‘ABs’ lineout still nothing special’ – Smal
8 Jul 2010
Ireland forwards coach and former Springbok forwards specialist Gert Smal says the Boks will continue to boss the New Zealanders in the lineout.
Smal, who as forwards coach of the Boks won the 2004 Tri Nations and 2007 World Cup, also contributed to Ireland’s Six Nations glory a couple of seasons ago. He is widely regarded as among the best forward coaches in the business and has the track record to back up this opinion.
He told keo.co.za that despite the absence of Juan Smith at the back of the lineout, the Boks should still dominate the home team lineout.
Smal’s influence against the Boks in Dublin last year was obvious when the Boks struggled for lineout authority against a team for the first time in years. The Irish, when they toured New Zealand in June, were unable to assert lineout superiority because they lost a forward 15 minutes into the game. The Irish were also missing their best lineout jumper in Paul O’Connell.
Smal remains unimpressed with what he has seen from the All Blacks lineout this season, despite claims from the All Blacks forward coach Steve Hansen that his boys have lost only one lineout throw in three Tests in 2010.
‘They said they had worked on it a lot before they played us, but it’s still nothing special,’ Smal told keo.co.za. ‘Victor is quick on the ground and in the air and if he does his homework, which he will, the Boks will dominate. The All Blacks will try take quick throws and walk in late, but Victor is experienced enough to read them and close the gaps. They’ll also play the safe option to the front and try drive from there.
‘They’ll also try play towards our loosies, and a lot depends how well organised they are. Because Juan – who is the best loose forward jumper in the world – isn’t there, they’ll try manipulate play towards the back.’
Since last year the hosts have changed their lineout formation. Tom Donnelly has replaced Isaac Ross, while they have the unique situation where No 8 Kieran Read makes the calls, a la Matfield. The All Blacks also swapped coaching roles, with Graham Henry taking over the forwards from Steve Hansen for the November tour, but they’ve reverted back to how it was this time last year.
‘You can’t compare Victor to Read. The one is inexperienced, while the other’s been doing it for years.
‘Their coach’s role swapping also didn’t have much of an impact and it all depends on the man power you have. If it had worked for them, they would have stayed that way,’ said Smal.
One of the Kiwis’ main worries is the strength of the driving maul. Smal spoke of how they would try counter the Boks and the importance of referee Alan Lewis’s management of the area.
‘They and the Aussies realise its a big strength of the Bok and European teams. They’ll speak to the ref about the blocker at the back, and say they’re not allowed one in order to expose the jumpers and sack them. They’ll also try take the lifters out before the jumper’s hit the ground. The ref will have to be vigilant there.
‘Obviously the Boks want to use the lineout for other moves, but they’ll use the maul at least three or four times to expose the Kiwis.’
The 2007 World Cup-winning coach is backing the Boks to continue the dominance over their rivals.
‘That Irish game especially would have lulled them into a false sense of security. Ireland had many guys at home and lost a key player early on,’ Smal said in reference to their 65-28 loss with Jamie Heaslip red-carded after 15 minutes. ‘In the beginning they played for territory, but once we were a man down, they tried to open it up. It’s difficult to play them with 15 men, but with 14 it was near impossible.
‘I’m sure the Boks will climb into them and will have too much power. The All Blacks are dangerous from broken play and they’ll try take quick lineouts, but one of the main reasons for last year’s success was the Boks’ purposeful kicking. They’ll do that again and take them ball and all.’
While Smith’s presence in general play around the field has been filled by Francois Louw, the Free State hardman’s ability at the set-pieces is unrivalled by any loose forward in the world. While he’s on compassionate leave for the away leg of the Tri-Nations, Smith will do duty for the Cheetahs and Smal believes the Australasians will try take advantage of his absence at the tail.
He still believes that the Boks can negate this by making more use of Pierre Spies as a tail option, but left no one in doubt that the Spies, Smith and Schalk Burger lineout option among loose-forwards, aligned with the best locking duo of Matfield and Bakkies Botha, with the luxury of Danie Rossouw and Andries Bekker as back up is unrivalled in the current game.
By Grant Ball
251 Comments
Pages: « 1 2 [3] 4 5 6 » Show All
8 Jul 2010, 16:32 pm
@grant10(grant10)-51: My Dream Weekend
Sharks nail Griquas
Cheetahs nail WP
Urugauy beat Germans
Boks beat Kiwis
Spain beat Dutch
8 Jul 2010, 16:33 pm
@Alucard(Alucard)-93:
Is there anything about the Boks that you are satisfied with?
8 Jul 2010, 16:39 pm
@Alucard(Alucard)-93: you must get so annoyed when the Boks win
hahaha
8 Jul 2010, 16:41 pm
@nama1(nama1)-102: nope, nothing! Heyneke Meyer should’ve got the job and the Boks would be attacking better than they did when Jake White was in charge.
8 Jul 2010, 16:48 pm
@RedMan(RedMan)-97: cheers Redman!
8 Jul 2010, 16:50 pm
Lowveld Club Rugby Finals – Saturday 10 July
White River 1st Team vs. Barbeton 1st Team 16:00
White River 2nd Team vs. Nelspruit 2nd Team 14:40
Both games at Whit River Rugby Club or Witrivier Rugby Klub to the locals…
Some good rugby, good brandy but bring your own chicks…
8 Jul 2010, 16:50 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-104:
It must be hell for him that the Boks have been winning under this coach.
Imagine being a supporter of a team and you want them to win on the one hand (to give you bragging rights) and on the other hand you want them to lose (so that you can slate the coach).
Real tough for the likes of him.
8 Jul 2010, 16:56 pm
@nama1(nama1)-107: yep you’ve got it. That’s how ‘open secrets’ of senior players coaching the team come about, it’s smit, matfield, fdp, percy & now lately os…what the hell does pdv do there really?
8 Jul 2010, 17:12 pm
I don’t want anybody to lose. de Villiers was a coach I backed to succeed Jake, my biggest concern was that coetzee would be elected head coach. Little did I know what we were in for. And even worse then that was the rabble he selected for his coaching team. The point is that they are holding the Boks back from achieving their full potential, de Villiers uses this team as a vehicle for his own personal agendas, like Rose for instance and his other racist views which were exposed when he attacked the Super rugby coaches for apparantly lack of quality POC. He plays players out of position, screws matches over with his consistent use of the bench, he has total lack of planning, poor squad development and a serious lack of tactical acuteness. These are very serious problems that are going to nail our WC to the cross. But far too many are far too shortsighted to see these issues, issues which were highlighted emphatically on the EOYT. You honestlt think Australia and New Zealand are going to be weak forever? We kicked them when they were downm, particularly New Zealand, but what when they get back to their best? What when plan A fails? And it will. relying on a one dimensional 10 man game won’t last forever, and this is my point. The coaching team stumbled upon this approach after repeatedly failing to develop a rounded game, it worked in the short term, but won’t be sustainable until the WC. And given how substandard Muir and Div are with their strange and deeply flawed backline philosophies, when the time comes that the Boks need more, don’t be surprised to see the headless chickens of 08. Or even worse under the new laws, the Lions of this year!
8 Jul 2010, 17:12 pm
that bok backline looks a bit sterile to me…..
8 Jul 2010, 17:21 pm
big pack…..but slow in loosies without a Brussow/ Steggmann type.
I remain rather unconvinced…..but will gladly be proved wrong…again.
8 Jul 2010, 17:27 pm
@Ratel Brussow(Morne Steyn is under-rated)-11: I hear you. Great lineout, but then the AB’s must kick the ball out for all that to be of value. I reckon we will see Carter kicking long and deep on Zane and look to Zane to kick out. If Zane does not oblige, we will see Carter kicking the ball out inside our 25, which will to them be the next best thing. The Boks will have to attack from inside their 25 to use the lineout as platform. That is what I would do if I were the AB’s.
Alternatively the Boks could contest on AB ball and force lineouts by deliberately kicking out. If that is the case I would far sooner have used someone lighter that can be lifted high and easily to contest their ball. Sorry, I don’t buy all this **** about trying to dominate their lineout and using it as an attacking platform. Remember Italy 1 and 2- our lineouts were poor for the most.
So – quick analysis:
1. Parity in scrums.
2. Boks edge lineouts.
3. AB’s edge rucks.
4. Boks edge mauls.
5. Parity in kicking game.
6. AB’s edge backline play.
So, guess what, it comes down to discipline and individual brilliance in a moment. So what’s new? and guess what else- who does Schalk and Bakkies play for again?
8 Jul 2010, 17:28 pm
@Alucard(Alucard)-109: if we win the world cup, do you promise to shut the f.ck up?
8 Jul 2010, 17:30 pm
@grant10(grant10)-110: i think they should move plod to 3 and get chili on, he is mobile and can fetch.
8 Jul 2010, 17:32 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-114:
that a big spoon yoou have.
8 Jul 2010, 17:33 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-113:
LOL, not a chance. Who knows, maybe de Villiers will be as “lucky” as Jake… LMAO, of course not, anything he does is perfect of course. But if the Boks win the WC, it will have made my point pointless for this cycle, but that’s if they win it.
8 Jul 2010, 17:34 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-114: ja
and move me into a mental asyum at the same time.
8 Jul 2010, 17:38 pm
no real mongrel except for bakkies…
bissy not there will hurt us bad….
my main concerns 12…14 and 15.
Up front a lack of a counter to MC Caw….
M Steyn must expect a lot of heat.
Butch may have a role to play at 10.
8 Jul 2010, 17:39 pm
@Alucard(Alucard)-109:
Some valid concerns there. Maybe if you change the way in which you bring your message, people will start to listen and take you more seriously.
@Transformation(Transformation)-113:
Better still, let him get into his coffin again and nail it shut for another few 1 000 years.
Alucard = Dracula backwards.
8 Jul 2010, 17:39 pm
@Alucard(Alucard)-116: you see how vindictive you are, you’re secretly hoping we don’t retain bill so you can be ‘vindicated’ and we all know, only grant10 is vindicated on keo.
8 Jul 2010, 17:40 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-120: ja
tell the plonker Transie!!
8 Jul 2010, 17:41 pm
Im not sure why the Boks even bother to turn up. In the last month alone, as publicized to the World via Keo….
Theyre ‘superior’
Theyre ‘brainier’
They’ll “boss NZ”
The ABs “fear” the Boks.
NZ fans “will go in to mourning”.
8 Jul 2010, 17:42 pm
@Treehugger(Treehugger)-115:
8 Jul 2010, 17:42 pm
@nama1(nama1)-119: alucard s nick should be ….reknolp.
8 Jul 2010, 17:43 pm
bloody germans in mourning i tell you!
8 Jul 2010, 17:44 pm
@grant10(grant10)-118: Flo will counter Mc Caw just nicely.
Why do you recon we have no counter? Are you basing it on experience?
8 Jul 2010, 17:46 pm
@Black Panther(Black Panther)-122: all those things are written just to get up your nose
8 Jul 2010, 17:50 pm
@grant10(grant10)-125: got tickets to see uruguay vs germany, think i’m going to donate it to charity… Can’t get myself to see that cheat suarez….
8 Jul 2010, 17:52 pm
@grant10(grant10)-118:
G10, with Bissie out, the Sharks scrum looked much better with Beast, JS and JdP. JdP looked like a different player this year not scrumming with his brother. He really surprised me in the scrums during the S14. He also did well in the home test matches so far this year. So much so that PdV has selected him above BJ for this Saturday’s test against the AB’s. Now I would not like to put me out there as a fundi on the intricacies of front row play but…
Don’t you think there are some merit in the suggestion by some that Bissie was in fact the reason for our struggles in the scrum last year because of his height? If he is indeed the reason why our scrum struggled, would you be willing to drop him despite him being the “best hooker” in the world in order to have a solid scrum?
8 Jul 2010, 17:57 pm
@grant10(grant10)-124:
8 Jul 2010, 18:01 pm
I see Noddy in his Blue Speedo is up to his cr.ap again…
8 Jul 2010, 18:02 pm
@nama1(nama1)-129: The scrum is such a collective 8 man shove that it really is hard to single out a player for non performance at this set piece.
Only the coaches and players involved in scrum practice and during the match will really know where things are going wrong etc.
8 Jul 2010, 18:04 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-120:
Again, you are wrong. That’s how many times today, I’ve stated already that I don’t want the Boks to lose, but keep trying. And by stating that it’s “if the Boks win the WC”, I am alluding to the possibility that maybe some other team will win it, because it’s an open competition, and nobody can guarantee what will happen. That is going to be difficult for many SA supporters to grasp, because they’ll have to stop being so arrogant, like before the 2008 TNs, and the Lions tour. Win a few games and all of a sudden it’s absolutely impossible that the Boks could ever lose… very shortsighted. I try to be a little more prudent, granted I’m not always right, but I am generally not far off the mark.
8 Jul 2010, 18:08 pm
@vlam(vlam)-50: You are now talking out of your nought – go speak to G10, he can translate…
8 Jul 2010, 18:19 pm
@dr dre(dr dre)-132:
I think it’s fair to say that one of the 8 MAY be the weak link, whether it is a weak prop, a lock that does not push or a flank that hangs around during scrum time.
The weak prop you can sent to the gim, the lock you can give a taai klap and the flank you can give a verbal bashing.
What do you do if the heigh of one of the front rowers is the reason for an ordinary to good rather than a good to formidable scrum?
8 Jul 2010, 18:21 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-131: what happened to ur germans last night, huh? All that bravado for sweet fokkol, doesn’t help to be grootbek
8 Jul 2010, 18:22 pm
@grant10(grant10)-51:
My Dream Weekend
Boks beat Kiwis
Holland beats Spain
Jensen Button wins the British Grand Prix
Percy Montgomery asks me out to dinner!!!!
Oh…also the sun will shine for my party on Sunday!!
8 Jul 2010, 18:22 pm
@Alucard(Alucard)-133:
You did not answer my question at 102.
8 Jul 2010, 18:28 pm
@grant10(grant10)-124: BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!
8 Jul 2010, 18:41 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-136: What bravado? I said that I was worried because the prissy, prancing dirty Spanish still had to peak…
Oh well, not having the Germans in the final against Holland is a loss for SA… It would have been the best final to round off a good tournament…
The Germans didn’t start the tournament thinking that they had it in the bag – a young, excellent side who played brilliantly but at the wrong time…
If they had played the Spanish like they played against the Argies, many prancing Spanish would have committed hari kiri.
Don’t forget, the Germans have won the WC many times…
But thats it for Spain, they have now blown there load. Holland have yet to peak. Spain already have and the dirties have no BMT…
8 Jul 2010, 18:42 pm
should be But thats it for Spain, they have now blown their load
8 Jul 2010, 18:48 pm
Spain should take this Wc though its still anyones game Sunday. Pretty equal capacity both ways though class for class Spain still edge it. Germany Argentina England Brazil Italy Portugal France none are in these 2 teams class except perhaps Brazil who still have a soft mentality when it comes to pulling out the stops. Top 2 teams deserve to be where they are Holland and Spain have shown they the top 2 class acts for others to follow..
8 Jul 2010, 18:55 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-140: i don’t remember a murmur about germany having “blown their load”, why would it be the case with spain? These are the European Champions u’re talking about, did you even watch the Championships in 2008 or were you like the rest of the plonkers on Mud Island who didn’t because their kak team couldn’t even qualify?
8 Jul 2010, 18:55 pm
Dunno where exactly to nail my colors Saturday. This Bok team starting to reek of same stagnancy as Whites dismal team of 2006 where he didn’t quite know his @ss from his illustrious elbow. So I reckon its about time some serious lessons were learned with this bunch of chicken yellow bellied mob of safety first play to our dumb doos non evolving strengths. I reckon an AB win might just be exactly what the doctor orders for Sat 10-7-10
8 Jul 2010, 19:01 pm
Transie
All those words were written on an SA sports site to an audience of Safas because it represents the collective opinion of it’s readers. I’ve already lost count of the number of times I’ve read bloggers here saying “Boks will win the RWC” and that was well before 1 Test match in 2010 being 2 x TriNs prior to the tournament commencing.
Sure did love Big Hits recent sermon about the “Kiwis being arrogant…..Safas humble”. And to think you lot actually believe he’s a Pom.
Time for a reality check me thinks.
8 Jul 2010, 19:09 pm
Bok’s starting to walk around like they invincibility itself. Time for some real hard wakey wakey realizations to light some fireworks up their one dimensional @ssholes.
8 Jul 2010, 19:21 pm
@Black Panther(Black Panther)-145: now you’re acting dumb on purpose, how many times have we you seen bloggers take on the so-called journalists on this site over their articles? The only time i was ever banned on this site was for verbally abusing ryan vrede! So your “collective opinion” chirp is sadly betrays how misguided you are or possibly another it is another attempt at mishief makin by yourself.
So, by extension am i correct to suggest that the article written by a kiwi journalist marc hinton about the all blacks is no doubt the “collective opinion” of all new zealanders? Pffft gtfoh
8 Jul 2010, 19:28 pm
@nama1(nama1)-138:
I’m satisfied with the pool of players, there’s a strong spine to the team. They are capable of so much and I expect great things fom them, even with passengers like de Jongh and chili in the team, and without two of it’s best, they still are highly formidable. That’s all I can really say, the team development is bad, the management of the players is bad and they haven’t developed at all. We have an outstanding kick-chase game, but we had that in ’07 anyway. Our defence is much weaker than ’07, and little has really improved in our game, but much has regressed. I will say that the Boks, the players, have adapted well to the numerous law changes, which is exellent. Skills are constantly improving and the next generation don’t have the fear that past sides have had. I must credit the super rugby unions for their work in creating this culture and the work they’ve put in with the players. They’ve generally taken this into the national team and it worked well last year. But again, the coaching trio of the Boks have not taken this further at all. That’s about it.
8 Jul 2010, 19:30 pm
@Black Panther(Black Panther)-145:
I’m very sad to say this, but the Bok supporters really do remind me of the England football fans and keo its media. Big mouths over every little thing, then all perspective is lost… only to come back down to Earth with a thud, how many times has this happened? still, lessons never learned.
8 Jul 2010, 19:32 pm
@dr dre(dr dre)-126: Brussow not only countered Mc Caw, he outplayed him.
I like Flo, but is he a Brussow?@nama1(nama1)-129: i wouldnt blame Bissy till i see how he goes with a real 3….the poor bugger had plod there so it couldnt of been easy. Bissy is the best 2 in the world bar none imo…..and i reckon he will be hugely missed in tri nations.
Pages: « 1 2 [3] 4 5 6 » Show All
Have your say
You must be logged in to post a comment.