Why we are so average

Yep at his best Willie is better.....right now he is not  

 He was brought into the mix way back when Meyer ran out of full backs ... unfortunately he stayed. 
It shows how depleted we are at 15 if he's considered our best option. 

 Link

Post Mortem: Test Match Time June 2016

 

Week Three

 

   

 

 

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

 George Santayana, 1863 to 1952.

 

The Italian philosopher, essayist, poet and novelist probably never saw a rugby match in his 90 years on this planet, but his famous quote is again relevant today as we look back at the rugby of the last three weeks and try and learn something from each game.

 

It is time for some in depth analysis and serious thinking. It is time to learn from history.

 

Where to start? I think I will go about it alphabetically and kick off with Australia.

 

Fact: Eddie Jones won the mind games and sledge-fest. Somehow he managed to get under the skin and into the minds of his fellow Australians, and that had a huge effect on the outcome of the three tests. He teased and taunted, insulted and damned, with faint praise. He niggled and tickled…..

 

He did all the things Australians are so good at as they go about causing the “mental disintegration” of their opponents in the field of sporting conflict. They like to get their media involved in putting down the opponents; they like their crowd to launch into their “traditional” barracking from the terraces; and they really and conspicuously enjoy a good sledge or joke at the expense of their opponents. Especially when those opponents are the Poms. They simply love it…

 

But Australians do not like it when the boot is on the other foot! And Eddie Jones wore that boot, and delivered a thorough kicking!

 

The reality of the series against England is less about Eddie’s mind games and more about an undercooked Aussie team.

 

Their media (and their coach) have had a full go at the referees, suggesting all manner of unfavorable refereeing decisions that somehow contributed to the downfall of the mighty Wallabies. Romain Poite, Craig Joubert, and Nigel Owens have born the brunt of some pretty angry, and totally biased, Aussie media hacks.

 

“It was a bunch of rubbish refereeing calls – again!” says News.com.au after the third test, even implying Nigel Owens was somehow biased. Last week they questioned Craig Joubert’s impartiality, and the week before Romain Poite was the target.

 

Michael Cheika has also not been quiet on the subject of the referee. He has had a go at decision following the ball bouncing off the “Spidercam” and has also queried the referee’s interpretations of various laws.

 

What the Wallabies and their coach really need to do is to consider Santayana’s wise words and try and learn something from the three tests.

 

Consider this:

 

In the three tests combined, England scored 106 points, and Australia 75. The points difference between the two sides is thus just 31 points.

 

Yet Australia gave away 45 points in penalties! Points, on a platter handed to Owen Farrell, who was in the kicking form of his life. You might question one or two refereeing calls, but for three international referees, two of which are probably rated No 1 and No 2 in the entire world, to penalize you constantly and consistently suggests that you, the Wallabies and your coaches, are getting it very wrong. Nope Mikey and News.com.au, it was not the referees!

 

The reality is a Wallaby side that showed extremely poor discipline throughout the series. Unnecessary penalties coupled with a litany of mistakes and some very poor decisions, and they were on a hiding to nothing against an England team that maintained their discipline and stuck to a simple tactical plan throughout the series.

 

Eddie Jones outcoached Michael Cheika, just as he did to Heyneke Meyer at the World Cup in 2015. Jones probed for weaknesses in the Wallabies, identified them, and then drew up the game plan to exploit the weaknesses with chilling efficiency.

 

While Cheika blamed Australia’s high error rate and refereeing blunders for the Wallabies conceding a series to the English, he must also take a long hard look at his own strategies and tactics. He chose to focus on high-risk attacking rugby, probably because it was very effective for the Wallabies at last year’s World Cup. His problem is found in the team he selected and prepared to play his chosen style of rugby.

 

He chose two carthorses, behemoth centers better known for crashball rugby, rather than for fleet-footed running and slick ball handling skills. He missed the brains of Matt Giteau, the slick running of Kurtley Beale, the discipline of Drew Mitchell, the calmness and decision making of Will Genia, and the hard running of Adam Ashley-Cooper.  He might even have managed to get some discipline from Quade Cooper. The sad reality is that European rugby has robbed the Aussies of a full backline of pure class!

 

If you want to play running rugby, you need a fully functional, thinking midfield, and that is where a lot of the Wallaby play broke down through a lack of vision and inaccuracy. Added to the ill-discipline of the team in general and it is not difficult to see where the Aussies handed the initiative to England.  

 

I guess the final nail in the Aussie coffin has to be the loss of David Pocock to injury. Yes, he was getting on the wrong side of the referee quite a lot, but boy, he is invaluable to the Wallabies right at the coalface of the game. They missed him.

 

I know Eddie Jones is saying that he is ready to take on the All Blacks right now, but that is just bluster. England are a good team, a fairly well drilled outfit, with some very promising youngsters, but they are not a great team. They give away far too much possession and thrive on the mistakes of their opponents and, Eddie, you cannot give the All Blacks possession and hope they will let you back into the game by coughing up the ball and conceding penalties. I may know very little about rugby, but I do know the All Blacks don’t do that!

 

New Zealand

 

Fact: The All Blacks remain in a class of their own

 

Perhaps the easiest way to summarise the All Blacks’ series victory of Wales is to throw out just one word: Depth.

 

Boy, Oh Boy, do they have depth!

 

Think on these things:

 

At 15, they have the world’s best fullback Ben Smith, and they can afford to play him on the wing to accommodate an in-form and high spirited Israel Dagg, while keeping a certain Damian McKenzie under wraps for the time being.

 

They can afford to drop Julian Savea, and Naholo, and Osborne, and… about 14 other wings and they still have top quality finishers waiting for a chance.

 

Aaron Cruden gets injured. No worries, Beauden Barrett is there, with Lima Sopoaga to back him up! We know that Steve Hansen and his circle of wise councilors prefer to use Barrett as an impact player off the bench, but he is easily as good as, if not better than any other starting 10 they might have in mind!

 

Remember Ma'a Nonu and Conrad Smith? They were pretty good, weren't they? But their replacements are not too shabby either.  Steve Hansen says that Ryan Crotty was a bit like Conrad Smith, not flashy, but a great defender, a solid communicator, and he knows how to get his outside backs moving. Remember Sonny Bill Williams? He is coming back into the mix soon, and then there are still the likes of Seta Tamanivalu, George Moala, Malakai Fekitoa, and Charlie Ngatai. That is some depth in the midfield.

 

In the first two Tests the Welsh visitors proved to be competitive for around an hour of each of the matches; very little separated the two sides at half-time. Then the quality of that All Black depth and the bench kicked in, and it was all over for the brave men in red jerseys.

 

Then the third test came around. The All Blacks were done sparring with Wales. They simply kicked their entire game up a couple of notches, turned on the style, and blew the Welshmen off the park.

 

They have the depth, they have a core of very experienced players, and they have a very strong leadership group. They have continuity in coaching, continuity in playing style and tactics, and they have the confidence! Confidence in each other, and confidence in their management.

 

I can hear them whispering: “Bring it on Eddie Jones and England!”

 

South Africa

 

There was a strange sense of relief when the final whistle blew on Saturday and we could look back on a series that was, somehow, won rather than lost.

 

Fact:  The Springboks still have plenty to do

 

I can fully understand the problems faced by Allister Coetzee as he walked into his new job as South African coach just before this series against Ireland kicked off three weeks ago. A lesser man would have declined the job and taken to the hills, screaming. – The entire process that resulted in his appointment was seriously flawed and beset with internecine squabbling and back-stabbing amongst the managing echelons of South Africa rugby. After postponement after postponement Coetzee’s appointment was announced, a scant 4 weeks before the first test against Ireland.

 

It smacked of a set-up – Allister Coetzee was being set up to fail.

 

Why? Perhaps we shall learn the reasons for this thoroughly stupid and reckless bit of administrative obfuscation some day. Perhaps not. The South African rugby administrators mirror the national political masters of this country by being completely unaccountable to anyone for their actions, expenditures, decisions, or for any mismanagement of state resources. It is always someone else’s fault!

 

Once Allister had accepted the poison chalice of rugby, he had a mountain to climb. Just four weeks to fill the holes in his coaching and management structures; visit the unions and franchises; watch some games to see what was going on and identify the players he wanted in his squad; decide on strategies and tactics; establish his requirements for coaching sessions, clinics and analysis sessions; build relationships with administrators, coaches, and players alike; assess the form and discuss the availability of overseas based players; call up his squad; arrange practice sessions and camps in the two weeks prior to the first Irish test. That is the rugby equivalent of arranging and conducting an expedition to summit Mount Everest over a long weekend!

 

And then he still had to move house from Japan back to South Africa!

 

Small wonder, then, that the Boks looked undercooked and ill-prepared for the challenge offered by the Irish.

 

This was probably the most inexperienced Bok squad in the history of the modern game! The paucity of caps amongst the squad was highlighted in one of my earlier discourses, suffice to say that the previous coaching regime’s focus on fielding Dad’s Army resulted in a dearth of youngsters with any top level experience.

 

Couple that inexperience to a lack of blooded leaders in the squad – a backline with just Pat Lambie and JP Pietersen who could be considered veterans in the trenches, and JP has never captained anything other than the rubber duck in his bath. Once Lambie was out of the reckoning the Bok backline was a bunch of rookies without natural leaders to tell them when to calm down and when to panic.

 

Adriaan Strauss has been a very good provincial and franchise captain during the last couple of years, but he seemed a bit startled by his appointment as Bok captain. He appeared overwhelmed by the responsibility and simply disappeared on the park. There were times when an experienced captain would have been quick and loud in the referee’s ear, and Adriaan was nowhere to be seen.

 

The Springbok team of 2016 is very much a team in transition. There is the transition between the “Old Guard” so heavily favoured by Heyneke Meyer, and the rookies who have been left to fill their boots. There is the transition from one coaching regime to another. There is a transition from one leadership group to another.

 

The lesson to be learned from this series against Ireland is a simple one: There is a huge amount of work ahead for the Bok coaches and management, as well as the players, if they are to have any meaningful say in the Rugby Championship. The focus has to be on issues such as ball retention, running effective support lines, discipline over the ball, effective communication between players, tactical kicking, work at the breakdowns, individual and unit skills, tactical plays and strategies and, critically, gelling as a team.

 

 A huge improvement in almost every aspect of team play and individual decision-making is required before the Rugby Championship kicks off in August.

 

Allister and the Boks have the chance to learn from history and ensure that they do not make the same mistakes again. I hope they do.

 

(I do not hold out much hope for their bosses. I am not sure that the rugby administrators fully understand the wisdom of George Santayana, I am not even sure that all of them can read.)

 

Sadly, I am not sure that the South African rugby public will give Allister Coetzee and the Boks the room they need to build a winning side for the future. Swift to condemn and quick on the trigger, the public will loom large in every player’s rearview mirror as they go about getting ready for the 2016 Rugby Championships.

 

The final tests of June 2016.

 

I am not going to conduct a full post mortem on the games over in Australia and New Zealand. The comments I made above cover most of my thinking about the final two tests in those two countries. I am also avoiding a ball-by-ball analysis of the South Africa/Ireland game, there have been enough such analyses by all manner of hacks, specialists, and commentators during the last two days. I will focus on some interesting observations from the game itself.

 

South Africa vs Ireland.

 

It is interesting to start our quick discussion on last weekend’s test match by taking a look at some stats.

 

On Saturday Ireland had 68% of the possession and 73% of the territorial advantage, yet the Boks managed to win by 6 points. This might sound a bit weird, but then, in the first test match, South Africa had 56% of the possession and 57% of the territorial advantage, yet Ireland managed to win by 6 points. (In the second test the Boks enjoyed 60% of the possession and 65% of the territory, and managed a 6-point win after trailing Ireland for most of the first 60 minutes.)

 

This is telling us that possession and territorial advantage is not the primary precursor to victory. Yes, you do need the ball if you want to win, but it is all about what you do with the ball, and the elimination of mistakes with the ball in hand that makes the real difference. (Very much the same lesson was learned over in Australia, OZ had all the ball and the territory, yet England won the series.)

 

Perhaps the most telling of all statistics last Saturday is the way South Africa started to eliminate the mistakes they made with the ball in hand in the previous two tests. The previous week’s second test had seen a horrendous 17 handling errors, this week they were much much better, with just 6 handling errors. The resolute defence of the Boks also forced the Irish into making more handling errors in this game than they had made in the previous two tests combined, 14 handling errors in the face of intense defensive pressure shows how roles were reversed in Port Elizabeth.

 

The tackle count was a massive 185 by South Africa to 81 by Ireland, with the Boks missing 25 tackles, while Ireland missed 5. The tackler-in-chief on the day was, not unexpectedly, Warren Whiteley, who made 24 tackles. It was a desperate yet totally committed final tackle by Faf de Klerk that summed up the game, and won the series.

 

The penalty count remained high on both sides, 13 conceded by the Boks and 11 by Ireland.

 

Another area of significant improvement for the Boks was their complete domination of the scrums. Frans Malherbe had found his game, and it showed as the Irish scrum was under the whip throughout the game. When that giant young ginger Steven Kitshoff finally and deservedly earned his first cap, he promptly showed why he is probably the best young loosehead in world rugby, he promptly pulverized the Irishman who was unfortunate enough to have to face him in his first international scrum.

 

I guess Saturday’s test match can really be summed up in just a couple of words: Fortune favoured the brave! It was a massively brave defensive effort by South Africa, and a goodly slice of luck, but they managed to win a game they should really have lost.

 

What else did we learn from this third test?

 

Perhaps the most valuable lesson that South Africa can take from the final test is that they can, and have, played under extreme pressure, and survived. The sheer guts and never-say-die attitude of a largely inexperienced team with their collective backs to the wall was impressive in it’s own right. This is extremely valuable stuff – they have learned to absorb intense pressure and have coped with it – and that is experience that cannot be bought!

 

The Boks also fixed the technical scrummaging problems that we identified in the second test at Ellis Park. The Beast Mtawarira bound long and strong and had no more of his short arm binding nonsense. Pieter-Steph du Toit got his angles right on the left hand side of the second row, and that immediately stabilized the entire front five. This resulted in Strauss staying straight and down, and not lifting Malherbe’s inside shoulder and causing him to twist. And as soon as the tight five worked as a unit, the Irish were in trouble.

 

The Bok tactical kicking is something of a nightmare. Most of the Irish possession came from wayward tactical and touch kicks by South Africa’s 10, 15, and 9.

 

Elton Jantjies needs to spend a whole lot of time working on the accuracy of his tactical kicks and learning to find touch. He needs to learn the value of a chip kick and a grubber when the opposition is adopting a rush defence system. He is used to playing off the front foot for his Lions franchise, and is very good when his team goes forward, but his defensive game is more than a little creaky. This is test match rugby and he needs to brush up on some of those basics.

 

Willie le Roux must spend a lot of time on his tactical kicking too. Firstly, he needs to start using the kick as his second option again, rather than the first, and then he needs to start looking for the spaces his kicks used to find last year, and the year before. The kick he fed to the Irish that gave hooker Cronin the chance to carry the ball all the way from his own 22 to the Bok 22m area was the stuff of nightmares.

 

Faf de Klerk had a superb game, mostly. His try saving heroics earn him my Man-Of-The-Match award, but he very nearly gave the game to the Irish!  He very nearly cost South Africa the match with that wayward box kick in the final minutes of the game. The kick was short, poorly directed, and seriously ill-advised, resulting in a penalty as his forwards were caught in the 10m circle when the ball came down.  Ireland used the penalty to force a lineout back on the Bok goal line, and the pressure was back on South Africa for the last four desperate minutes. It was a silly kick and illustrates his one weakness as a scrumhalf. His box-kicks are speculative rather than assured, and often too slow, so that he is in danger of getting charged down, as has happened in this series. He needs a whole heap of work on this aspect of the game.

 

South Africa does not want to revert to Jakeball with kicking halfbacks and midfielders sending every ball skywards and downfield, but they do need accuracy and purpose in their tactical kicks. They also need to execute their kicks from defensive positions with a quickness of purpose and with accuracy too.

 

This is a department that needs urgent attention before the Rugby Championships rolls around in August!

 

Whilst there were many things still lacking in the Bok performance in Port Elizabeth, there were a couple of truly pleasing improvements, and that indicates a team that is learning. They fixed the problem in the scrums, they improved their handling and ball retention by a huge margin. Communication amongst the players has started to gel, none more so than during the organization and execution of that massive defensive effort.

 

If they can continue to learn, and continue to fix their mistakes and problems, this team will rise to future challenges. This might be a team in transition, but it is heading the right way, slowly, slowly, but surely!

 

They have survived the huge challenge of a very game and well coached Irish squad, and that is a good start to a new coaching regime that surely looked as if it was set up to fail.

 

Lets look at some of the individual performances:

 

 

15 Willie le Roux:

 

Willie is not yet at his best. He has improved with each of the three games so far this year, and we know he can be a game breaker. His tactical kicking is still a worry, but his running with the ball in hand has improved by leaps and bounds. He needs to gel with his wings and supporting midfielders, they ned to learn to run off him and anticipate the spaces he creates. It is a work in progress. 

Some say he should have got a red card for his collision with O’Halloran, yet there is no doubt whatsoever that he was going for the ball, his eyes never left the ball for a nano-second.  Another ref might have seen it differently, especially the judgment that he “had no real expectation of securing the ball” is a bit harsh. Over in New Zealand Naholo was only penalized for the same offence, given a warning by the referee but no card, and thus no citing either. 5/10

 

14 Ruan Combrinck:

 

The value of a big strong wing cannot ever be over emphasized. Kicked well out of hand, tackled well, and supported well. No real chances with the ball in hand. He is going to make the right wing slot his own for a long while. 6/10

 

13 Lionel Mapoe:

 

If this were a school report it would read: Much improved, tried harder, but still making silly mistakes. Conceded unnecessary penalties, missed a couple of tackles and conceded a couple of turnovers. Started to find his inside centre partner. Has huge potential but needs a lot of work. 5/10

 

12 Damian de Allende:

 

Does some really good things, and then makes some really silly mistakes! Gave away a totally unnecessary penalty, but did really good work over the ball and made some super tackles, missed a couple too. Starting to find his form, but is still a way off his best. 6/10

 

11 JP Pietersen:

 

What a try! But there are still real issues with his defensive line. He comes off his wing and inside onto the centers, leaving his wing space exposed. This results in some desperate attempts to intercept passes bfore they get to the wing who has space outside him. Made four telling tackles. Carried the ball 4 times and made 20 meters with the ball in hand. 6/10

 

10 Elton Jantjies:

 

Oh Elton, those tactical kicks were truly horrid. Yet that kick for JP to score was truly sublime! Missed a crucial tackle to allow the Irish try. Not his finest hour. 5/10

 

9 Francois de Klerk:

 

Gee, but those silly little mistakes that so nearly cost his team the game, but then, WOW, that intercept when he found an extra centimeter in his arms to climb just high enough to stop a try scoring pass, and then that tackle that won the test match. Without a doubt my Man-Of-The-Match, but he could easily have been the villain of the piece too! 8/10

 

8 Warren Whiteley:

 

Enormous on defence, 24 tackles - the most of any player in the game – together with 7 carries, 2 defenders beaten, 20 meters run, 2 kicks fielded, and 2 lineouts won. He can be satisfied with his contribution. 7/10

 

7 Siya Kolisi:

 

Much better than the previous week. Did his job, made his tackles. Not outstanding, but then who was? Seems to lack a bit of the physicality that South Africa needs in the close in tough stuff. 5/10

 

6 Francois Louw:

 

Must have read what the papers had to say about him last week. Came back with his best performance of the series. Not yet up to his best form, but certainly much better than in the first two tests.  6/10

 

5 Pieter-Steph du Toit:

 

Sorted out his scrummaging problems. Made 15 tackles, the next best after Whiteley. A physical presence all over the field and in contact situations. Needs a bit of work on his distribution skills once h has the ball in hand. Watch a couple of videos of Brodie Retallick’s midfield plays. Covers an enormous amount of ground with his exceptional work rate, but his lineouts need a bit of work. 6/10

 

4 Eben Etzebeth:

 

Look at this man’s game stats: 6 lineouts won, 14 tackles - the third most of the entire team, 2 carries, 4 passes. His scrummaging power behind Malherbe is legendary, and his physical support of ball carriers in the tight-loose is special. It is no wonder that Clive Woodward chose him as the only South African in his conglomerate side after the June tests were done and dusted.  Significantly, when he was subbed the Irish promptly won their first uncontested lineout at 2 in the entire game! 7/10

 

3 Frans Malherbe:

 

Frans went away from Ellis Park looking harassed and more than a little concerned. The media hacks called for his head, their knives slashing… The quite man from the Stormers came back in Port Elizabeth and promptly showed why he is South Africa’s premier tighthead. With the Bok scrum woes fixed after work on the other side of the scrum, he was able to keep his back straight, and that was all he wanted. He immediately established dominance over the Irish loosehead, and that is pretty much the story of the scrums. In addition he made 3 carries, and a big 7 tackles. Better Frans, much better. Not yet your best, but better! 6/10

 

2 Adriaan Strauss (captain):

 

Still struggling with the weight of captaincy. His lineouts were sometimes a little worrying, especially when he baulked with one throw, costing a free kick when South Africa were on attack. Much better in the scrums and over the loose ball, earning a penalty and a couple of turnovers. We know his class, he just needs to gain confidence in his new job. 5/10

 

1 Tendai Mtawarira:

 

Better. He fixed his sudden aberration in the scrum from the week before and got his binding right. With the basics of his game fixed, he  started to carry the ball again, as PE roared his name. Not great on defence, but did his job. 5/10

 

 

Replacements:

 

16 Bongi Mbonambi (on for Strauss, 79th min):

 

Not enough time to be rated.

 

17 Steven Kitshoff (on for Mtawarira, 57th min):

 

Massive scrum first up and made all his tackles, especially one big crunching hit. One or two very good, powerful, carries of the ball, and was good over the ball on the ground. How anybody could ignore his claim for a spot in the Bok squad for last year’s World Cup remains a mystery. 6/10

 

18 Julian Redelinghuys (on for Malherbe, 57th min):

 

Again did exactly what was required of him. No flash, no fuss, just very solid and dependable. 6/10

 

19 Franco Mostert (on for Etzebeth, 74th min):

 

Not enough time to be rated.

 

20 Jaco Kriel (on for Kolisi, 60th min):

 

A welcome debut for the best flanker in South African rugby at the moment. Came into the game with a burst of energy and made some really good hits in the process. Deserves more time on the field. 6/10

 

21 Rudy Paige:

 

Not used.

 

22 Morné Steyn:

 

Not used.

 

23 Lwazi Mvovo:

 

Not used.

 

I will not rate the individual Irish players this week – they were immense in so many aspects of the game and played with enormous energy and commitment, but could not breach that Springbok wall! Critical errors at real crucial moments cost them thee final test and the series. They all deserve a collective rating of 6/10.

And that, folks, is the end of the June Test Match break!

 Draad
Thanks for the article, still to read it in full but will do at a later date. This bit caught my eye and it's something I've repeated many times in the face of those calling for a single player(Flyhalf) who would ignite our backline....it's not going to happen and never will happen.
"If you want to play running rugby, you need a fully functional, thinking midfield, and that is where a lot of the Wallaby play broke down through a lack of vision and inaccuracy."

 Denny, there are a few things in the article I don't agree with, but it gives a bit of perspective on quite a couple of things ignored by most critics. 

 There's lessons to be learnt from that series. First one is that if a team is going to play the running game it needs to be tooled up, it needs to have intellectual property throughout the backline and it also needs a good kicking game to gain territorial advantage. It is only a fool who believes that a single player i.e the flyhalf who is going to make it happen. If the Irish series didn't prove my point then nothing will.The Boks I believe should go their own way by continuing to invest in good structures, in other words, they must master all facets of set play, a  specialist "Fetcher" is a must but they must also learn to dominate the ruck, smart kicking needs to replace aimless kicking. Lastly, they would need to understand the art of creating space, in other words, they need some nous instead of relying solely on brawn.

 There's no easy fix and some combinations and different players must be given a go. It will take time, as there are actually no players putting their hands up in a few crucial positions. This is the most unsettled and poor Bok setup I've seen in years, if not ever, but there are some youngsters coming through who might be ready in a year or 2. Not all doom and gloom, but it's gonna get worse before it gets better.