The dumbest six minutes in Bok history

I blame Pollard . . . and Herschelle Jantjies to a lesser extent. 

During those last few minutes I was literally screaming "stop kicking" at the TV but to no avail. 

Pollard seems to have all his flair and game management coached out of him. It's a great pity. I once thought he could become the next Henry Honiball . . . maybe not with Honiball's same crunching defence but offset to some extent because he has a much better kicking boot. I no longer think that. Pollard will never be half as good as Lem and he's become another robotic SA flyhalf who doesn't even scan the field for options before hoofing it away.

Very frustrating and compounded by the fact that Pollard is clearly the best of our robotic and unimaginative flyhalves so we just don't have better. If I was Bok coach I'd give Pollard a video of Henry Honiball highlights and explain that's what we need . . . but I fear it's too late.

We don't have a Mounga or a Beauden Barrett and we also simply don't play the same game they are suited to . . . but a big strong hard-tackling flyhalf who at least attempts to keep the ball in hand on occasion would transform this team.

The players are robots following the coaching team's game plan (Box kicks). 
I wonder if it is frustrating for them, and if anyone is complaining about not running when there are overlaps and space. 

‘During those last few minutes I was literally screaming "stop kicking" at the TV but to no avail.’……waaaaaahahaha. …..’to no avail’. He apparently thought it really might work!

Look the Boks box kicking is incredibly effective…..Faf puts the ball on a dime and the chase is awesome. We got a lot out of it today. But it is a crap shoot….sometimes it’s going to bite you, as it did today near the end.

As a tactical tool  it’s fine….with the ball coming down between halfway and the opponents 22. Never in your own half.

But we need the variation and effective phase play eg at the death today.

Pakie take your point on Mostert not moving the AB centre much….but take a look at Lomp being carried backwards 3 metres in the tackle at minute 78. 

The kicks pretty much depend on the opposition failing to field those kicks. If they start fielding them, we have a problem, and start losing territory and start feeling the pinch in our half. I see a lot of very aimless kicking, thoughtless even. 

Even if the Boks did 50% box kicks, and 50% running it would be a major improvement. 
Or just running from broken play, counter attacks and overlaps - and doing box kicks with the rest. 

While South Africa backs do not have the passing skills of a say an All-Black backline, they can or at least should score on overlaps. 
 

I disagree with running the ball more. The Boks already tried that against Australia, and it was less effective. You stick to what you can do, running without effectiveness in greater volume isn't going to make it more effective. The Boks need territory to conceal their glass jaw, and they need penalties to set up the maul inside or around the opposition 22. The entire structure of the Bok attack on the ground isn't where it should be. It only makes matters worse. 

Mostert was totally useless as expected  - zero impact in the game   3 carries - no meters gain,  critical turnover conceded.    Al one can say - is the present team is missing the master at 7 Du Toit badly.      

Mostert was totally useless as expected  - zero impact in the game   3 carries - no meters gain,  critical turnover conceded.    Al one can say - is the present team is missing the master at 7 Du Toit badly.      

You would think the Boks could have kept possession with pick & goes for example.

In this game, no.

This video is misleading and is an effort to dress the abyssal lack of rugby displayed during this game. It features disjointed elements with no connection to the rest of the game.

As expected, the SA team joined the game with the mentality of losing by the smallest margin possible. They were obsessed with saving the face and pretend to be what they are not.

They got what they looked for: a flattering scoreboard.

In order to achieve the goal, SA players gave up on many usual tasks assigned to players. Especially the forwards pack surrendered many usual tasks. They restricted themselves to what they considered to the bare essential to achieve their goal.

Ball conservation was out of the picture from the very start.

On one hand, the NZ side is trying to refresh their game style by demanding more than usual from their forward pack, on the other hand, the SA side tries to keep their boat afloat by requiring less than usual from the pack of forwards.

Where it overlapsed, it provided the shallow perception that SA forwards were proficient when in fact they conceded so much from traditional tasks that they managed to stay relevant on the few left ones.

One consequence is that at this stage of the game, as ball conservation had never been on the cards, the whole SA team could not fill the void.

Way easier to downsize than expand. In order to pretend, SA forwards sacrificed too much and were beyond a point of no return.

Another point (among many others) is that SA still had the lead and had no reason whatsoever to change their restrictions. So they stuck to what they could barely do but still do.

SA team got what they wanted: a score that misrepresents their value. The score makes them look way better than they were.

It is all about appearing. The score depicts them as contenders when they are not.

The SA team was walking a very thin line, they were stuck in such rigidity they could not even change the receiver planned to be tested. Even though the most important event during the game was the massive blunder conceded by one NZ player. That gifted SA with the equivalent of three penalties.

Any tale claiming that going from such a reduced lack of rugby, SA could have changed and adapted where they were unable to switch their kick target whereas other players in the backline had exhibited feverish handling is nothing more than a tale.

A tale that will keep going as people prefer to deny the situation of SA rugby.

Yes, the 17th ranked flank by production of 2019 and the player who gave up a try, missed nearly 40% of his tackles, and who was a blunt weapon carrying the ball. Yes, those two. 

The three players who put in the worst performances this year In the RC were Pollard, De Klerk and Mostert.   Looks like Pollard became a Steyn clone and that needs to be stopped asap.  

Pollard gets backs away into space? I don't recall seeing that. Last I saw, the big gimmick was playing Damian "in the flyhalf position" and Josè banning offloads, so we can kick aimlessly. 

But you told us it was all good Pervert……said Harrassmus had it all in control. I see you finally had the courage to slime your way back into the rugby section…..missing in action since the Wallabies popped your Harrassmus balloon.

Faf and Pollard are doing exactly what Harrrassmus coached this team to do…play Bools !980s rugby.