I can only agree
Ex Keo
SuperSport technical analyst and former Springbok coach Nick Mallett lauded Brendan Venter's contribution to the Sharks' Currie Cup win.
Mallett said Venter's hand was obvious in the Sharks' approach and that the departing director of rugby had out-thought his Western Province counterparts in terms of their tactical game-plan and approach.
Mallett said the Sharks' kicking game was superb and that the Sharks had caught out Western Province with the use of the chip kick over a flat-lying defence and that the line speed in defence had caught WP unawares.
He raved about the performance of Pieter-Steph du Toit and the Sharks flankers Willem Alberts and Marcell Coetzee. He also felt the Sharks halfbacks, Charl McLeod and Pat Lambie, and inside centre Frans Steyn were excellent in making maximum use of the forward dominance.
He said Bismarck du Plessis was imposing but again let himself down with ill-discipline and a lack of appreciation of the intricate laws of the game.
Mallett was of the view that WP played the wrong game tactically and were taken out of their comfort zone and failed to adapt. Early pressure had forced the intercept and WP were not a side used to chasing a game. They proved incapable in the final, as did the Sharks in the corresponding fixture a year ago.
Mallett, in the build-up to the final, felt the Sharks were the better team and after the match said the view was vindicated by the performance of the senior players among the Sharks.
He said the Sharks' Springboks pitched up for the final and played with composure and accuracy. But he said the collective forward effort of the winners was overwhelming and rendered any WP individual effort meaningless.
Mallett was critical of the WP leadership on the field, of the coaching staff's failure to change approach during the game and especially of scrumhalf Louis Schreuder's performance. Mallett said he had heard Schreuder was being spoken of as a possible Bok squad member but that he wasn't an international-class player and he had reservations as to whether or not he was even a player who could make it in Super Rugby.(Have to agree here Nick spot on)
Mallett was complimentary of the intensity of the occasion but felt that there was still too much ill-discipline and too much disregard for the basics of the game. He said for South Africa to be the leading rugby nation and consistently be beating the All Blacks, this area of the game had to improve.
Nick must realis e these home derbys are far more physical than when we play soft nz sides
