Blacks’ defence holds lessons for Boks
10 Aug 2011
RYAN VREDE writes the All Blacks exhibited the defensive blueprint from which to work in order to nullify Australia.
The Blacks are famed for their attacking prowess but in Auckland on Saturday they were excellent defensively, their victory being built on a supreme contest at the collisions. They blunted the Wallabies’ key strike runners and in so doing were able to place immense pressure on their attacking fulcrums – Will Genia and Quade Cooper. Neither responded well to the examination, but Cooper in particular showed he still has a way to go in his development as a flyhalf.
Certainly the 23-year-old has evolved into a formidable opponent under the tutelage of Reds head coach Ewen McKenzie. He was central to the Brisbane franchise’s charge to the Super Rugby title, blending the panache and razzle-dazzle he has built his reputation on, with pragmatism when the opposition and/or match situation demanded it.
Cooper was influential when they faced the Springboks in Sydney three weeks ago, crafting three of the Wallabies’ five tries, and failure to keep him in check in Durban is tantamount to failure. However, he capitulated under the heat applied by the Blacks, and therein lies lessons for the Springboks.
The Blacks were particularly good in defending the channel inside Cooper. It has become somewhat of a trademark of his to drift on attack in order to create gaps in the defensive line, then pick up strike runners on his inside shoulder. The New Zealanders also compromised the quality of Coopers’ tactical kicks by consistently cutting down his space and time. By the end of the third quarter Cooper appeared to have descended into a blundering mess, with his impetuous alter-ego surfacing and manifesting itself in ill-advised cavalier play deep in his territory. The Springboks will be hoping to elicit that beast once more.
However, it would be remiss to overlook their efforts in diluting the potency of the back three. At the heart of that strategy was a refusal to feed them with broken field opportunities through aimless kicks. This rendered James O’Connor, Kurtley Beale and Digby Ioane virtual spectators for the bulk of the contest. Ioane did score, but that was birthed from a rare occasion the Blacks failed to protect the ball at the breakdown. It was a stark reminder of the Wallabies’ threat from turnover ball.
The Springboks are unlikely to veer from their kick-chase approach. With Fourie du Preez reinstated at scrumhalf, the Springboks gain an expert box and tactical kicker, who has been at the heart of the strategy’s success in the past. Flyhalf Butch James and fullback Frans Steyn will be asked to launch bombs as well, and the accuracy with which they do this, combined with the commitment and structure of the chasing line and domination at the tackle point, will shape the result. The Wallabies will be merciless if their appetite for counter-attacking play is fed through inaccurate kicks and slipped hits.
On Tuesday the Springboks announced Jacques Nienaber as their defensive coach until the end of the World Cup. Nienaber was credited for the Stormers’ granitic defence in their Super Rugby campaign and this bodes well for the Springboks ahead of the global showpiece. However, getting the systems and structures ingrained in the players’ minds will be his most pressing assignment. They then have to execute accurately for 80 minutes.
There is no question he would have reviewed the Blacks’ defensive showing in Auckland. Now he has to hope the Springboks are able to replicate that in Durban this weekend.
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98 Comments
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10 Aug 2011, 09:31 am
@bryce_in_oz(bryce_in_oz)-49: LOL
The markets making you a rather nasty little man ?
The insults flying thick and fast money man……keep it up….
10 Aug 2011, 09:33 am
@Transformation(Transformation)-50:
Sure it does sweetheart sure it does… Israel Dagg is a world beater and pretty much nobody stops him two metres out…
You can statistically posts hundreds upon thousands of sentences of vitriol like Gwantie… but it’ll never mean either of you have a clue as to objectivity nor rugby analytical nouse.
10 Aug 2011, 09:37 am
@k.camron(k.camron)-13: Well doubt that will happen. The Dup Brothers have signed with Sharks until 2013.
10 Aug 2011, 09:38 am
@bryce_in_oz(bryce_in_oz)-49:
Making tackles is one thing.
Ill bet the stats dont include how many metres he gets pushed back whilst making said tackles or who else was assisting with the tackle(who, in all probability, did the actual stopping.
Thats what Im trying to get at, ok Chippy?
10 Aug 2011, 09:38 am
@bryce_in_oz(bryce_in_oz)-52: we bow to your wonderful superior knowledge wise man….
10 Aug 2011, 09:39 am
@bryce_in_oz(bryce_in_oz)-52: as if you’re objective?
laughable. anything that has to do with john smit & jake white and you get your stats-loving panties in a bunch. even when smit is kak – like against australia – you make excuses for him…that’s not objective money_man 
10 Aug 2011, 09:39 am
@Puma(Puma)-53: how is the weather up there puma….I am flying up sat morning….must I bring a jersey?
10 Aug 2011, 09:43 am
@Big Hit(Big Hit)-33: Agree, but the Smit haters never will.
10 Aug 2011, 09:45 am
@grant10(grant10)-57: Brilliant weather. Only big blue sky. Not much wind right now either. Beautiful weather. Bring a jersey for the night. You could need it. See it will be sunshine for Saturday as well. Rain forecast for Sunday.
Weather wise this is Durbs at its best.
10 Aug 2011, 09:45 am
@Big Hit(Big Hit)-33: wow…..shows you how bad our rugby has regressed…
10 Aug 2011, 09:46 am
@Puma(Puma)-59: awesome….thanks
outta here
10 Aug 2011, 09:47 am
@bryce_in_oz(bryce_in_oz)-52: israel dagg at best in 94kg vs spies who is 107kg…spies is soft, deal with it
10 Aug 2011, 09:47 am
So we have a defence coach, which we do need. But where is our scrum coach?
10 Aug 2011, 09:51 am
@Big Hit(Big Hit)-33: more rubbish from the Plod Apologists Congress, Alistair Hargreaves made more tackles than Plod.
10 Aug 2011, 10:01 am
@grant10(grant10)-51:
Quite the contrary G10… it’s bear markets and crashes where us futures/hedge traders and particularly Gold Bugs make the most money and the quickest…
And the hits flow faster on my website, advertising rises… the old get cleared out and the new paid subscriptions come flowing in on recovery.
“Even the bad days are good days…”
@Transformation(Transformation)-56:
Pal unlike you and Grant who insult, deride and denigrate professional players on a personal level depending on whomever the Huisgenoot dog-box player of the month is…
I’ll stick to keeping it objective ‘rugby-means’ not emotive, Gen Y bitchiness…
Man-up girls… neither of you will ever be playing any sport at this level… so keep the criticism constructive… or simply continue as you are…
Got gold yet?
10 Aug 2011, 10:02 am
world renowned sport psychologist dr gary hermansson gives his two cents worth on the all blacks:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby-world-cup-2011/news/article.cfm?c_id=522&objectid=10744183
10 Aug 2011, 10:29 am
@bryce_in_oz(bryce_in_oz)-65: john smit will never do what i do at my professional level, i played mt chosen sport up to national level and i’m happy with my achievements. same with john, he has done very well for SA and i’m proud of what he has achieved for us as a nation BUT i’m not indebted to him or any other national player. he is WAY past his sell-by date and is only there because his ego will gnaw at him if the team wins the worls cup without him in the mix, glory hunter!
what sport did you ever achieve national colours in money_man, are your achievements listed on your website?
ps. you don’t know how old i am.
10 Aug 2011, 11:02 am
@Transformation(Transformation)-64: 11 tackles plus 6 assists, only Steggmann did better. Not sure what commentary u got but even the morose Nz commentators were praising his performance.
10 Aug 2011, 11:02 am
@Transformation(Transformation)-67:
You’re a Gen Y’er of that there is no doubt…national colours for both JKA and ‘All-style’ comps for 3 yrs running but hey… big whoop…
@John Galt(John Galt)-54:
You’re deluding yourself if you think those very same tackle-stats aren’t one of the very first items on the agenda as the coach storms in to the change-rooms come half-time… whether ‘you’ rate them or not ‘Chippy’…
10 Aug 2011, 11:02 am
So where does this sport we love and call rugby come from? The popular, apocryphal view is that rugby was born in 1823 when William Webb Ellis, disregarding the rules of football, picked up the ball in his arms and ran with it. The truth, however, is that rugby has much earlier origins.
The ancient Greeks played a ball game called “phaininda” whose name was derived from the Greek verb “to pretend”, since players tried to prevent the other team from intercepting the ball by deceiving them through an elaborate series of fake passes.
When the Romans conquered Greece in 146 B.C., they adopted a number of Greek customs and traditions for themselves. This included “phaininda”, which subsequently became known as “harpastum”. Athenaeus wrote of the game: “Harpastum, which used to be called Phaininda, is the game I like most of all. Great are the exertion and fatigue attendant upon contests of ball-playing, and violent twisting and turning of the neck. Hence Antiphanes, ‘’Damn it, what a pain in the neck I’ve got.’ He describes the game thus: ‘He seized the ball and passed it to a team-mate while dodging another and laughing. He pushed it out of the way of another. Another fellow player he raised to his feet. All the while the crowd resounded with shouts of ‘Out of bounds! Too far! Right beside him! Over his head! On the ground! Up in the air! Too short! Pass it back in the huddle.’”
Galen, in “On Exercise with the Small Ball”, describes harpastum as “better than wrestling or running because it exercises every part of the body, takes up little time, and costs nothing.” He also considered it “profitable training in strategy”, and said that it could be “played with varying degrees of strenuousness.”
The sport of harpastum later became known in Florence as “giuoco del calcio fiorentino” (“Florentine kicking game”) or simply “calcio” (“kick”. The official rules of calcio were published for the first time in 1580 by a certain Giovanni Bardi; just like Roman harpastum, it was played by two teams of 27, using both feet and hands. Goals could be scored by throwing the ball down over a designated spot on the perimeter of the field. It was played in a giant sand pit with a goal running the width of each end, with a referee, six linesmen and a field master. Each game was played for 50 minutes with the winner being the team with the most points or “cacce”.
It would appear that harpastum travelled with the Roman conquests. Various early ball games were played in Great Britain from the 5th to 16th centuries, sometimes referred to as folk football, mob football or Shrovetide football. Such games would usually be played between neighbouring towns and villages, involving unlimited numbers of players on opposing teams, who would fight and struggle to move an inflated pig’s bladder by any means possible to markets at each end of a town. These games tended to be brutally violent and authorities would later attempt to outlaw such dangerous pastimes.
The Celts in Ireland played “caid” – meaning “bull’s scrotum” – with a ball made out of animal skins with a natural bladder inside. Caid had two variations – the “field game” in which the object was to put the ball through arch-like goals, formed from the boughs of two trees, and the epic “cross-country game” which took up most of the daylight hours of a Sunday on which it was played, and was won by the team taking the ball across a parish boundary. Both of these were rough and tumble contact sports in which wrestling, pushing and holding of opposing players was allowed.
The Welsh in turn claim that caid evolved from a Welsh game called “cnapan” which originated in the western counties of Wales, especially Cardiganshire and Pembrokeshire. Cnapan had medieval origins and involved large numbers of people from two neighbouring parishes playing with a solid wooden ball a little larger than a cricket ball which was soaked in animal fat to make more difficult to catch and hold on to. The ball could be passed, smuggled or thrown. No rules were ever written down for the game, but were known to the players; each team would have “sturdy gamesmen” who would have been the equivalents of modern forwards, and others who were elusive and quick, equivalent to modern backline players. There were extended and chaotic scrimmages which would only be stopped at the cry of “Heddwch!” or “Peace!” to prevent serious injury. At restarts the ball was hurled high into the air. Peasants played on foot, while the gentry played on horseback; injuries were common and deaths occurred. When the game was properly organised, there were at times up to a thousand men in each team.
The last recorded cnapan game in Wales occurred in Neath on Shrove Tuesday 1884, three years after the formation of the Welsh Football Union. Cnapan was similar to the Cornish game of “hurling to goales”, which dates back to the bronze age.
The Vikings played a similar game called Knattleikr; in East Anglia “Campball” was played and in France there was la Soule or la Chole, a rough-and-tumble cross-country game, very similar to the mass football played in English and also mainly on Shrovetide.
10 Aug 2011, 11:03 am
@grant10(grant10)-55:
“as if you’re objective?
laughable. anything that has to do with john smit & jake white and you get your stats-loving panties in a bunch………………….”
You talking about gwantie bud?
10 Aug 2011, 11:10 am
@JL1(JL1)-23: Who’s Hendrik Gerber? A fat maniac blobbing angrily in the third row of the South Stand, all tanked up?
10 Aug 2011, 11:17 am
The first recorded game of ball being played in London, on a large flat open space just outside the city, was during the annual festival of Shrove Tuesday in 1175. A London-born monk called William Fitzstephen wrote in a Latin history of London: “After lunch all the youth of the city go out into the fields to take part in a ball game. The students of each school have their own ball; the workers from each city craft are also carrying their balls. Older citizens, fathers, and wealthy citizens come on horseback to watch their juniors competing, and to relive their own youth vicariously: you can see their inner passions aroused as they watch the action and get caught up in the fun being had by the carefree adolescents.”
The earliest confirmation that such ball games in England involved kicking comes from a verse about St Hugh, the Anglo-French bishop of Lincoln. This was probably written in the twelfth century, although the specific date cannot be known: “Four and twenty bonny boys, were playing at the ball.. he kicked the ball with his right foot”.
In about 1200 “ball” is mentioned as one of the games played by King Arthur’s knights in “Brut”, written by Layamon, an English poet from Worcestershire. This is the earliest reference to the English language “ball”. Layamon states: “some drive balls (balles) far over the fields”.
Records from 1280 report on a game at Ulgham, near Ashington in Northumberland, in which a player was killed as a result of running against an opposing player’s dagger. This account is noteworthy because it the earliest reference to an English ball game that definitely involved kicking; this suggests that kicking was involved in even earlier ball games in England.
The earliest reference to ball games being played by university students comes in 1303 when “Thomas of Salisbury, a student of Oxford University, found his brother Adam dead, and it was alleged that he was killed by Irish students, whilst playing the ball in the High Street towards Eastgate”.
Between 1314 and 1667, football was officially banned in England alone by more than 30 royal and local laws.
The earliest reference to a game called football occurred in 1314 when Nicholas de Farndone, Lord Mayor of London issued a decree on behalf of King Edward II banning football. It was written in the French used by the English upper classes at the time. A translation reads: “[f]orasmuch as there is great noise in the city caused by hustling over large foot balls [rageries de grosses pelotes de pee] in the fields of the public from which many evils might arise which God forbid: we command and forbid on behalf of the king, on pain of imprisonment, such game to be used in the city in the future.”
Another early account of kicking ball games from England comes in a 1321 dispensation, granted by Pope John XXII to William de Spalding of Shouldham: “To William de Spalding, canon of Scoldham of the order of Sempringham. During the game at ball as he kicked the ball, a lay friend of his, also called William, ran against him and wounded himself on a sheathed knife carried by the canon, so severely that he died within six days. Dispensation is granted, as no blame is attached to William de Spalding, who, feeling deeply the death of his friend, and fearing what might be said by his enemies, has applied to the pope.”
Banning of ball games began in France in 1331 by Philippe V, presumably the ball game known as La soule.
King Edward III of England also issued such a declaration, in 1363: “moreover we ordain that you prohibit under penalty of imprisonment all and sundry from such stone, wood and iron throwing; handball, football, or hockey; coursing and ****-fighting, or other such idle games”. It is noteworthy that at this time football was already being differentiated in England from handball, which suggests the evolution of basic rules. A clear reference is made ad pilam. . . pedinam in the Rotuli Clausarum, of Edward III (1365), as one of the pastimes to be prohibited on account of the decadence of archery. Richard II did the same thing in 1388.
The first clear reference to the English word, ‘football’ was not recorded until 1409, when King Henry IV of England issued an edict forbidding the levying of money for “foteball.
Both Henry VIII and Elizabeth also enacted laws against football, which, both then and under the Stuarts and the Georges, seems to have been violent to the point of brutality, a fact often referred to by prominent writers.
James I, immediately after his release from prison in England in 1424, held a council meeting and issued an act where he debarred “fute ball”. This was also the earliest reference to football or kicking ball games in Scotland. James II followed suit in 1457.
James III decreed against it at his sixth parliament in Edinburgh 1471 and James IV did the same in 1491
Charles II again made the game unlawful. In fact during the period 1314 to 1527 no less than nine European monarchs make it a specific offence to play “foote balle”, instead directing their subjects to practice archery instead or face fines or even imprisonment. Despite it all, youths continued to play the game.
In about 1430 Thomas Lydgate refers to the form of football, Camp Ball: “Bolseryd out of length and bread, lyck a large campynge balle”.
The first reference to Irish football was the Statute of Galway in 1537.
The invention of Rugby was therefore not the act of playing early forms of the game or the acts of a certain Webb-Ellis (true or not), but rather the events which led up to it’s codification. Like so many sports which originated from Victorian England it was competition, the sense of fair play and the subsequent need for rules and laws which allowed the game to develop on a global basis and spawn internationally.
The game of football as played at Rugby School (Rugby, England) between 1750 and 1823 permitted handling of the ball, but no-one was allowed to run with it in their hands towards the oppositions goal. There was no fixed limit to the number of players per side and sometimes there were hundreds taking part in a kind of enormous rolling maul.
The innovation of running with the ball at Rugby school was introduced some time between 1820 and 1830.
If William Webb Ellis was responsible for this innovation as stated in Matthew Holbech Bloxam’s account – “with fine disregard for the rules of football as played in his time at Rugby school, first took the ball in his arms and ran with it, thus originating the distinctive feature of the Rugby game” – it was probably met by vigorous retribution but by 1838-9 Jem Mackie, with his powerful running, made it an acceptable part of the game although it was not legalized until 1841-2 initially by Bigside Levee and finally by the first written rules of August 28th, 1845.
Mr Bloxam was a student at Rugby School at the same time as Webb-Ellis but left some years before him. His account of what someone else witnessed (probably his brother) is the only evidence on which the story is based.
Whilst football for the common man was being suppressed, notably by the 1835 Highways Act which forbade the playing of football on highways and public land (which is where most games took place), it did find a home in the public schools around the country.
Different versions of the carrying game were played in schools such as Rugby, Cheltenham, Shrewsbury and Marlborough and different versions of the kicking game were played at Winchester, Eton, Harrow, Charterhouse and Westminster.
10 Aug 2011, 11:27 am
@TheTackler(TheTackler)-72:
The rough and rugged WP flanker who smashed Carlos into a new tomorrow… towering over him and proclaiming… “Who’s the King now?”
Carlos never recovered from that and last I heard of him he was player-coach for some second rate CC team.
@WP Till I Die(WP-Forever)-73:
If you go to rugbydump.com they have the entire ‘History of Rugby’ video in segments… interesting stuff…
10 Aug 2011, 11:28 am
For me, the problem with Spies is not his tackling, it’s his uselessness as a ball-carrier. With his size, strength and speed he should be driving defenders backwards. Instead, when faced with a defender, he either slows down, losing momentum (resulting in him being driven back in the tackle), or he does a Kankowski and heads for the nearest touchline at a rate of knots.
10 Aug 2011, 11:29 am
@bryce_in_oz(bryce_in_oz)-74:
Cool, thanks!
10 Aug 2011, 12:26 pm
@Big Hit(Big Hit)-68: where do you get your stats 008? give me the link!
10 Aug 2011, 12:29 pm
@Big Hit(Big Hit)-68: oo8
master of disinformation.
you will be happy with m steyn at 10
spies at 8
plod at 2
because it will help the poms….
10 Aug 2011, 12:33 pm
@bryce_in_oz(bryce_in_oz)-69: @Big Hit(Big Hit)-68: both of you do yourselves a favour and read but don’t weep boys…
rugbyxv.co.za looks at a video and stats of John Smit’s performance against the Wallabies.
Smit started the Test as one of only two senior players alongside Danie Rossouw, in a bid to give the Bok captain game time in his favoured hooking position as he only plays his best rugby when he’s had an extended run of starts. Smit had limited opportunities in the Sharks’ No. 2 jersey with Bismarck du Plessis the best hooker in Super Rugby this year.
On Saturday’s showing, Smit needs as much game-time as possible with Peter de Villiers already banking on Smit as his starting hooker come the World Cup.
Offensively, Smit didn’t have a bad game in terms of stats. He carried seven times, got over the advantage line four times and made 22m. But compare that to opposite number Stephen Moore, and its indicative of the wider problems with the Boks’ unimaginative attack.
Moore had six runs, made 49m and importantly made one linebreak and broke one tackle – which Smit and the Bok runners couldn’t do. The Boks, as they did in Europe last year, had little imagination and simply bashed it up with the forwards.
Moore’s try tells a story and showed the difference between the sides. In 2007 the Boks had their forwards running off 9 with good motion on the ball, which is what Will Genia did for this try. Fast forward four years and it’s static, slow and predictable. Hence runners like Smit are easily contained, when in the past the Boks would’ve had various options to choose from off their running scrumhalf, forcing the defenders into making many decisions.
Smit was also turned over in possession three times – and the Aussies made them pay with their counter-attacking display. Again, it’s the limited attacking system that causes this – as the Aussie defenders know where the ball is going, one person can tackle the runner and others attack and turnover the ball.
Smit hit 13 rucks in attack, 12 of which were effective, which is a high number. However, it’s easy for the Bok forwards to hit those rucks when their attack is so limited and lacking width.
One of Smit’s strengths where he possibly holds an advantage over Du Plessis is his throwing, and on Saturday he missed his jumper just once out eight. Crucially for the Boks however, without a lineout jumper in their loose forwards, they had to use middle ball more often than tail ball.
Smit’s defensive stats are where the major concerns arise. Smit attempted six tackles and missed four for an efficiency rate of just 33%. Opposition players light up when they see Smit in the line, and Will Genia took advantage for Digby Ioane’s try straight from the kick-off in the 10th minute.
Smit only completed his tackles on first phase, showing how more off the pace he becomes when sides hold onto the ball. In the couple of tackles Smit completed, he also didn’t dominate the opposition runner and win the collision.
Du Plessis’s undoubted strength around the field is in defence, turning over ball and making a nuisance of himself at ruck-time when the opposition are in possession – forcing them to commit numbers and hence having fewer runners outside.
Smit hit four rucks in defence effectively, while three more were ineffective. Those latter three occasions where the counter-ruck isn’t successful also cause problems in the defensive line if players are committing to rucks unnecessarily and not slowing down ball.
Smit moved to loosehead after 57 minutes, and scored a try from a pick and go, but he – like the rest of the Bok side – has much work to do if they’re to warrant a starting spot come the World Cup.
By Grant Ball
10 Aug 2011, 12:35 pm
@grant10(grant10)-78: BH is a Butchie fan.
As for Spies, I reckon I have seen one good international game from him in the last three years: the end of year tour match against Ireland in 2010.
10 Aug 2011, 12:40 pm
@Michael(mikeybrass)-80: agree…
Butch my main man at 10 as well….thought i saw him trying his kak about how we needed M Steyn to kick goals….?
Anyway, he is a master of bull s hit….a misinformation artist of note….i trust him as far as i can spit…
next he will be telling us how schalk is needed as an opensider in place of the brussel sprout
10 Aug 2011, 12:44 pm
@grant10(grant10)-81: Steyn needs to get back to his roots and trust his running instincts.
Butchie is the man to guide us to and in the WC.
Spies is the real Plod in the pack. Burger would make a terrific number 8. It’s a shame he and Sprout have never been fit at the same time for Burger to make a transition. To have both Burger and Sprout in the same team would be a dream.
10 Aug 2011, 12:46 pm
@bryce_in_oz(bryce_in_oz)-74: Mate it would be interesting to know how the statisticians at statspro classify what Genia did to Smit or what Cory Jane did to Smit are those missed tackles?? Point is stats aint everything mate open your eyes the oke is a sieve on defense. In almost each game since the soweto game you could point a finger at him for directly letting a try occur. Personally i think when the Aus and Nz players look up and see Smit in the defense line their eyes light up and what pisses me off is as soon as he is beaten inside or out he wont sprint to the next breakdown point he jogs there (watch the Cory Jane line break you can see John just jogging in the background with no desire to make amends…I have nothing against this oke he has served SA rugby with great aplomb but at best he just has to play from the wood,which is still an injustice as he is denying the next generation of hookers valuable game time and experience.
10 Aug 2011, 12:50 pm
@Michael(mikeybrass)-82: those running roots of m steyn a long long time ago….
schalk and sprout may just start at 7 and 6 or 8 and 6 at wc, depending on j smith….
we start with plod 1 and plod 2 at wc and we in major strife….
10 Aug 2011, 12:57 pm
Trans?e
That was a n?ce art?cle from ball. A b?t of proper analys?s no wonder he d?dnt f?t ?n here.
Now show us the one after the ab game.
10 Aug 2011, 12:58 pm
Fark?ng blackberry
10 Aug 2011, 12:59 pm
@Mighty Horua(Mighty Horua)-36:
I can still see them hoist the garryowen in abundance, but they will also kick the ball out a lot more than they have in 2010.
Teams will not return a kick from their 22 into the field of play with F.Steyn at the back. They will also be reluctant to kick the ball out as our lineout is superior.
And with Butch at 10, our defensive line will be much more improved, if only to give the 12 and the covering 8 more confidence that first-time tackles will be made in that channel. Particularly our 12 will be at ease knowing that he can focus on his own direct rush or outside drift rather than assisting an inside drift and opening up a potential overlap on the next phase.
The trick is not to play any rugby in your own 22, and then to play berserk rugby in your opponents 22.
10 Aug 2011, 13:00 pm
@Griqua_warrior(willievz)-87: “assisting by making an inside drift”
10 Aug 2011, 13:02 pm
@grant10(grant10)-84: He did it with the Bulls in Super last year. He hasn’t lost it. His problem is that he cannot be the general of the backline. He can, however, be a running link.
Reckon that Alberts, Spies or Danie will be at 8 for the WC matches.
Smit will be just fine.
10 Aug 2011, 13:03 pm
Via Butch. Come on man, show your worth this Sat!
10 Aug 2011, 13:05 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-79:
You most definitely did not get your national colours in comprehension even for a RSA ‘development’ side… every stat and example that we have been discussing across three threads has been on Smit’s ‘second’ test start back at hooker against the ALL BLACKS where he was arguably the best RSA forward on the paddock across every stat including yet another try.. and his improvement on his ‘first’ test… ie him playing himself back into form the more he plays (now his 4th start) at hooker…
And I even hand-fed you the StatsPro stats from ‘Sports Data’ (the most comprehensive statistics company in the Southern Hemisphere for any code) and gifted you the link (gratis)!
You can lead a donkey to water…
Actually I retract the comprehension quip above whole-heartedly… I’ve clearly taken for granted that English is not your first language… nor simple arithmetic your forte’ so next time I’ll take 4 or 5 repetitive posts to get through to you eh?
P.S. Jake White just said to thank you for giving his informative excellent web-site a few more hits and a nice back-link… nice one mate…
10 Aug 2011, 13:13 pm
@bryce_in_oz(bryce_in_oz)-91: Those who dislike Smit will never change their minds.
10 Aug 2011, 15:00 pm
@Michael(mikeybrass)-92: like those who worship at the Alter of Plod, blind faith
10 Aug 2011, 16:08 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-93:
To me it’s gotten so bad I view them as a cult of Smit worshippers.
David Curesh style.
10 Aug 2011, 16:25 pm
@k.camron(k.camron)-83: bro you don’t miss tackles unless you’re trying to make them. Stegmann, Deysel and Smit were the most active defenders yet they also missed the most tackles. Who misses the most tackles for England? a man by the name of Wilkinson, true story.
@grant10(grant10)-78: I don’t rate Spies grant so we can agree on that one
I think James is SA’s best 10, but reckon the Boks will need the boot of M.Steyn at some point in the next two games.
10 Aug 2011, 16:34 pm
@rossoneri(rossoneri)-94:
David Koresh?
The Branch Smittians…
10 Aug 2011, 16:53 pm
Man these topics get derailed quickly … Anyway the boks are not the all blacks, the blacks are players who think on their feet and can make good judgement calls quickly . The boks are like pre-programmed zealots, they just follow the set rules and tactics. I do however think we are in for a surprise this weekend they might hold onto the ball and not kick it away for a while.
Then the wallabies will just try something else and then the boks will be lost again, the boks thinking is as multifaceted as a pancake. It should be a close game though, and it is too close to call right now. You would be stupid to bet on the wallabies loosing though.
10 Aug 2011, 23:25 pm
Anyone see the Wallabies front the press this week? Genia, to his credit, just out and out stated his side was dominated. Iaone and Pocock — in classic Wallaby fashion — preferred to discuss how much “talent” the Aussies had and how the All Blacks “didn’t do anything that surprised them.”
Just laughable. A team that got got thumped badly still pretending nothing happened. The Wallabies are all hype who love to chirp for not having accomplished anything in 10 years. Here’s hoping the Boks smash them this weekend, although I don’t see it happening.
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