Heyneke Meyer said he was satisfied with the performance - but referred to ball recovery at breakdowns as a persisting problem. Naas Botha spoke about the tackle problem. Owen Nkumane was happy with the scrumming.
Now lets analyse the above summarized statements:-
Breakdown Situation
Thee is a problem that has not really improved, despite all Meyer's efforts in the relevant regard - ie the appointment of a Consultant and increased emphasis in coaching. I think that the problem is basically centred around our loosie combination. In essence -
* there is basically no support running to ensure that in a case of a tackle a player is on hand to help in ball protection and recovery - too many players gets isolated as a result;
* the loosies are too slow to get to breakdown points timeously and by the time they arrive there was either a turnover or the attack has gone dead; and
* the loosies themselves are only involved in tackles around the fringes and not wider out - with the result that ball turnovers are rare and not efficient.
Although there has been counter-arguments - there was a clear distinction between how the AB loosies - especially Read and Messam - performed. They were all over the field and where there was a breakdown they would be present. Most of the time our loosies were just not where they should have been.
Due to the MOBILITY factor it is unlikely that the present situation will improve and I think Meyer will be forced to change the combination - starting off with one initial change and then make a second one next year in June - obviously depending on performances in Super 15 2014.
Tackle Situation
Naas specifically dealt with the issue. He said the missed tackles is not the main problem - the main problem is the first time misses. That is what put us on the back foot. He mentioned 9 cases where the tackler missed his tackle. He rekon th damage was done by those and if we look at the following examples he is correct:-
* The missed tackle by Alberts on Read - whereafter Ben Smith scored a try;
* The missed tackle by Kolisi on Messam before he scored his second try;
* The spectacle preceding the Barrett try
In the latter case - De Villiers charged up and did not attempt a tackle. The first tackler was consequently Steyn - who made the worst tackle attempt seen in a long time. By the time Engelbrecht got involved the damage was already done if Naas' comments are borne in mind.
Scrumming
Both Nkumane and Naas agreed that the Springbok scrum functioned better than the AB one. However, they were highly critical of the substitution of Bismarck du Plessis at the scrum five meters out from the AB try line - especially since the AB's had only seven forwards at that stage.
SUMMARY
In essence I must say that the issues as outlined goes to the heart of the matter and I hope that we can see some improvement in squad selection and performance in the EOYT.
