BY Gavin Rich ex Supersport
The greater structure that they brought to their game in the second half showed the way forward for the Springboks in the international season’s opening match against the World XV, but the lack of consistent, sustained energy from the pack must surely be a concern for coach Heyneke Meyer.
A lot was made before the Newlands match about the age factor and the big workload some of the Boks, particularly in the forwards, have carried this season for their franchises in Vodacom Super Rugby. In the end the members of the so-called old boys club didn’t do badly, with Bakkies Botha picking up the man of the match award after showing up well in the early stages of the game.
The veteran is certain to continue in the No4 jersey this weekend in the first test against Wales, as Flip van der Merwe, the alternative in his position, has been given special leave of absence to attend his brother’s wedding.
Lodewyk de Jager should be added to the match day squad and his contribution from the bench should be watched with interest as there surely isn’t the same problem with depth at 4 lock that there is at 5, and South Africa look well equipped there.
But while Botha made a contribution and Victor Matfield captained the side well in his comeback test, you wouldn’t have left Newlands thinking to yourself that Botha and Matfield were better than their direct opponents Alistair Hargreaves and Juandre Kruger, neither of whom are currently test players (PLEASE NOTE ALL MATFILED GROUPIES). Although the Boks did shut the World XV out of the game when they got their driving right in the second half, it wasn’t a sustained performance from the pack and there appeared to be a distinct lack of energy at times.
This may well have more to do with the amount of rugby some of the players have played recently than age, and although Duane Vermeulen had a big game, as he did in a Super Rugby match the previous week in Durban, the fact that five members of the starting pack have gone into the June series having played every Super Rugby game they have been available for so far this season could be problematic.(WHERE IS THE CENTRAL CONTRACTING SYSTEM)
Of the SANZAR teams that started their international seasons this past weekend, it was only the Wallabies who made a rousing start. The All Blacks also looked well short of a gallop at times in their match against England.(WATCH OUT FOR THE wOBBLIES)
The scrumming is an obvious area that needs to be fixed up, and while Meyer was happy with the lineouts, that may be more of an indication of what he feared from the World XV than anything else. The Boks were comfortable on their own ball, but then the World XV weren’t troubled on their throw in either. It was because they had ball to play with that the scratch team was able to stay in the contest much longer than most would have anticipated.
Most of all though the Boks need to tighten up, and they did that after halftime, which was when they delivered the coup de grace against a World XV that was game and gutsy until the end and probably didn’t deserve to lose by as big a margin as they did. The second 40 minutes was probably always going to be when the Boks would start finding the momentum they intend to take into Saturday’s fixture at Growthpoint Kings Park.
However, they are going to have to start with far more energy and purpose against Wales or it could be another struggle for them. Hopefully, from a South African viewpoint, the rusty edges that led to looseness and too much attempt to play in their own half in the first part of the Cape Town game have now been shaken off, and in that sense the Boks can be thankful that this game was organised.
Had they started off with the same lethargy and disco-ordination against an international team that has played together they might have been in more trouble than they were this past Saturday, and the World XV could easily have been 14-3 up after a quarter of an hour had a kick into the ingoal area for Hosea Gear held up just a little.
That said, the World XV did play with surprising congruity for a side that had only just come together during the week, and coach Nick Mallett’s decision to go for established combinations in some key areas paid off for him.(VERY SMART COACH MALLET)
“It was a pity about the last two tries that the Boks scored towards the end because I don’t think that the final scoreline reflected the effort put in by the forwards in this game,” said Mallett afterwards.
Mallett said the way the Boks had finished would be good for them and that the South Africans would feel that the match had served a useful purpose.
Certainly the last two tries did show that the Boks retain their ability to strike from broken play, something that developed strongly last season, and they were sharp and impressive in the build-up to the first try, which was scored by Bryan Habana after Gear had made a mistake in trying to field a kick and James O’Connor had been turned over, with JP Pietersen’s pass between his legs setting up the score.
But overall the Boks weren’t clinical enough to justify any euphoria, and there were several points of their game that appear to require work, although none of it can be completely unexpected given that this was the first time they played together this year and some of the players have been played into the ground in Super Rugby.
If the test against Wales shows up the same shortcomings and the Boks continue to produce soft moments and play loosely, that is when it will be time for concern.
Well said Gavin good sensible article to help Sharkbok and Moz get some perspective!
