The take on Schalk and Meyer's tactical shortcomings

A lot has been said about Schalk Burger’s 26 carries in the game against Wales and how he was deserving of his Man-of-the-Match Award because of his tireless energy. He made 26 carries for 55m as well as chipping in with 16 tackles. This is a phenomenal effort and shows just how much “The Incredible Schalk” means to the Boks.

The flip-side of the coin is that Burger only got across the gainline 11 times! This is a less than 50% return from his carries and raises a lot of questions. Is Schalk an ineffective ball carrier? Are the Boks “selling him” and giving him man and ball situations?

I think the answer lies in the tactics that the Boks employ. Looking at the Stormers this season, Schalk was often used to draw in defenders before passing the ball to the backline. He has great hands and his sheer physical presence is enough to make the opposition commit at least two players to him which opens up space elsewhere. The Boks on the other hand are committed to a more “stampkar” type of rugby where wave after wave of forwards takes it up off the scrumhalf. It is easy to defend against as the Boks’ opponents just line up two or three hefty specimens one space off the ruck and pulverize anything that comes down that channel…and it almost always comes down that channel!

The All Blacks, Irish and Australians have a slight variation on this tactic (more in keeping with the Stormers’ strategy) of passing the ball to an angled runner just before contact which effectively puts the ball carrier into the space that his passing team mate has just created by taking the tackle. The other variation is that they make play occur off the flyhalf. All three of those teams use the diamond formation when taking the ball up. This gives them three options:

An inside pass
A flat pass (crash ball option), or
A pass to the player running behind them who then links with the rest of the backline.

The benefit of playing the ball off the flyhalf is that it is less predictable and there are always two dummy runners to draw the attention of the defenders.

Schalk has been amazing this World Cup in terms of his commitment to the Bok cause but how much more effective could he have been if we varied our tactics slightly and created space for him to punch holes through instead of expecting him to run into a brick wall phase after phase?

That is not mine, found it on the Sharks site.......but it sums up what many have been saying, starting with Carpetmuncher........we use Schalk as our first receiver far too often and this is particularly ineffective from structured or first phase ball, which should be used to unleash the pace and creativity in the backs.

Its far too predictable to have Schalk bashing it up everytime, its easy to defend against. As the article says, Schalk has good hands, so use them. Variety is the spice of life.....bash it up at times, but also look to attack space and put his backs into space or use him as a decoy runner. Mix it up for goodness sake....its obvious.

More than anything Meyer needs to have Willie playing to his strengths.....we cant have Willie trying to play the kicking game when he is in a position to create his magic. Meyer's conservatism is nullifying our greatest attacking threat. Leave the tactical kicking to Pollard and du Preez, which has to be spot on given the threat of Skud, Savea and Smith.

We have to dominate the AB's up front which we should be able to do as we have the physical edge. We also need to use our exciting young flyhalf and centre pair on attack.

We cant expect to win this game playing defensive conservative rugby........the Kiwi;s are too good for that......we need to strike a balance between percentage rugby and attacking space when the opportunity presents itself.

I hope to hell we don't just see the kick and chase and hope for the best option, for if we do, we will be going home

No fuckwit.......I'm in the office......multi tasking......not that my typing speed is any good.

Only a dumb prick like you could even suggest that I was trying to pass that off as my own......imagine me throwing in a phrase like “The Incredible Schalk”.......wake up old fart

If one could actually use the edit it might help.......but my follow up post clearly states that it was not mine.......but then those that know me, would have known that anyway.

Schalk takes the ball into traffic all the time but is unproductive is the point......by being first receiver and doing nothing with the ball, you deprive to more creative backs from doing their thing.

Schalk needs to be instructed to vary it......take contact, pass now and again or run a decoy line.......but more to the point, he should not be receiving the ball as first receiver as much as he is......its poor tactics and predictable.......easy to defend against, hence his lack of productivity