South AfricaIt may come as a surprise to Springbok fans, but coach Heyneke Meyer has lamented the fact that his team has fallen behind the All Blacks in terms of their kicking game, with the Boks being far too wayward in their kicking this season.

While the Boks have made massive strides at the breakdown under consultant Richie Gray and currently lead the Castle Lager Rugby Championship standings for turnovers won in the competition, they have fallen behind in terms of their kicking game – something that has always been a strength.

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Despite their success on the field, and the romantic notion that kicking isn’t necessary in rugby, the All Blacks have become masters of the punt in recent times and have turned a previous weakness into a strength, recognising the value of placing the opposition under pressure with high kicks.

Like anything in modern rugby, the kicking game is only as good as its accuracy, and Meyer has been trying to improve the skillset of the players in the team to be a more all-round attacking option.

But with that has come a price, and the Boks have fallen behind in the kicking stakes, rarely regathering high balls this season.

The statistic stood at only four balls regathered from their own high kicks before Saturday’s game against Australia and while Fourie du Preez’s appearance has made a marked difference – the Boks won back four of their seven high balls against the Wallabies, it is a concern going into Saturday’s decider in Johannesburg against New Zealand.

The Boks know all too well how to play a suffocating game, and live off the opposition’s mistakes, but the All Blacks have improved so much in this regard that if they are not accurate on Saturday they will pay the price – much like Bryan Habana’s skewed kick in Auckland led to the first try.

Meyer spoke at length about how the Boks had caught up in several aspects this year, but praised the All Blacks for how they work together as a unit to benefit New Zealand rugby, a far cry from the everyone for himself attitude that still prevails through the South African franchises.

“The great thing about them (All Blacks) is that they use their whole system to benefit the side,” Meyer said. “If you look at the All Blacks three or four years ago, I spoke to Steve Hansen about how they changed their game. We mauled well back then and whenever we did box kicks, it worked, because they didn’t have wingers that could turn well. We got a lot of turnovers from that and a lot of their wingers weren’t good in the air.

“But suddenly they are playing fullbacks on the wing and I was surprised at how great they were under the high ball. Their No 9s keep kicking great box kicks and they are very good in the air and they get the ball back. If you get the ball back, then attacking mindset is good, because defences are falling back.

“The one thing they get it right is that they go out with a four-year plan and all their franchises work on specific points where they think they have got a weakness. So you don’t fix it with one or two coaching sessions.

“We are closing the gap – the one thing we have got right is that we’ve worked with the franchises and it is starting to work. The franchises have been great and I want to thank them. We’ve caught up in a lot of aspects, but the one thing we are far behind – believe it or not – is our kicking game.”

One startling statistic that shows how much improvement needs to be done is that in Auckland the Boks could not field one high kick on them out of the eight kicked by the All Blacks, and it is surely a place where the New Zealanders will try and place the Boks under pressure.

This past Saturday also saw the Boks win their first kickoff back of the championship – although it must be said they have kicked long in every game, which minimises that statistic somewhat.

Still, with New Zealand by far the biggest kickers in the competition, Meyer knows it is a delicate balance of using all facets of the game. If there is one thing that must work well this weekend, it is the kicking game.

And therein lies the challenge for the Boks – they will have to be accurate in their kicking, but not leave the other improvements behind to achieve this goal.

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