Boks’ failure rooted in defence
8 Sep 2012
RYAN VREDE writes the Springboks’ troubles have mounted, with poor defence now added to their list of shortcomings. A specialist fetcher will go some way to fixing this problem.
The Springboks’ defence, good to date, failed them and allowed the Wallabies a route back into the Test. They fell off tackles like schoolboys in the build up to the Wallabies’ tries. Pathetic. Absolutely inexcusable. They will lose by some distance if this is a feature of their play next weekend against the All Blacks.
However, they will ease their defensive burden significantly with the inclusion of a specialist fetcher. Heyneke Meyer has maintained that there is no room for a player of this ilk in his side, explaining that his opensider must be a competent ball carrier as well. Marcell Coetzee is a fine player, but in Francois Louw they have a far superior man on the deck and one that also meets Meyer’s ball-carrying criteria.
They made just two breakdown turnovers in this Test and consistently failed to slow the recycle. The Wallabies gradually grew in confidence and in the second half were allowed to control the flow and tempo of the play. It is imperative that Louw is included in a bid to stifle the Blacks’ attacking momentum.
Furthermore, their attack shows no sign of improvement. The lack of imagination and penetration they showed in the red zone suggests their struggles here are still some way off being solved. They nearly butchered the play in the build-up to their try, with Morne Steyn twice taking the wrong option. His kicking game was adequate. Not so his ball in hand play. For now Meyer will retain the belief that that sacrifice is worthwhile. However, Steyn has offered nothing to dispel the perception that his value transcends his kicking game. His cause wasn’t helped by the promising cameo Johan Goosen made.
Steyn, though, wasn’t helped by their strike runners’ impotency at the gainline. Meyer expects his behemoths to provide punch in this department, resisting the claims of more mobile and skillful players (particularly back rowers). They offered the team little momentum. In the context of the Springboks’ game plan and in the apparent absence of any players with the capacity to produce a moment of magic, failure to boss the tackle fight on attack is terminal to their cause.
There were some positives – their line kicking and tactical kicking game was good and pinned the Wallabies in their half in the first 40. Asked come up with an exit strategy, the Wallabies just never seemed to have one. This sort of pressure play is what Meyer hopes the bedrock of his success will be built on.
But they faded badly in the second half and now go to face the world champions with more questions than answers haunting them.
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108 Comments
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8 Sep 2012, 15:10 pm
@Hurricane-47: You were a little bit lateral on offence, bud.
8 Sep 2012, 15:10 pm
Zane – did nothing wrong
Habana – why was he subbed?
Jean – nothing there
Frans – a few good tackles, OK one
Hougaard- tried but then zzzz
Morne -nothing
Ruaan – just a link (intelligent link)
Duan – one steal
Juandre – good game
Etsie – good game and learning all the time
Marcell -zzzzz
Willem – just not an international loosie
Front row – solid
HM – zzz???zzz
8 Sep 2012, 15:12 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food Says:
I agree your coach seems to be besotted by the old subjugate & batter approach of old Bok teams. It worked well when all the other teams weren’t as physically robust. These guys are all pros now. Any chance of getting White back or is he gone for good you think?
8 Sep 2012, 15:15 pm
@willievz-51:
I think the bigger problem was how impatient they are. They try to force so much that eventually the handling errors mount up and they lose all of their momentum. NZ needs to be a lot more calculated in the way they play, right now it’s dire.
8 Sep 2012, 15:17 pm
The concerns many of us have had surrounding Heineke Meyer’s one dimensional game plan have finally become a reality. We have lost a game we should have won and the Wallabies recent record over us continues. This is unacceptable. Meyer’s record currently stands at Played 6, won 3.
The discerning fans on this site have been saying for months now that a one dimensional game plan can not possibly be the answer for a team striving to be the best in the world. Still, there have been saying the Meyer needs to be given a chance. Well he’s had his chance now and I am afraid this level of permance simply isn’t good enough.
Here are the following areas we need to improve drastically if we want to have a chance of winning next weekend:
- Urgency and aggression at the breakdown – We need more menace at the breakdown on opposition ball and we need more aggression at the breakdown on our ball. Much, much more aggression.
- Aggressive defense – This is the first aspect of our game that needs to be addressed and if we do so, we will look like a new team. When the opposition has the ball, we need to put the pressure right back on them. I want to see our players all over the opposition, making life difficult and forcing them into mistakes. I want our players to look like rabid animals, frothing from the mouth on defense. More urgency, more aggression. We need to use the rush defense more often (not all the time – only when its on)… Drift defense. Huge tackles. Keep the opposition honest and timid. You can turn defense into attack if you do it with the right attitude. We need to get the right attitude.
- Competing at the lineouts more – why not?
- More variety in our game plan – we are the most predictable team in world rugby and it makes us easy to prepare for. If we use additional tactics apart from just the kick and chase, we will keep the opposition guessing and make ourselves more difficult to prepare for. Bloody simple stuff I would have expected the coach to know about.
- More variety from our flyhalf – As above, we need to keep the opposition guessing. Goosen looks better than Morné Steyn. Lambie is also an option.
- Offloading in the tackle – As a world class team, we should be good enough to do this. I want our team to do this in training week in and week out until we can offload with confidence and then we will know when to offload and when to hold onto the ball. It just takes practice.
- Knowing your opposition – It is mind-numingly frustrating to watch your team play a “one-size-fits-all” approach against every team,. Different teams have different weaknesses you can exploit. We need to be smart enough to use tactics that work.
- Opposition offloaders – following on from above, we know that guys like Sonny Bill Williams and Quade Cooper are going to throw offloads in the tackle. How about we have a player waiting nearby when the tackle on them is made, ready to look for the intercept??…. If they don’t throw the offload, then Bingo, we have found a way to stop them offloading.
- Tactical kicking – Meyer keeps talking about a kicking game plan, but we are actually putting more pressure on ourselves sometimes when we kick down the oppositions throat. How about we find touch once in a while?
- Leadership – we need more leadership in our team. Part of this is not Meyer’s fault, as we have lost some exoerienced players to injury, but we still need to be diong better. There are some experienced players who have been ignored but who would have brought leadership and direction to the team. In addition to that, a world class coach would have been able to get on the phone to experienced players who are overseas to bring them back temporarily.
- A better coach – Overall, Heineke Meyer has taken the Boks backwards. Even when we get our injured players back, we are still going to play impotent rugby because we only have one game plan. It’s the way we are playing at the moment which is most concerning and I’m afraid unless Heineke drasticall changes his approach to rugby, we will continue to be left behind by the other teams in world rugby.
8 Sep 2012, 15:18 pm
@ngapuhi-53:
My bet is that Jake White will be coaching the Aussie national team at the end of Dean’s tenure.
8 Sep 2012, 15:18 pm
we can beat the wallabies at home but i dont know bout the all blacks just yet
8 Sep 2012, 15:18 pm
First off , excellence and Zane Kirchner does not belong in the same sentence , then secondly defence is the last of our problems. We KICKED way too much again. We did not play towards our strengths and we picked unfit players, The boks would rather play an unfit bruiser like Duane than a fully fit Link player like Keegan and thats our problem. Heneke is short sited and cannot play any other team than theone that suits his way of playing , he cannot adapt and until then we will lose alot more.
8 Sep 2012, 15:18 pm
@Mike H-56:
Too many Stupid supporters in SA> They don;t know what a good coach is.
8 Sep 2012, 15:18 pm
@ngapuhi-46: We’re not playing with the new rules in the RC though. I think they’ve made the game a better spectacle. Alot quicker and more entertaining with the 5 second rule and the scrums smoother than under the old ruling. I definetly agree that the rugby in the RC has been pretty uninspiring all-round.
8 Sep 2012, 15:20 pm
@Mike H-59: you talk youeself and you call others stupid.
8 Sep 2012, 15:22 pm
@Kaizan-55:
Yip the loss of experience is massive. And exactly why I knew that this year would be a challenge. See past posts over a year ago.
People go on about picking the flashy youngsters. It’s so ridiculous.
This once again proves the value of experience.
The AB’s are so strong because their guys are experienced and still in their prime many of them. Some of these guys will be a little over the hill by the next world cup a bit like our guys were last year.
8 Sep 2012, 15:22 pm
@Kaizan-55: Meyer’s win record has slipped below Straueli’s
8 Sep 2012, 15:24 pm
@RL-61:
Never said I wasn’t stupid. Just think we should all take our opinions as just that and not get so worked up.
People hate Jake White – I can;t understand why. Basically they chased him out of SA.
Our best coach in the last 12 years and that’s what we do.
Anyway give HM a chance. These players are young and need to learn what test rugby is about.
Super 15 is for flashy kiddies. Test Rugby is for real men!!
8 Sep 2012, 15:24 pm
Alberts to lock, Etzebeth to 5, Bekker bench?
Hougaard and Habana starting wingers?
Aplon/Lambie at Fullback?
Goosen at Flyhalf?
My birthday wishlist
8 Sep 2012, 15:25 pm
@mikeH -56
It wouldn’t be a bad position to have would it? Compare coaching Australia (small pool of talent albeit) & SA. You can bet the money would be better (always a factor if people are honest) & you wouldn’t have to walk to political minefield that seems to be a corollary factor with any Bok appointment. Silly of me to think that Jake might ‘go home’.
8 Sep 2012, 15:26 pm
@pattyfries-65:
and fly up brussow to put richie in his place
8 Sep 2012, 15:28 pm
@willievz-51:
Yeah mate. And thats got me a bit worried.
We really never had that cross running styles when GH had the team. I always remember when GH had to take the back coaching the ABs lineout from Hansen cos we were cr@p.
I am not sold on hansen yet.
8 Sep 2012, 15:29 pm
@ngapuhi-66:
Ye SA supporters chased him away.
See what he did with a very young Brumbie team
the guy knows how to spot talent
8 Sep 2012, 15:30 pm
@Mike H-56:
Nope, they would not want another international coach. I think they will go and hire internal.
8 Sep 2012, 15:45 pm
@Hurricane
I think you are right there re Jake White; it appears Ewen McKenzie is the next cab off the rank as far as Australia is concerned. Just galls me to see good coaches on the ‘sideline’. What’s Mallet up to?
8 Sep 2012, 15:50 pm
Whoops!
8 Sep 2012, 15:53 pm
well lets hope thats the end of M Steyn…
gotta try to find the silver lining somewhere
8 Sep 2012, 15:54 pm
sometimes blessings come in the srangest form of adversities
8 Sep 2012, 15:54 pm
@Mike H-56:
no.
mckenzie will coach the wallabies
8 Sep 2012, 16:28 pm
@grant10-73:
HHAHA agreed
8 Sep 2012, 16:36 pm
@Mike H-56: Jake will not come even close as long as Mackenzie is around. Firstly, Aussie public will not forgive another foreigner (despite Deans having better win-lose ratio against any team bar Kiwiland). Secondly, Mackenzie is just better.
8 Sep 2012, 16:38 pm
Poor performance Boks. Boks showing no creativity. The ball not passing Francois Steyn once in the back-line. Crash ball the hole time, very predictable. We need at least one back-line move, the ball not even being touched by Francois Hougaard in the first quarter of the game. Mvovo not on Springbok standards, but I I understand our best wing, JP Pieterson, is injured so nothing can be done there. Morne again playing one dimensional , predictable and terrible. If we want to win against the Blacks’ Goosen or Lambie starting in the number 10 jersey is our best option to be even a bit more on the level of New Zealand’s standards.
Heyneke has to change his game-plan for Springboks to be even close to regaining the top seed, even the second seed. We need one fetcher with the other loosies being good ball-carriers. Our two exciting wings, Hougaard and Habana, needs to get more ball. They have so much potential, especially Hougaard who is still young. If we can, du Preez back on scrum-half will be a large bonus. Bur for now Pienaar needs to work on he’s tactical kicking as well as getting the ball to the back-line faster.
New Zealand’s back-line practicly lives on offloads, which are 50/50 passes but yet the Blacks’ are at 75% in the offloads. We need to see more of that, which i can prove by pointing back to the DHL Western Province vs the Vodacom Blue Bulls last weekend, where the WP made three brilliant offloads giving the Province alot of more space. They dominated the game defencefly, attackingly and chance wise.
Heyneke can say ,”We have to go back to the drawing board.” as much as he likes, but has to start making a change to the drawing board if he wants to get somewhere?
8 Sep 2012, 16:51 pm
The current coaching team will see the boks slump to 5th place on irb standings, if we’re lucky!
8 Sep 2012, 16:53 pm
@Nils-77:
McKenzie it’s a good coach I agree. It’s a good option.
Maybe you are right.
8 Sep 2012, 17:07 pm
But what about this? Australia have won their last five matches against South Africa and have won seven of the last eight matches against the Springboks. So is it all HM’s fault?
8 Sep 2012, 19:20 pm
The ozzzies are an average test team and there is our first problem we cannot beat them a decent bok performance would have won them the game.The boks are actually boring to watch at the moment they have not got a clue,where are our gamebreakers,oh i forgot we do not have any.The beast is no beast any longer he is poor at the moment,strauss is just not test standard,and jannie has big ? marks over his form,the front row are the softest in the RC and it shows,our locks have no mongrel in them and our loose trio were awful today,i heard coetsee`s name mentioned a few times,but vermeulen had a nightmare( not test standard)
along with alberts.Spies playing poorly is still way ahead of vermeulen.It is now time for morne to go to the bench,goosen must start,and pienaar is to slow simple as that.I thought kirchener played well enough he is solid if not flashy at full back and hougaard played well with the limited ball he had to work with and his defence is good.The other 3 habana de villiers and F steyn must F’##k off now and go and play CC as that is all they are good for now,especially devilliers and steyn as they are truly awful.That is my assessment of today`s` game for what it is worth.HM HAS to change his gameplan this kick and chase game he wants the boks to play is absolutely BOOOORRRRIIIINNNNNGGGGGGGGG and really awful to watch.
8 Sep 2012, 21:19 pm
@Mike H-80: To be honest, I do not know who else but him.
9 Sep 2012, 01:00 am
@klippies-57: The Boks have lost five in a row to Aussie and six out of seven — so they pretty much have your number at home AND away, pilgrim.
The right team — and the rightful and worthiest team — became the world champions in 2011. None of this “lucky pretender” nonsense like winning RWC without squaring up to either Oz and NZ like in 2007.
9 Sep 2012, 02:33 am
@TheTackler-84: None of this “lucky pretender”nonsense like winning rwc without squaring up to either Oz and SA like in 1987.
9 Sep 2012, 02:46 am
@snivelling little kiwi pricks-85:
SA rugby didnt exist in 1987, well not according to IRB
How can we square up to an imaginable opponent?
9 Sep 2012, 02:55 am
@Hurricane-86: You still did not play them.Imaginable or not.In 2007 nz couldnt play SA as they were not good enough to get through.87 was always a WC that would most probably have been won by SA had we played after we spanked the rebels in 86.
9 Sep 2012, 02:59 am
@TheTackler-84: how right was it that the French were screwed out of victory in the final? how worthy were Australia as semi-finalists at the hands of a since discredited ref with a pool loss to Ireland?
You shouldn’t throw stones tackles, because NZ were probably the least worthy WC final winners there has been.
9 Sep 2012, 03:02 am
@Big Hit-88:
Makes you question 2007, or does it not?
French didnt mind it in 2007, neither did the English and Boks. We all know ABs were going to man handle those teams in 2007.
Thing is take the RWC away, NZ is still the best team in the world.
9 Sep 2012, 03:06 am
@snivelling little kiwi pricks-87:
haha
Cavaliers only had 7 of the 22 players in the RWC.
What makes you think the Boks not at home were going to beat the new AB team?
We all know how the Boks travel.
Waste of time anyway this. Now really whose fault is it that you guys were not in the 1987 RWC ?
Fact is RWC 1987 was the first and won by NZ.
Its funny how this sort of thing pops up after a Bok loss.
9 Sep 2012, 03:11 am
@Hurricane-89: Just like NZ were going to man handle France in the final last year or in 1999 or SA in 1995 or Oz in 1991/2003.
Of course you’d love to take the WCs away, because your team can’t win one without fixing it in your backyard.
9 Sep 2012, 03:16 am
@Big Hit-91:
Prove the fixing claim. Go on.
You have nothing. Only fixing was the ball tampering by the English. Embarrassment to world rugby.
Again, take the RWC out. We dont need it to prove we are the best.
You live on a 4 year tournament. We live game by game. You lose to Wales, we dont. Ozzie took apart Wales in 3 tests. You are second place in 6 nations. Come back to me when at least your team is worthy.
9 Sep 2012, 03:16 am
Thread Title:
“Boks’ failure rooted in defence.”
Ryan,
many unnecessary words used here.
“Boks Rooted”.
Would be sufficient.
9 Sep 2012, 03:21 am
@Hurricane-92: I don’t need to prove it because everybody saw it. It was comfortably the most biased performance in a World Cup final of all time and NZ even had the same referee for the semi – unheard of.
Enjoy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7C6bTHyC0U
9 Sep 2012, 03:24 am
: @Hurricane-90: We know the facts,but fact is SA did not play so not a true result.And this did not pop up after a loss but after reading one of your fellow snivellers comments i thought i would reply.
9 Sep 2012, 03:24 am
@Hurricane-92:
Biggles is just fishing Hurricane.
Old Blighty manage a win against NZ every 10 years or so.
Once this Millennium I think.
So fishing is his pastime………………………………..cause his Rugby Team is crape.
9 Sep 2012, 03:25 am
@Big Hit-94:
Yep non refereeing decisions….. like 2007.
And where does it say we fixed it?? No where.
Your false claims are laughable.
Now 2007 RWC.
Barnes set it up as he knew the ABs would be playing the English if they won. He knew England had no chance and a better chance to against the French.
Cheated. Are you really that blind?
9 Sep 2012, 03:26 am
@Big Hit-94: Very true.
9 Sep 2012, 03:26 am
@snivelling little kiwi pricks-95:
Cheer up Sniveler,
For fooks sake.
It’s only a game.
(yeah right).
9 Sep 2012, 03:26 am
@cane-96:
Yeah, hes bit of a joke really.
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