The following from news24:-
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Sport24’s Herman Mostert highlights FIVE talking points following the Springboks’ agonising 12-11 defeat to England at Twickenham:
1. Aussie ref robs Boks!
No doubt the biggest talking point of the Test came right at the death when Australian referee Angus Gardner ruled that Owen Farrell’s hit on Andre Esterhuizen was legitimate.
With England ahead by one point and South Africa hot on attack, Farrell executed what looked like a shoulder charge on the burly Sharks midfielder.
Gardner referred the decision upstairs to Irish television match official Olly Holmes, but after a brief consultation, Gardner took the decision upon himself and said it was a fair tackle.
To me it was clear that Farrell had not used his arms.
To make matters worse for Gardner, he also missed a clear offside and subsequent high tackle by England wing Jonny May on Bok centre Jesse Kriel
Jonny May got away
with murder in the build-up to that “tackle”
Image 1: He’s in bottom corner backtracking when Papier touches the ball.
2: Starts to move forward, and clearly offside.
3: From offside position he then delivers a tackle around the neck of Kriel
2. Springbok lineout woes
South African hooker Malcolm Marx had a torrid afternoon with his lineout throwing.
The Boks lost four vital lineouts, with three of those coming off overthrows from Marx.
I noted English commentator Stuart Barnes criticise Bok coach Rassie Erasmus for not bringing on Bongi Mbonambi earlier.
However, one can’t help but wonder whether Erasmus had reservations about Mbonambi. who also had a shocker with his lineout throwing in the previous week’s Currie Cup final between Western Province and the Sharks.
Barnes clearly did not watch the Currie Cup final.
3. Springbok finishing leaves much to be desired…
The Springboks completely dominated the first half and the game should have been over as a contest at the interval.
The Boks enjoyed 78% territory and 67% possession in the first stanza yet only led by 8-6 at half-time.
South Africa's finishing was dismal and the number of handling errors is alarming for international standard.
By the 49th minute, the South Africans had already knocked on 10 times and you just can’t win games at this level if you can’t catch and pass properly.
The Boks were camped on the England line when the home side's lock Maro Itoje was sent to the sin-bin for a cynical foul.
Unfortunately, from a South African perspective, they couldn’t cash in on their numerical advantage and actually lost the period Itoje was off 3-0.
4. A pass mark for the two Damians
Namesakes Damian Willemse and Damian de Allende can feel pleased by their efforts in a losing cause.
Willemse performed adequately in his first Test start at fullback. Apart from one overcooked kick straight into touch, he appeared calm and composed.
He defended well and his positional play was not too shabby, while he showed glimpses of his attacking prowess in one appealing counter-attack which almost yielded a try.
De Allende caused England all sorts of headaches in midfield with his barnstorming runs. He constantly got the Boks over the advantage line and created several platforms for the visitors to attack from.
A criticism of his play is that he lost a couple of balls in contact and seemingly had no intention of offloading...
5. Etzebeth hammer blow for Boks
The Boks received a big blow early in the second half when lock enforcer Eben Etzebeth limped off.
It was perhaps no coincidence that the Boks lost their physical dominance over England once he left the field in the 41st minute.
It was later confirmed that Etzebeth had suffered an ankle injury, with coach Rassie Erasmus describing the injury afterwards as looking “pretty bad”.
It looks like Etzebeth will be out for the remainder of the tour. Etzebeth missed most of the 2018 season with a shoulder injury and he will feel Twickenham has become his bogey ground, having also been injured in an earlier clash there.
He is vital for the Bok cause heading into next year’s Rugby World Cup and they cannot afford to have him sidelined for most parts of next year’s Super Rugby campaign”
There are some interesting points listed above. Two of the most interesting are raised elsewhere by Mozart and AO already and some others are raised by other members as well:-
* The poor line-out throw-ins were not the problem with Marx – Du Toit is to be blamed for that;
* Damien de Allende was useless at inside center; and
* Willemse failed at full back.
The Springboks according to Mozart and AO must get rid of Du Toit and De Allende and replace them urgently – they are useless.
Pity about Etzebeth being injured. His worth was in the rough and tumble of the Tight 5 – not in actual statistical performance where his work rate was low. So bearing in mind the Etzebeth situation the answer of both our “experts” is to bring in Snyman and Mostert – which would reduce the effectiveness to under 50%.
Marx had a problem with line-out throw-ins for years now – the situation at times improved and then took a dip again. Saturday was nothing really new. The question marks around Marx’s throw-in problems must bother Erasmus - hence his replacement of Marx in the Australia test in the RC. Is there no way about curing Marx from this malady? I think he makes the same mistake every time he misfired, His throws are too high for any jumper to catch and then dip sharply behind the last player in the line-out – normally a prop. In other words his accuracy is shot. If he cannot start remedying that problem , his career would be seriously jeopardized.
