It is major decision time for Springbok coach Peter de Villiers following the disappointing manner in which his team lost to lowly Scotland in Edinburgh at the weekend.
Mike Greenaway
And if the coach is to ultimately make the tour a success by beating England with a game plan that will be a positive step towards the World Cup, he needs to make bold selection and policy decisions.
So far on tour the Boks have battled to unconvincing victories over Ireland and Wales, and the word from the coaching staff was that it is easier to refine game plans from a winning position, but at Murrayfield the Boks regressed, inclement conditions notwithstanding.
A week ago, when the England game was still on course to be the Grand Slam decider, De Villiers said that Patrick Lambie at flyhalf would be the ace up his sleeve for Twickenham and that the Boks would play an attacking game, but after the upset defeat to the Scots, it will be interesting to see whether the coach backs his earlier conviction or goes for a conservative approach.
The bottom line for the Springboks is that they have not grown their game since the 2007 World Cup win and on the evidence of 2010, they are not going to have a realistic chance of winning Rugby World Cup 2011.
If De Villiers opts for the attacking game offered by Lambie then he needs to pick other players who offer something similar. Sharks openside flank Keegan Daniel springs to mind and De Villiers could go for broke and partner Lambie with his provincial teammate, Charl McLeod, who yesterday joined the squad at their base in fashionable Kensington, bordering on Hyde Park in central London, along with Bandiso Maku and Odwa Ndungane.
The fear that the Springbok game plan could be obsolete was hinted at by captain Victor Matfield after the match even though the veteran still believes it has merit if it is correctly applied.
“It is a tough one, this talk of strategy,” he said. “Everybody is putting us under pressure to play more expansively, but the weather did not allow us to and maybe we were thinking too much about that kind of game, rather than concentrating on accuracy in a game plan suited to the weather. You can’t play too much rugby in the wet and need to have a game plan where you kick accurately, your chase lines are accurate, you don’t try and run the ball in your own half, and you put the opposition under pressure.”
De Villiers said the major problem was the failure to look after possession.
“We are very disappointed. What worked for us in the first two games – securing first phase ball and holding on to it – we neglected in this match.
“And Scotland played the conditions better with intelligent and well-executed kicking, so well done to them.”
The Boks started well enough, and went into a 6-0 lead after dominating the first 15 minutes, but then unravelled on the back of seven consecutive penalties against them.
“We can’t say too much about the refereeing,” Matfield said diplomatically. “We will have to look at the match video to see how much was down to bad discipline on our behalf. However you look at it, this game was going to be won by the team making the least mistakes. That was Scotland and they were able to put us under a lot of pressure by pinning us in our own half and kicking their penalties. We had the initial momentum but then got nailed for a few things and that brought them into the game.”
Matfield added that conditions had been a leveller.-
The Star
@ Ashley:29 – Ash, we could have gone with a better seletion with players that are there boeta. How can we leave out Ablerts? I know 6 is not his position but would have had him there instead of Stegmann who really has not played well at all. Or even brought in Keegan for Stegmann. Also Ruan was not that great on Saturday nor was Hougaardt. Both actually were terrible. Morne not great at all either. Zane either boet. We are in deep trouble I think. We should just have gone with McLeod that has been in blinding form and Keegan. Start with Lambie (I know he does not kick to posts as well as Steyn) but he will at least our backs will probably get to play a bit more with him there. Fransie should have gone to FB. Bring on Zane for outside centre not that he was that great there but better than Frans there. Or even just give Adi another go, as that is the position he does play in. I think we should have gone for all out attack. This kicking is not winning us much. We only just, just beat Ireland and Wales. Tell you what had we been playing England, AB’s or Wallabies in any of those games we would have got beaten by plenty, if it was any of those teams playing us on Saturday we would have been beaten by 50 or more. We playing such a outdated game. We have to play with more ball to have any chance. Can’t see it with the players that are there.
If we win which I doubt it will be by a point or two. Think England gonna smash us.
puma @ 31
the only reason i went for spies instead of alberts is that spies had a blinder against wales, and no … i’d hesitate to play alberts out of position from the start.
i really believe that the shift of fransie to 12 will actually compliment our “out of date” game as he’s good at taking the ball up and when looking for territory.
..
mcleod into the starting line-up? no boet … that backline (especially the back 3) are green enough as it is!!
@ Ashley:32 – Ash, At least McLeod would not kick all our ball away boet. Ruan and Hougaard last week done just that, kick, kick and more kick. So did Morne and Zane. That is all our backs seem to do is kicking away our ball. Not good enough.
Kan iemand wat toegang het tot die statistiek, vir ons uiteensit hoeveel balle Morne, Ruan en Pienaar weggeskop het en laat loop het, Saterdag teen Skotland.
It looks like we are surrendering.
@ bdb:
M Steyn Kick/pass/run 4/8/2
Hougaard kick/pass/run 4/27/5
clean breaks
hougaard 17
M Steyn 12
Zane 70
Zane kick/pass run 6/0/8
Parks , kick/pass/run 16/19/1
Lawson 9/57/1
100.0% SCO Kick at goal success SA 57.1%
35 SCO -Kicks from hand- SA 26
@ bdb:
I dont want to dwell on this to analyze and explain , but really stats paint a story with a lot of ????
All stats have the Scotts first and SA second
Scotland / South Africa
0 Tries 1
0 from 0 Conversion goals 0 from 1
6 from 6 Penalty goals 4 from 6
100.0% Kick at goal success 57.1%
1 (1 missed) Dropped goals 0
Kick/pass/run
35 Kicks from hand 26
97 Passes 70
80 Runs 75
177 Metres run with ball 261
Attacking
2 Clean breaks 2
1 Defenders beaten 2
3 Offloads 3
77 from 80 (96.25%) Rucks won 59 from 67 (88.06%)
6 Turnovers conceded 14
Defensive
80 Tackles 91
2 Missed tackles 1
97.56% Tackling success rate 98.91%
Set pieces
8 won, 3 lost Scrums on own feed 3 won, 0 lost
72.7% Scrum success rate 100.0%
6 won, 3 lost Lineouts on own throw 10 won, 3 lost
66.7% Lineout success rate 76.9%
Discipline
9 Penalties conceded 13
0/0 Yellow/red cards 0/0
One thing stats can NEVER show is how lack-lustre and empty and horribly shitty the Bokke were on Saturday… just going through the motions… and with the complete wrong and pityful pathetic game strategy.
Where was the intensity… how do stats measure that?
Where was the hunger, the passion, the devil in their eyes…. how do stats measure that?
Where were the correct option taking feats… how do stats measure that?
Lies, more lies and Stats…..
… and who the fark takes these stats…. Bokke missed 1 tackle??? WTF!!!
Face it, the Bokke were halfhearted, slow, cumbersome, listless, sloppy and pathetic.
Quite reliable stats this GBS, from ESPN Scrum.
But really i wish the Boks get it all together and win, even by 1 point will be OK.
43@ superBul:
No stat is reliable…. it does not tell the story that my eyes saw….
Scores are reliable, they tell who won and who lost….
@ grootblousmile:
Well when Jake used stats all were hanging on his lips 😀
This Bok side must win Saturday , just to throw the applecart “om”
South Africa’s record against England at Twickenham is: Played 16; Won 8; Lost 8; Points for 246; Points against 270; Tries for 24; Tries against 25; Average score 15-17.
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