The Bok defence was quite poor. The Scots lacked composure, and blew a few opportunities. The better sides would have put us away. But, if we learned anything from the commentary and the media, it's full of windgats and dunderheads.
The Bok defence was quite poor. The Scots lacked composure, and blew a few opportunities. The better sides would have put us away. But, if we learned anything from the commentary and the media, it's full of windgats and dunderheads.
Shut up you ignorant prick
The Boks had the territory and possession to put Scotland away in the first quarter. We should have gotten 2-3 tries in this period.
The 2nd period was very shaky with Scotland gaining the upper hand. Malherbe losing 2 scrums, and some missed tackles brought Scotland back into the game.
The 3rd quarter was good, a similar quality to that delivered against the All Blacks.
We put 2 tries on Scotland.
The 4th quarter seemed to be stagnate, but the Boks had a stranglehold of the game and were squeezing the life out of Scotland. A few attacks went wayward with individual Bok errors - it was not a case of game plan issues.
I still attribute the lack of tries to Delande.
Delande was a good option a while back, especially without any competition.
However Esterhuizen is now in his prime and capable to playing any game plan - or being spontaneous and taking the right option.
Scotland scored 3 points, so to suggest the Bok defence was poor is just not living in reality.
Sure, they butchered a certain try, but other than that their attack in the Bok 22 was nulified.
De Alende had a good game...AE might have done better...probably, but there's no way to know that we would have scored more tries with him at 12...Scotland's defense was phenomenal...Fin Russel got hammered on defense and attack, but never took a step back...Scotland the Brave indeed...hope they klap the Paddies.
Shark you really are rugby ignorant
Saffex, you view players as individuals rather than cogs in the machine and game plan.
You follow more of a Roedoelf Straulie game plan where you bundle together a list of your favourite players along with hundreds of alternatives.
Then you keep mixing and matching and hoping a semblance of a combination form.
Delande is a solid player, but he is limited. Esterhuizen is by far the more complete player.
Rassie is an excellent coach - but he is wrong in this one area.
Esterhuizens early days for the Boks were average at best, but he is now in his prime. He is the strongest center in rugby, and he still has skills.
Had we slotted our kicks, things would have looked a lot worse for the Scots.
Shark your summing up of me is evidence of the fact that your knowledge of the game is limited
Here is a challenge for you to prove me wrong. You blame de Allende for our lack of tries - kindly point out in all his passages of play how he could have done something differently that would have lead to those tries
AE is not a more complete player, certainly not when playing for the Boks under the coaches instruction.
Again prove me wrong by pointing out where he beat defenders through skill and not power and please provide evidence of his try assists
Good luck with the above - I suggest you just concede you are wrong and save yourself the trouble
Both DA and AE are great players who play a power game. DA is the incumbent and rightly so. His carries in traffic hurt the opposition - something you and many on here have zero appreciation of
Yep Plum we blew 12 points with pretty easy kicks bar that 60m one
Yes, kicks change the scoreline, Stransky was there.
Another point is the Scots didn't handle the heat as well as we did. Besides the pressure they never looked settled.
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How dominant were the Boks vs Scotland - a statistical look
The scoreline may not look that impressive, but an 18-3 win for the Springboks was more underlining their dominance in their opening Rugby World Cup match against Scotland, and while it never felt that comfortable, it was a big statement of effect by the defending World Champions.
A deeper delve into the stats surrounding the Boks victory shows that while Scotland tried to go toe to toe with the Boks throughout the game, they were never likely to break open a defensive wall and the Boks were rather comfortable in the end in downing their significant challenge.
To put it into perspective, Scotland now have two weeks before their next match at this world cup, ran France close in two warm-up matches before the World Cup and told all who would listen that they were intent on upsetting the Springboks in the opening game.
The Boks were naturally wary of this threat, and as the fifth best side in the world, Scotland have more than enough firepower to cause the teams above them some palpatations when they match up. But even with the fire and fury the Bok defence was superb, their attack could have been better but in the end two tries to zero and a 15 point margin is hardly something to scoff at in test rugby.
So let’s dive a bit deeper, look a bit more at the stats and see where the Boks did their damage, and why they can feel more than satisfied at their own performance in the opening game of the defence of their title.
RUNNING METRES Traditionally rugby statistics can befuddle, but in terms of running metres, there are two easy metrics that tell a story. The first is running metres, which is quite simply the amount of metres that any player from a side runs with the ball.
These are normally a bit skewed as a fullback would run more from the back with a ball given the space in front of them.
But generally a game averages between 200-300 running metres per match, and sometimes less in tight test contests.
The Springboks averaged 535 metres against Scotland, more than double what the Scots ran at them and if you think of breaks by Cheslin Kolbe and Grant Williams for instance, there was more than enough running that didn’t turn into points that could have ballooned the scoreline significantly.
The second stat that deserves more than just a glance is post-contact running metres - which is the amount of metres made from the first attempted tackle, or tackle from a move.
Here the stat is alarming for Scotland. South Africa made more post-contact metres running with the ball - 315 - than Scotland made the entire game when they carried the ball (226).
And while much has been made of the game, other than two linebreaks that threatened the Boks in the middle of the field, the Bok tryline was never breached nor threatened in any significant way.
Their attack gainline success - which measures times the Boks got over the gainline - or past the defensive line - was significant as well - with nearly twice as many gainline success carries - or 51 to Scotland’s 26.
SCOTLAND FRONTED UP ON DEFENCE While the Springbok defensive system is a bit different to the traditional systems used by other teams, and they use their outside backs to shout out of line to cut off space, the tactic worked pretty well in cutting off the oxygen to the dangerous Scottish backs.
An attacking team would always try and give the ball air to try and get it outside the shooting player, because then there would be extra space to attack, but the Bok scramble has been quite impressive under Jacques Nienaber and despite missing 22 tackles on the day, it never felt as if the Boks were under severe pressure that they may concede a try.
One thing to note on defence though, was how Scotland fronted up on defence. Dominant tackles, when a player tackles an opposition player back or is dominant in the collision, went Scotland’s way. By contrast the Boks had just three dominant tackles, but mainly because they were doing a lot of attacking, while Scotland had 10. In addition to this Scotland made four turnovers from tackles against the two from the Springboks.
While the Springbok attack and ruck speed was up by a second - a massive difference compared to their World Cup warm-up games, Scotland couldn’t get quick ball - and the Bok defence should be credited here, as Scotland’s ruck speed was 41.5 per cent slower than the summer series with an average of 4.6 seconds per ruck.
In other words, the Boks managed to slow down Scotland’s ball significantly, allowing their defensive line to set and put the Scots under pressure on attack.
INDIVIDUALS
While it is easy to concentrate on the stars, and Manie Libbok walked away with the man of the match award and Pieter-Steph du Toit and Kurt-Lee Arendse with the try scoring accolades, there are always a number of individuals who stood out.
And a number of times, those may not catch the eye of the average fan, but their involvement in the game is critical and would be praised internally by the team as a massive part of the reason why the Boks did so well.
So here are a few individuals who, thanks to the stats, stood out and were counted on both sides
SOUTH AFRICA
Damian de Allende – The most carries of anyone on the pitch with 14; carried for 70 metres, including 59 post-contact, also the most of any player. Also beat 6 defenders, more than any other player.
Franco Mostert – Made the most tackles for South Africa and the joint most of anyone along with Jack Dempsey (11).
Jasper Wiese – Won 2 of South Africa’s 5 turnovers.
Cheslin Kolbe – Made 2 of South Africa’s 4 linebreaks.