense. He frequently took on the bog boys, his commitment was total, technique solid, made 7 tackles and missed 0. Well played youngster!
Dit is so dat Lambie nie goed inpas by die bokke se huidige gameplan nie, maar dan wys dit ongelukkig hoe limited hy is, dat hy nie BEIDE gameplans kan speel nie. Daarom verkies ek ‘n Carter wat beide kan speel, skop en hardloop game plans, soos benodig in die wedstryd-situasie.
Tans het ons nie so ‘n losskakel nie, Morne as hy op vorm is, is ons beste skop losskakel, Lambie kan weer beter aanval, so wat oorbly is Jantjes (wat ongelukkig nie ver genoeg kan skop nie), en Goosen.
Dink Goosen is die naaste wat ons het aan ‘n gebalanseerde losskakel wat beide die hardloop en skop gameplan kan bemeester. Hopelik kan hy beseringsvry bly volgende jaar en in ‘n goeie boklosskakel ontwikkel.
Oor die res van die span – ons agterlyn kort ‘n generaal, die huidige losskakels en skrummies het dit nie, en goeie agterlyn afrigting.
Ons voorspelers lyk goed, kort dalk net bietjie meer spoed in die lostrio. Wanneer Coenie en Beast gesond is, asook Bismark, gaan ons voorry kook.
Aangesien dit nie lyk of HM sy gameplan gaan verander nie, hier is my span teen die Engelse:
Zane
JPP
JDJ
JDV
Mvovo
Morne
Hougaard
Vermeulen
Alberts
Flou
Juandre
Eben
Jannie
Strauss
Heinke
Reserwes
Guthro
Pat
Chili
Marcel
Arno
Ruan
Lambie
Taute
(Alberts kan slot speel, indien nodig).
41 @ bdb:
Ek is geneig om met jou saam te stem oor die 3 veranderings in die beginspan.
Ek sou steeds vir Flip speel op die bank, die Ingelse het ‘n sterk pak voorspelers. Flip was ongelukkig om ‘n Geel kaart te kry Saterdag, Bokke was erg onder druk PLUS dit was maar ‘n snaakse Geel kaart.
Hi all, just a quick check in at a mates place to catch up and do some emails, etc. I didn’t see most of the game, so haven’t got much of a comment, except to say that the bit I did see, namely the last 20 minutes was ordinary to say the least. Enough said!
Things down here are calm again over the weekend, but rumours are that they will erupt again before long, probably long before the Dec 4th deadline. It all kicked off last Monday with our next door neighbour – Elgin Roses, and have to be honest, by Thursday was getting pretty scary. We share a common entrance, so have been sneaking through other neighbours farms to get in and out of home. By Thursday, they were smashing on the neighbours packshed doors with baseball bats – fortunately not getting in – but luckily nothing was set alight. By Friday morning about 10 farms around us were on strike – a co-ordinated plan, which thins out the police resources (who have been brilliant, it must be said), and were thus able to wreak havoc around the place. Farmers all over have been rushing to spread their wooden fruit bins all round their farms to minimise the risk of fire – those of you who have seen the stacks of bins that have been burn’t, will know what I am talking about. But fortunately we have had a quiet w/end, and again quiet now.
On Friday, the farmers union were in a meeting when in strolled the local ANC stalwart, unannounced, and stated to those present that what they were experiencing in Elgin/Grabouw was nothing compared to the other 18 towns in the Western Cape on Friday. Just wait for weeks 8, 9, 10 (when we start harvesting). On that note he then marched out again. Now does anyone still want to tell me these strikes aren’t politically motivated?
We are in for a rough few months, I fear.
We will not have internet again until I leave – only 10 days, so at least there is one positive for us! – so will check in every day or so when I check emails.
@ Just For Kicks:
Good luck boet, seriously.
This is the whole “Make the Cape Ungovernable” drive that they were talking about. It’s purely political. Tossers.
43 @ Just For Kicks:
Phweeeew!
@ Just For Kicks:
What can you say? The XhosaNostra is in town.
And they are on a mission in the run-up to the next election, HKGK.
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