It really is upsetting how poor the tryscoring records of SA teams are. Take for instance the Sharks - they scored a total of 15 tries in 7 matches. in the first match they scored 4 tries so in the other 7 marches they managed to score 11 tries. Of the 15 tries scored 8 was by backline players - 7 by forwards. 4 of the backline tries was scored by Jordaan (2), Reinach (1) and Lambie (1) three of which were in the first game in the series. I know you think that tryscoring is not important - but it remains the key to winning rugby.
To give you an idea how putrid the Sharks record is - it must be mentioned that in 4 games played Folau on his own scored 8 tries.
In total SA sides scored 73 tries this year which is about half of the number of tries scored by each of the other two franchises. Of those 23 was scored by the Cheetahs. 15 by the Sharks, 13 by the Bulls, 12 by the Lions and 10 by the Stormers. Of the 23 Cheetahs tries 15 was scored by their backline players - in other words their backline scored the same number of tries the entire Sharks team scored and more tries than the other franchises scored in total.
This above should how seriously poor the backline performances of the franchises really are. The position - bar the Cheetahs who scored most tries - but had serious defensive problems as well - is ridiculously poor. A few years ago the Stormers played defensive rugby and their tryscoring abilities were poor. They reached the final once but with an inability on their part to score tries they lost and the same happened when they played in play-offs in subsequent series.
You will no doubt say goal kicking will save the Sharks skin - but will it? I doubt very much whether that will ultimately be successful. They suiffered badly from dead backline syndrome.
