Well that was a pleasant surprise but on the other hand it’s not really given the fact that as I have always maintained, we have the players we just don’t have the coach.
The fact that Brendan Venter has been brought on board, kind of alleviates the coaching issue to some extent.
We should have beaten the All Blacks, we were the better side in the end. But we lost because we are yet to embrace a more attacking approach.
The All Blacks had us for the first 40 min where they played all the rugby and all we did was defend with the magnificent Marx bailing us out on numerous occasions with his turnovers – hell what a player he is.
Those added 10min in the first half seem to galvanise us into believing we could challenge and from then on we bullied the AB’s physically, but in reality that’s all we did. In this respect, Kitshoff, Marx, Etzebeth, Lood and PSDT were magnificent, as was du Preez and Wilco Louw when they came on.
While PSDT is not a 7, he proved once and for all what a class act he is……..his physicality was immense along with Etzebeth.
So we know we can dominate the physical battles, hardly surprising considering we are talking Kitshoff, Marx, Etzenbeth, Lood, PSDT, and du Preez…….these guys tend to win the physical collisions ……….but our game needs to evolve from this, we have shown moments of this against the likes of France and the Argies this year but we need to do the same against the major sides especially if we are able to dominate the physical battles. There are some positives in taking contact and bashing it up, it sets up multiple phases drawing defenders in and tires out the opposition. But there is no point in being predictable and not attacking space or moving it out wide on regular occasions.
That is what makes the AB’s a better side, they always compete physically but look to attack when the opportunity presents itself. Note their fullback, wings and 13 in terms of metres run versus our wings and Kriel at 13……..they ran far far more metres than our players as they take it wide. Conversely, Serfontein was our most productive back, running more metres and beating more defenders than SBW by some distance. We are playing it narrow, it’s too predictable. Serfontein was brilliant as he has been all year, there is no doubting this guy is back to his best.
Moving forward we need to evolve, we need to embrace variety, stick to our physical strengths but also trust our abilities to attack.
The issue in this regard is Coetzee, by nature he is a conservative coach uncomfortable with the expansive game. We saw an expansive approach against France and the Argies but as the opposition got tougher we resorted back to Coetzee’s default of crash bash and kick possession away. I’m not advocating an all-out attack, I’m after a balance – dominate the collisions, wear the opposition down but exploit this by attacking space and playing it wide.
While we are able to dominate the physical collisions we fail to exploit this advantage with the offload and support runners running great lines. Imagine how much more effective we would be if half those dominant collisions by the likes of Etzebeth, Marx, Kitshoff, Lood, du Preez and PSDT lead to an offload to a support runner taking it forward? It’s a skill the AB’s prefect in training by training under pressure conditions. We need to be doing the same. The modern game is all about the offload, as collisions dominate. There is little point in beating a man in contact then going down, because that’s your instinct. The mind-set needs to change with a view to carrying on the momentum with an offload.
With reference to the players, we certainly have a core of great players but there is so much room for improvement in terms of personnel.
We need to get rid of Leyds, Cronje, Paige, Dreyer, Chiliboy, Cassiem and Louw
I’d take the following squad on the end of year tour, eligibility rule aside:
15. Coetzee / Gelant
14. Nkosi / Mapimpi
13. Kriel / Janse van Rensburg / Am
12. Serf / de Allende / Vorster
11. Combrink / Skosan / Senatla
10. Jantjies / Pollard / Willemse
9. Faf / Reinach / Schreuder
1. Kitshoff / du Toit / Nyakane
2. Marx / Aker / Ox Nche (play him at hooker)
3. Wilco Louw / Coenie / Malherbe
4. Etzebeth / Paul Willemse /Jenkins
5. PSDT / Lood
6. Kriel / Kolisi
7. JL. du Preez / Mostert / Jacques du Plessis
8. Marcel Coetzee / D du Preez / Notshe
