Big test for ‘soft’ Bok defence
25 Sep 2012
JON CARDINELLI writes the biggest challenge for the Springboks’ defence this weekend will be one of mental as well as physical consistency.
The Boks’ inability to create sufficiently, or indeed finish when they do make the odd break or surge, has been rightly scrutinised. The South African game plan has lacked balance for some time, although you could hardly say that their defensive game is perfect.
The Wallabies scored two soft tries in the previous match-up in Perth, and in the aftermath Bok coach Heyneke Meyer lamented the ‘soft moments’. It’s a phrase Meyer has come to use more and more as the year has progressed, having first coined it during the June Tests where the Boks were guilty of far too many defensive lapses.
The Boks will return to Loftus Versfeld this Saturday, and while it is encouraging to know that the ground is a fortress in terms of the win/loss record against the Wallabies, it is also the ground where they produced one of their most inconsistent showings in recent times.
The 2010 Test at Loftus was the only Tri-Nations game they won that season, but the defensive display was nothing short of abysmal.
Meyer’s Boks have been similarly susceptible in that the defence has lapsed at key moments. They seemed on course for victory in Perth before folding in the second stanza, poor tackling and discipline at the root of their failure.
What made that result particularly difficult to stomach was that the Wallabies weren’t that impressive. Indeed, injuries and a change in mindset have blunted the once formidable and feared Wallabies attack. How then do they continue to breach and punish the Bok defence?
In a statistical analysis compiled by ruckingoodstats.com, there are some similarities between the Boks and Wallabies. These stats show that the Wallabies are kicking more this season, and up on the Highveld, it is likely that the Wallabies will favour a tactical-kicking flyhalf like Berrick Barnes.
The Boks won’t have to worry about the all-round brilliance of Will Genia and Quade Cooper, as both Wallabies halfbacks are out with injuries. But it is interesting to note that even when that potent pair have been available in the 2012 Test season, the Wallabies on average have kept less ball in play than the Boks.
They also averaged just 3.8 offloads per match while the Boks averaged 4.6 (the average for southern hemisphere teams this year has been 5.6). So while it’s clear that both teams are struggling to get their attacking game going, the Wallabies are slightly worse off than the Boks.
The Boks (19) are slightly above the average of 18.9 for tackles broken, while the Wallabies are below par at 17.1. South Africa also edge the Australians for clean linebreaks, with 1.9 per match playing 1.4. Both teams are below average (2 per game) in terms of tries scored, and again the Wallabies’ average is worse than that of the Boks.
And what of defence? The Wallabies have missed 17.3 tackles per Test in 2012, while South Africa have let 17.1 slip. Again, these are stats of struggling teams, as the southern hemisphere average is 16.2 per game.
The Boks have done well in terms of territory, averaging 57% per match. What’s been plain to see is that they struggle to pick up the points once in the opponents’ half, either through wayward goal-kicking or poor finishing.
The Wallabies have attempted to play a more tactical game in 2012 with very limited success. The quality of their line-kicking has come under scrutiny, and according to the stats, 9.7% of all kicks out of hand have ended in error.
This is something that the Boks must look to punish at Loftus, and perhaps this is where they can show more attacking intent through a counter-attack rather than a premeditated garryowen.
The Boks’ attacking stats at the tackle are hardly surprising. They are on the wrong side of the southern hemisphere average in terms of penalties conceded while in possession, and for penalties conceded at rucks and mauls. This is something they will need to sharpen if they hope to build any sort of attacking continuity.
Where they will look to attack the Wallabies, and again this should come as no surprise, is at the scrum. The Wallabies concede on average 2.3 penalties (the southern hemisphere average is 1.7) and 1 free kick (0.8) per game at this set piece. Almost a quarter of all scrums end in the Wallabies being punished.
The Boks led 13-3 at one stage in Perth, as they were able to capitalise, albeit to a limited to degree, on the Wallabies’ weaknesses and errors. However, the Boks’ own shortcomings, on attack and defence, were exposed in the second half.
They will need to be mindful of this at Loftus. It’s obvious that they need to start converting more of their goal-kicking opportunities, as well as rounding off their try-scoring chances. But above and beyond that, they need to show some defensive mettle in that decisive second stanza.
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36 Comments
25 Sep 2012, 05:27 am
Boks are Wallabies bunnies…….DRAGONS
25 Sep 2012, 06:39 am
I have noticed that majority of the tries scored against the Boks are soft or are noted as such.
Why is this?
Are teams not capable of putting together a try that SA deems to be ….hard?
Alot of the times you guys blame your defense but don’t acknowledge the attack that made that defense look cr@p
25 Sep 2012, 07:56 am
@Hurricane-2:
Fair enough, sometimes credit is not given where it is due, like Aaron Smith’s try against the Boks. Brilliance and opportunism at its best.
25 Sep 2012, 08:20 am
@Craven-3: And weak defense from……..Dean Greyling.
25 Sep 2012, 08:30 am
@Hurricane-2: as mentioned Greyling missed the tackle on Smith, that was soft, really soft way to let in 7 points.
25 Sep 2012, 08:42 am
RL: for some reason, Goosen also left his channel during Smith’s try? All Smith had to do was beat a prop? What was Goosen doing?
25 Sep 2012, 08:42 am
All teams describe the tries scored against them as soft tries.
25 Sep 2012, 09:27 am
@Braders-6: I can only think that for some reason the first defender was trusted to make his tackle.
25 Sep 2012, 09:36 am
@Braders-6:
I assume he was covering his opposte 10. One Smith passed Greyling he cut back to the blindside, way out of Goosens path.
25 Sep 2012, 09:40 am
@Hurricane-2: soft moment = dean greyling missing a regulation tackle on aaron smith! not to say smith didn’t step to fool the doos.
kudos to the all blacks for the dagg try as whitelock & read stretched the bok defence with 2 deft offloads – that right there is testament of the all blacks SKILLS and not bok fraility in defence, outsmarted and outplayed
happy now?
25 Sep 2012, 09:42 am
@Transformation-10:
Better late than never i suppose…… yeah i happy thank you
25 Sep 2012, 09:44 am
@Hurricane-2: we conceded “soft tries” aplenty against england, in joburg i even recall msteyn fiddling with the ball while on the ground, conceding a penalty then ben youngs took the ball before the boks set the defence, tapped & ran, passed to ashton who offloaded to flood and wham TRY…
in our 22, our own lineout goes wonky and england pounce, TRY…
many soft tries like that mate.
25 Sep 2012, 09:46 am
@RL-5:
So any tackle that is missed leading up to a try is marked as soft?
Going on your view Habanas try was soft. Smith just let habana through,pathetic attempt at a tackle…yet i see individual brilliance from Habana on here.
Cant be both surely.
25 Sep 2012, 09:49 am
@Transformation-12:
Yep,cant argue with that Trans, all teams get soft tries..
25 Sep 2012, 09:50 am
@Hurricane-13:
Actually take that back, it can be both.
It was a very good try from Habana, even though Smith bloused out.
25 Sep 2012, 09:51 am
@Transformation-12: Oh dear. I have tried to so hard to push little ‘memories’ like that one into the furthest recesses of my mind so as to not relive the trauma. I was doing pretty well actually….until your vivid trip down memory lane.
I feel sick.
25 Sep 2012, 09:55 am
@Hurricane-13: “soft” can be a lot of things, the lead up to a try eg aussies kick off and mvovo for some crazy fecked up reason is just scared to take the high ball and decides to toe it and it richochets into out in-goal and dom msteyn dots it down – 5 metre scrum aus, 3 phases later TRY time… that is a soft try, their entry into our 5 metre zone was weak!
25 Sep 2012, 10:00 am
HM is just to one sided.. the Team will still have Nik Nak and M Steyn starting. why oh why did we not re appoint Mallet.. let be honest HM has had 7 games won 2 lost 2 and drawn 2…
If Mallet was appointed what do you think his Score would be out of 7… I reckon at least 5…
and possible 7 as We should have beaten both Aus and Kiwis..But then again he could have lost them all. But he would have lost them with blooding new young players, and we would be better off for it.
25 Sep 2012, 10:06 am
@Transformation-17:
Do you make notes during games?
25 Sep 2012, 10:10 am
@Transformation-10:
wipe your chin, boet.
25 Sep 2012, 10:13 am
@Hurricane-2: Hurricane, I 100% agree with you… Aaron Smith’s try was not soft. The All Blacks worked hard through many phases to get into a position where someone could spark a try through a bit of individual flair. The Boks defense wasn’t good enough in the build up to the try and it wasn’t good enough when Aaron Smith took off.
If Heyneke thinks that we have let ourselves down only through soft moments, then he is fooling himself…. The Boks defense has been pretty average for the most part of this year. Ironically, it was actually much improved against your boys but still not at the standard it should be at.
25 Sep 2012, 10:13 am
@Dawn-19:
no, those two glaring c o c k ups by mvovo were so outrageous it is easy to remember. i prefer the other one when he literally ran away from ben alexander leaving kruger to make a stupid schoolboy type tackle on him.
25 Sep 2012, 10:19 am
@Dawn-19: mental ones, yes.
25 Sep 2012, 10:19 am
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-20: oh F.UCK YOU!
25 Sep 2012, 10:26 am
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-22: you are like heyneke meyer, biased to a fault! you don’t recall the kak made by your favourite players or bulls…against aus msteyn with a 3 on 2 – jdv & habana outside him, decides to IGNORE them and turn BACK into THREE waiting australian players to prize him off the ball…opportunity lost!
against NZ msteyn is deep in the pocket, gets the ball – moerse bok bodies in front of him for him to attempt a drop, steps the defender successfully and the KICKS the ball away with his outside backs waiting in space…
yet heyneke to THIS day still says “there’s nothing wrong with morne’s overall game, it’s just his kicking that is off”
25 Sep 2012, 10:29 am
When Smith scored that try there was a major All Black overlap to his right. They were gonna score no matter what.
25 Sep 2012, 10:39 am
@scrumfan-26: i don’t know about that…
25 Sep 2012, 10:41 am
@Transformation-24:
easy tiger
@Transformation-25:
to be fair transie, i did not hold back on players like potgieter and greyling, as well hougaard when he played badly at sh.
same for morne, who i blamed for the three losses.
i follow the debra style of blogging journalism, calling playing chops out
without fear or favour
25 Sep 2012, 10:44 am
get nienaber probs will never happen since a huge sum was paid to the bulls.
25 Sep 2012, 12:06 pm
” The Wallabies have missed 17.3 tackles per Test in 2012, while South Africa have let 17.1 slip. Again, these are stats of struggling teams, as the southern hemisphere average is 16.2 per game.”
so who makes up the SH avg?
is it on a seasonal basis or is it over the last 100 years?
what a bs stat.
25 Sep 2012, 13:44 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-28:
hahaha
I for one dont believe a word you have said there.
I have not seen one post from you saying Morne lost those games for you.
In fact i can bring up alot of posts about those 3 games from you stating the ref cost you guys those games.
So i think maybe 1% of your posts may blame Morne to a point, but the Kiwis ( who banned Etzebeth ) and the refs are at fault, is all over keo from you
25 Sep 2012, 13:57 pm
@Hurricane-31:
yes its true i call the kiwis out a lot more because they are in the spotlight a lot more, thats what happens when you transgress so often.
but honeslty, i do call out the failings and faults of our players and coaches too. you only see what you want to see, hurri.
the number of times i’ve blamed morne squarely for losing the last three tests.
25 Sep 2012, 14:04 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-32:
Do you know why the ABs are in the spotlight more…..to you?
Cos the one eye can only watch one team. Simple.
So why did you post that the refs lost you those games?
25 Sep 2012, 14:10 pm
@Hurricane-33:
two seperate things really.
the ref screwed us as much as the opposition cheated us but if morne had not missed his kicks it would not have mattered because we would have won anyway.
so, even though being screwed to lose by you and the refs, morne screwed up further by losing his kicking form.
simple really.
25 Sep 2012, 14:13 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-34:
Thank you.
I believe 90% of the posters here believe it was not the refs fault to the losses.
And if you think you have a huge following with the opposition cheated you guys out of the wins then as we know you are insane
25 Sep 2012, 14:56 pm
@Hurricane-35:
most of the bloggers are too nice and decent to give you their honest opinions, hurri.
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