Xs & Os - Puma Tries (Game 2)

TRY 1

18:03 - 4 man lineout. P2 throws to the front to P1. P1 throws back to P9. P9 cut pass in front of decoy P14 to POD in middle of the field (P6.P12.P7). P9 passing to P12, P12 engages the defence, passes short to P7. S6 takes him laterally high and S7 hits him head-on, bringing him to ground. 

18:10 - P9 with a POD outside him, passing to the middle runner. S10 and S8 bring him to ground. 

18:16 - P9 goes the opposite direction, P10 comes up close on his inside with P15 come up deeper between them. P10 engages S6, sending P15 through the gap with a short inside ball. Note the obstruction on S5 from defending the fringe. 

TRY 2

22:33 - Puma's get a good wheel on the scrum. Very good attacking platform. P8 picks up and runs into seam. He has S6 and S10 converging upon him. He draws S10, passing to P11. The ball bobbles on the ground, but P11 gathers it as he comes around the back of P12, he meets S11 immediately, but passes to P13. He has space to run into as S6 cuts across to meet him. He doesn't have the pace to catch him. It's now a 2v2 between P13, P13 and S13, S15. S13 takes P13 low, but the offload has P14 dart into the space exposed by S15's poor marking. 

TRY 3

26:38 - Puma scrum in Bok 22. P8 takes it off the back, but S9 darts around and takes him around the waist, hitting the ball out in the process. P8 gathers the loose ball, presenting quickly for P9. P12 comes in to secure ruck, stifling S6's attempt to attack the ruck by taking him very high. 

26:41 - P9 attempts to pick up from the base, but is swarmed by S9, then S8 head-on. P9 shoves the ball back to nobody. P13 tracks back and gathers loose ball. S22, now on for S14, ends up on the ground, attempting to pin P13, but fails.

26:46 - P13 passes to S10 on the outside from the ground. Pumas have two backs now attacking the short side: S10 with S12 outside him. P10 has S7 defending the space against two attackers, S10 dummies and darts inside him. S10 has space and the two forwards, S1 and S2, cannot close him down. 

TRY 4

44:22 - Pumas awarded penalty. P10 kicks into the corner, but fails to find touch. S13 fields kick, passes inside to S15. S15 kicks far downfield where P15 fields kick. He feigns a high ball before charging into the line. S3 takes him to ground. 

44:32 - P9 wide left to P10. P10 fakes wide pass, cuts back in, in the face of S6 and S5. S5 brings him to ground for a short gain. 

44:38 - Same direction. P9 to POD coming around the corner. Boks rush up on the outside, cutting him off. P4 runs back inside and is brought down immediately upon contact by S7, then S3. S7 strongly absorbing the run and stopping him dead.

44:43 - Static ball now. P9 to POD on his right. S9 darts out quickly, doesn't have the strength to bring him down. S17 brings them both to ground as Puma advance forward in the tackle. 

44:52 - P9 to P10 to P12 to P8. Pumas shuffling the ball as Boks pressure from the outside in. S4 takes P8 high, but does not prevent an offload to P15. S11 cuts in quickly to take P15. His tackle attempt fails at P15 spins around and passes quickly to P14 who is free on the outside. S2 moves out to cover the gap, but P14 cuts in behind him, beats a diving tackle from behind by S11, ducks under the tackle of S2 before being brought down by S7. 

45:02 - Boks are exposed on the fringe of the ruck. P9 passes left to P15 who immediately runs into that space. He is tackled low by S3, but offloads to P9. P9 short to P10. P10 flat to P4. He runs at space between S5 and S17. S5 takes him low and S17 takes him high. S17 folds him backwards, to the ground. 

45:10 - P9 short to S10, who is in front of the first player of a POD immediately behind him. P6 rushes up from the outside at S13, P10 fakes a flat wide pass and passes further back to P12. Pumas have numbers out wide as they attack the edge of the Bok defence. S22 has his back to the touchline, with two attackers outside him. He has a lot of space to cover. P12 could run into the space between S12 and S22, he could engage S22, drawing and passing to P13. He elects to pass quickly to P13 who beats S22 easily to the outside. It's now a 2v1 against the Bok's last defender, S10.

Question: 4 tries. How could the Boks have prevented these? Who is to blame in each case? 

They could not have avoided them as they are the results of AR work: AR moves were meant to disorganize the SA defence.

SA rugby is very poor and predictable.

As expected, SA tried to set up a strong return from half time, they were expected from AR, which allowed the easy to read interception.

Things went according to AR plans as SA were unable to derail AR.

Well Mostert was clearly obstructed and the Argies should have been blown up. Take seven points off win down to 6. point margin.

Look then at penalties not taken as gap was too wide. The effect of this non try. Then look at missed kicks at goal and so many close misses.

Only conclusion possible after dominant second half was Argies got a lucky win.

There were some stupid mistakes. The third try should never have happened. We pressured then severely, Mapoe dove upon the carrier and missed which allowed the offload. After that it was Sanchez against forwards with space. Always going to be a try. 

For try 1, I'd say that Louw could have trusted Beast more. If he had trusted Beast to stop Sanchez and moved in, we wouldn't be discussing a try here. That said, the obstruction by P2 prevented Mostert from folding around the back and catching P15. 

The fourth one essentially resulted from an offload. We had them caught behind for a loss.

If you factor in the three tries we squandered this was a closer game than it seemed. 

A real case of trying to hide the deficiencies of some players and creating a real diversion to what the role of defenders should have been.   Happy dreams anyway 

Well, then tell us what really happened. That is after all the point of this thread Mr.Clever: An open discussion about what happened. 

After watching the replay, nothing clear about the obstruction. The AR stepped ahead before the SA started his run to tackle the player.

No luck in the win, AR led by 25 points at 50 min, considering how unable a SA team is to build up attacking movements, letting SA have the ball is nothing but a sure path to win.

SA do not know what to do when they have the ball in hands.

First of all - the opensider - what was Louw covering in the relevant cases?   What was the centers doing in the case of the three backline tries of the Pumas where  were they?

For the first try Louw had Sanchez come up toward his inside shoulder. 

The other was from a scrum in the middle of the field. They broke off the back and ran at Pollard. Louw broke of the back of the scrum quickly and was tracking behind the backs, on the inside of the ball, as one is supposed to do. They had a runner target the space between Pollard and Esterhuizen, which forced Esterhuizen to turn inward and tackle the carrier. He got a pass way just before contact. Another defender was engaged before unleashing P13 and P14. Louw at this point was coming across the field with a lot of space. Even if he got to P13, it would have been a low tackle and an offload. After Louw misses the diving tackle, which ended up being from behind, it was a 2v2 between P13-P14 and S13-15. S15 showed his back and encouraged P14 to beat him. He did. 

You may call it a lot of pace on the part of Louw - I call it slow jogging.  Louw never ran at pace.   But then that is probably the top pace he can achieve   

Louw against their 13 at that angle is a mismatch. It's ridiculous to expect him to win that one. It was a great move by los Pumas. We just have to give them credit.