Springbok Breakdown the big worry

The following article from News24:-

“In two Tests, the Boks have coughed up 19 turnovers to the three from the Irish. Amongst the plethora of stats that point to the Boks being caught between game plans, this stat is perhaps the most alarming.

Scrums, lineouts, kick-ins and defence remain key components of the game, but it’s the breakdown that has become fundamental to the modern game.

It is influenced, and has influence on, every facet of the game, and has become a true science.

Take England’s win over the Aussies last weekend. Deserved praise for their heroic defence, but by having to commit only one or two players to every breakdown, they were gifted a 13 or 14 man defence that was almost impenetrable given that the Aussies were needing three or four players to secure the ball.

Or what about players approaching an attacking breakdown? Do they look for an attempted offload, clean the opposition tackler, or watch out for the attempted chest tackle that would set up a maul and thus turnover ball? Every line and body position is different.

And while you get attacking and defensive scrums and lineouts, the mechanics remain fairly similar. The breakdown, though, is almost a different sport on attack and defence... and hugely influenced by the game you want to play. If asking players to play for the offload, does that leave you vulnerable to the turnover on the ground if it goes wrong?

On defence, it’s often about the type of tackle made. An aggressive tackle that smashes the ball carrier back has more chance of affording you the steal - or at least not having to over commit players. A passive tackle not only allows the opposition to get over all important gain line, but also offers them many more options while in the tackle.

Most of the ball coughed up by the Boks seemed to be as a result of a poor body position from players going into contact, but given the above, could this perhaps be as a result of not knowing their exact role when heading into the tackle?

And while it’s easy to point a finger at having no out and out fetcher in the side (something that really bothers me), the modern day breakdown has become a sport the whole team not only can, but must, play.

At this all important juncture in South African rugby, was it really the right time to get rid of specialist breakdown coach Richie Gray? Scotland coach Vern Cotter wasted no time in adding him to his staff as a defensive contact specialist.

Instead the Boks seem to have multiple voices having a say in this all important facet of play. Matt Proudfoot is officially in charge of the breakdown, but also has the scrums and all points of contact to worry about. Johann van Graan is in charge of all team attack and lineout play, Mzwandile Stick runs the backs, while Jacques Nienaber is the minister of defence.

What happens when Stick wants to implement an offloading game, while Proudfoot has the guys looking to clean, and Van Graan is planning a strike move that requires a static pod set up off a one-off runner?”

I am not saying this is happening, but I have never seen Siya Kolisi have such an iffy game as the one he had at Ellis Park, especially going into contact. He is factually a better player than that.

The 19 turnovers as a result of an indecisive breakdown speaks to the Boks being caught between game plans, and one has to wonder if there are perhaps too many cooks in that kitchen?

The above article covers a number of issues – as to body position of players – but the main problem is with the issue of ball protection and recovery.  MEYER to his credit identified that issue and brought in Gray to deal with the issue -  resulting in improvement, but never really solving the problem.

The question is why that problem persisted – but got worse in the last two tests.   The key issue is the PROTECTION  and RECOVERY of breakdown balls.   That remains a key function of the loosies – but the Springok team has always been suffering from pace-deficient loosies incapable of getting timeously to breakdown points.  Watching the games over the past two weekends, it was quite regular that Du Toit and Etzebeth got to breakdown points before the loosies did.  That happened until both Vermeulen and Kolisi was replaced.

The other problem is that of the three loosies who started –

*   Vermeulen – if he could get there timeously – was always effective in that component of the game;

*    Louw was at best iffy – when it came t o breakdown ball protection and recovery; and

*    Kolisi never knew anything about that component of the game.

With that component of the game of the backline players only De Allende and to a lesser extent Pietersen – in the starting line-up – and Combrinck is capable of ball protection and recovery – the rest of the players may not even be on the field of play.