Some think all is well and it wass abrilliant performace by the Boks. here is a reality check for the head in clouds brigade.
ExSupersport wich has another article also outining the problems
Heyneke Meyer wanted a tough work-out for his Springboks ahead of the series against Wales, and he would rather have encountered teething problems with refereeing interpretations now than in the test series against Wales that starts in Durban next Saturday.
So, that there were aspects of the 47-13 win over the World XV at Newlands that the Boks should be concerned with may be a positive for a Bok coach who at least now knows what he has to work on during the week that he has before the test matches start. For a start, he wants his players to adapt to the northern hemisphere refereeing interpretations quicker than they did in their first match of 2014.
“We thrive on quick ball and we are a great attacking team when we do get quick ball but we were unable to get that in this game and that was a bit of a wake-up call for us,” said Meyer.
“Most of the players have been playing in the southern hemisphere where the referees place a lot of emphasis on the game being quick and endeavour to facilitate the ball coming back quickly from the breakdown. But when you play against northern hemisphere opponents with northern hemisphere referees it is different.(Rules or slow loose trio?)
“We didn’t get the ball back from the breakdowns quickly enough today and that had a big impact on how we played. There were also too many penalties conceded, particularly in the first half, and we will have to work on that. We need to adapt better, but today would have helped us start making the adjustment.”
Another aspect that the Boks are going to have to work on before Wales arrive, apart from what was pointed out by the shrill blasts of Irish referee George Clancy's whistle, is the scrumming. Meyer made the point at the post-match press conference that he only had a few days to work with his team, but the World XV had even less and never had the luxury of playing together before. And yet their scrum gave the Boks a torrid time.
“I thought we were better later on in the game, but we did struggle and obviously that is something we are going to look at this week. We had the best scrum in the world last year, and that is not just me saying that, it is what the statistics told us. We will have to look at where we went wrong and work on that.”
Meyer was happy though with the line-outs, even though World XV coach Nick Mallett also had good reason to be happy with his forwards for the way they acquitted themselves in that phase. There was one skew throw from hooker Craig Burden, who otherwise excelled in his allround game. Otherwise the two line-out formations comfortably controlled their own ball.(Oh how can tht be bleat the matfiled groupies who think their man won every throw in - Bwahhahahahahaha)
“I thought Juandre (Kruger) did well for the World XV, but I was happy with the line-outs as it was an area we were worried about ahead of this game,” said the Bok coach.
Meyer said he was surprised at how structured the World XV had been in their approach considering how little time they had to work together.
“I did expect more of a Barbarian type approach from them but they made it difficult for us and played proper test rugby, which is good for us in preparation for the matches that are to come. If we had gone into the test against Wales off the base of a loose Super Rugby type game we might have been in trouble.”
But for Mallett it was when his team inevitably did lose their structure and became loose later in the game that the match ceased to be a contest.
“Once we fell more than a score behind early in the second half, you got the sense that the guys felt they needed to start playing catch-up, which meant they had to try things, and that was exactly what the Springboks wanted us to do,” said Mallett.
“They wanted to prey on our mistakes, and in the first half, when we were keeping it tight and not making mistakes, we made it difficult for them. But when the mistakes started to come, the Boks were far more comfortable and they punished us. I think that to do well against the Boks you need to play a Sharks or Bulls type of game (that emphasises forward dominance and strong defence and cuts down on errors).”
Although the Boks won quite comfortably on the scoreboard in the end due to two late tries, Mallett was quite right to be proud of his team’s effort.
“I was sorry about those two tries because when there was a 20-point difference, and we were on their line pressing for another try, it was a far better reflection of the effort that our forwards put in. To walk the Bok scrum like they did at one stage of the second half I thought was a tremendous effort from our pack, and the two locks, Alistair Hargreaves and Juandre Kruger, did really well in the line-outs.(BLAME IT ON VICTOR HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA)
“We knew they would want to play us into the corners, but we prevented them from being able to do that early in the game and I was pleasantly surprised with how well we did up to that point.”
Bok skipper Victor Matfield agreed that not everything had worked out quite as well as had been planned.
“We wanted to play them into their half but instead they did most of the early playing. There were aspects of our game that didn’t work as planned, our exiting from our own half was a particular area of concern,” said Matfield.
Meyer said he was pleased with the performance of the so-called old guard, led by Matfield and Botha, and was particularly chuffed with the way that Matfield had led the side.
“Some harsh words were said at halftime but Victor was particularly good in the way that he kept the guys composed and calm, which was crucial for us,” said Meyer.
The coach added that there had been no injuries picked up during the game and he would have a full squad to choose from when he selects his team for the Durban match against Wales.
WHAT IS WORRYING IS THAT WHILE THE WORLD 15 HAD GAS IN THE TANK AND WERE PLAYING THEY OUTPERFORMED THE BOKS. I dont recall seeing a Bok scrum going backwards like that.
Agreed Meyer has much to do before RC
