Lions vs landers...Springboks vs ABs

The Boks ran the ball 76 times, made 143 metres beating 3 tackles
The Lions ran the ball 103 times, made 675 metres beating 33 tackles.

.....for context

The Abs ran the ball 117 times, made 387 metres and beat 20 tackles.

We also lost a bunch of lineouts against NZ.....but 3 defenders beaten in 76 carries is the compelling stat here. It speaks to the number of process oriented ...phase runs we made.
Willie 10 runs...no defenders beaten
Habana 3 and 0
Du Preez 7 and 0
Strauss 4 and 0
Matfield 3 and 0
Louw 4 and 0
Vermeulen 8 and 0
Schalk 8 and 0
Lomp 3 and 0
How can all these great players  not beat a tackle (Allende beat 2 and Pollard beat 1)....my guess is if beating a tackle wasn't really the objective, resetting the phase was,  in the hopes of perhaps milking a penalty. This was very conservative stuff.
If the Lions have brought one thing back to our rugby it's the sense that you can run at NZ teams.  And that their defences can be fractured by the right pass.....just like any other team.
The Hurricanes know all this and were able to spike the Lions attack at Ellis Park with their rush defence....an old Jake White tactic. It will be interesting to see if this old school tactic works again on Saturday.

 The 'Canes recent games have been described as the closest any of their teams have got (well since the glory days of the Crusaders) to replicating the style & execution of the ABs. Therefore the performance of the Lions who are fielding a probable Bok-laden team could serve as a useful indicator as to whether the Boks could be competitive against the ABs whilst playing their brand of rugby.

The Bok style of play under Coestzee is as imaginative as that of Meyer and De Villiers. 
It's dead dull and boring. An easy read. Predictable. 
We try to pummel the opposition into submission by using some cu- mbersome forward as first received and we do it all match long ... who inevitably goes to ground with ball in hand.   

Suddenly adopting the Lions style isn't as easy as it seems. If it were everyone would have brought it in. It takes time to develop ... it takes time to become comfortable with it. It takes the right coach ... one who has a vision ... not some fool who wants a quick fix that he has no understanding of. 
Simply picking a lot of Lions players isn't going to transform the Bok style either. Not under Coetzee and that fool Stick. They'll need to replace the incompetent quota coaches with the Lions setup and we all now that that's not going to happen. 
My big concern is that the Lions players that are selected return to the Lions camp as lesser players than what they left as.
Perhaps it's best they leave the Lions out all together. 
With them we at least have one ray of light in this country. Why ruin it?

 Moz it's actually very simple. Long post inc


A) Meyer thought he could beat the ABs by using Schalk at fly half. Schalk who was not only much slower than his former self but also much less powerful as a runner.

B) Meyer, the man with the top job in SA rugby, and who should at least have had an average insight into the the potential available to him, with four years to burn, yet made the following statement "South Africa does not have the talent to play running rugby."

And then along come the Lions with their team of nobodies and literally blow every SA team as well as most of the Kiwi teams out of the water by playing a running/off-loading game.


Those two facts(A & B) tell you everything you need to know. The guy was a clown and sought to hide his ineptitude by selecting experienced players to shift the focus off of himself.

We blamed players, quotas etc etc but ultimately Meyer was the fool behind the farce. He was a disgrace. He embarrassed us and he oversaw the biggest decline in SA rugby that i have witnessed.  It has taken Ackerman 3 years to build this Lions team with guys nobody had ever heard of before. Meyer had 4 years and all the resources in SA available. Ackerman has moved onward and upward with each game/season yet by the time Meyer got sacked we were losing to Japan and Argentina.

One of my conspiracies here: Remember how Meyer picked hardly any Lions for the WC squad? Remember how the Lions were the only team playing running rugby? I think that Meyer was speaking with the S18 coaches and trying to get their teams to play the way he wanted the Boks to play so that he could pick the best possible team for his gameplan. I think Ackerman gave him the middle finger with the net result that hardly any Lions went to the WC.

Watching the the Lions promotional video before the game this weekend, i'll paraphrase Warren Whitely "It great to play for a coach who has been there. Who has pulled the Springbok jersery over his head and who has played for the Lions. He knows what it's about. He is the best coach i have worked with in my career."

How many players would say the some about Meyer.

Lastly on the man that is Meyer. Post the WC he said he still wanted the job and that he would do anything to serve his country. Upon being given the opportunity to resign he suddenly said his family came first. Now i hear he is off to Japan. His family on;t be going with him. Bloody cowardly clown. Always sought to shift blame and hide behind others. That is not a leader. It's a sad excuse for a pretender.

 "my guess is if beating a tackle wasn't really the objective" opines the good Dr Mozzzzz.
Its great to see Dr Moz moving at an agonisingly slow pace to a realisation we need to adopt the Lions style of rugby. Which in my view is the old Bok style.  
What is so revealing about all this is the FACT the Lions have the only functioning backline.   Add to this the menace of Kriel at 6 and Whitely and you have Beeno's magical balance. face facts the curr ent sa coaches aside from the Lions coaches are backward  dopes.

Starting with the Lions side as the Bok side who really improves the TEAM. I would bring in Kirshoff, Eben and maybe Vermuelen at seven or anther big mobile 7. The work rate of Mostert is huge although I like Du Toit. However Mostert compliments the lions style.
In the backs - well would it be daft to play the whole Lions backline. They play as a unit.  
Unfortunately the Lions are set to be shafted big time down under by the bent Glen jackson so prepare for the worst. The Lions will need to be around 30 points better to win. Not impossible but not too likely.
Goooooooooo  LIONS!
  

Actually this is all too one sided. We forget the Boks attacking play at Ellis Park in the 2013 S15 finale.....and the brilliant attacking play that set up our win against NZ in 2014.

HM had the plot on occasions, but his plan for the RWC was too conservative....perhaps he became more risk averse as a result of the Bargie and Japan losses.
But there is a difference in the Lions commitment to their game plan. It never changes and so the team changes to support the game plan.....mobile forwards and running half backs. In truth our heavy Bok pack with Lomp/Etzebeth/Bis/Vermeulen was picked for physical combat....not covering the breakdown in 13 channel.
So it's not just playing running rugby....we can do that. It's a complete switch of our commitment away from the Lomps to the Mosterts, from the Coetzees to the Kriels.To a game plan we need to hone for 3 years, if the Lions experiment is the model. That's whole hog.....otherwise we add skills and some mobility to what we have been doing.
To go whole hog.....the Lions can't be blown out of the water on Saturday.

The Kiwi Teams need sharpening. The Lions are doing us a service. Thank you Lions. Stronger Lions = Stronger Boks = Stronger All Blacks --> thanks guys 

Dave, you're making far too much sense for these slack jawed half-wits to grasp.
I disagree with you one one or two selections . . . the most glaring being Wille le Roux who must rank in the Jorrie Muller/Marius Joubert/Gaffie du Toit category of useless Springbok backs . . . but I'm also not as convinced as you are about Frans Malherbe. I'd pick Vincent Koch over Malherbe any day. Oh and I think I speak for just about everyone else when I say it's time to forget about the Francois Hougaard fantasy. I also liked him at one stage in his career . . . but get real!
You also only pick one hooker. Is that because you rate our current plodder captain or do you not see the huge opportunity to fill a quota with some real quality like Edgar Marutlelle?
Interesting earlier suggestion of yours about playing Notshe at #8. I'd like to see that.

 Super Rugby isn't Test rugby, hard to compare the two. What ever happens in SR wont reflect the Rugby Championship in anyway. Hansen doesn't coach the Highlanders or the Crusaders SR team, most of the players in super rugby aren't starting All Blacks. Same goes for the SA SR teams.