Prior to Saturday’s match between South Africa and Wales, Heyneke Meyer suggested that the Springboks are in search of the perfect match. In 2012 Meyer’s aim was to improve a few percentage points every match.
In June 2013 Scotland arrived in South Africa alongside Italy and Samoa for a short Quad Nations tournament.
Their squad included a host of inexperienced player making their way into contention for international colours.
Incidentally similar to Wales this weekend, the Scotland encounter was also played at Nelspruit.
In both these matches South Africa lost most of the contact areas, their inability to adapt to the breakdown on the day meant they struggled to maintain momentum. The Springboks had slow starts and had to come from behind to win.
Scotland and Wales both slowed the game down with trickeries prior to set phases once in front, and this further prevented the Springboks a chance to gain momentum.
Morne Steyn may be Meyer’s first choice fly half, but his inability to break the line, his slowness off the mark even when presented with a gaping hole and his indecision on attack does not provide South Africa with the necessary space or front foot ball to attack out wide.
The Welsh were winning the collisions for much of the game, which should be a huge concern for Meyer.
Richie Grey has been appointed as the breakdown coach until the Rugby World Cup, and after being with South Africa for over a season will be rather disappointed with the performance.
Is it a case of the Springboks simply underestimating Wales after the solid win the previous week, or is it a case of the Springboks still failing to adapt during match day?
Either way, it is alarming to think that when a team decides to front up physically, South African players lose their focus and forget the processes that must surely have been trained into them by now.
When Frans Steyn returned to the Springbok camp after his stint in France he had the habit of tackling the ball, rather than the ball carrier, and Alex Cuthbert ran through three South African defenders all going for the ball rather than the ball carrier.
Their technique failed dismally on the day.
The one positive that can be taken out of the match is the focus, guts and patience shown by the Springboks to ultimately come away with the win, and in all fairness the fact that they won a match while being beaten in most facets is commendable.
However, after watching the Wallabies and All Blacks earlier, there is a lot of work ahead for Heyneke Meyer, plus some tough selection issues.
Steyn is a metronome with the boot, but his attacking play is woefully short at international level. Flip van der Merwe continuously has discipline issues, and was again carded for illegally playing a Welsh player in the air.
Schalk Burger has been a cult hero in South Africa, but sadly he is a beast no more.
Here’s hoping Meyer heeds this wake-up
