Boks striving hard for cutting edge
14 Nov 2012
RYAN VREDE, in Edinburgh, reports Springbok forwards coach and technical analyst Johann van Graan says the evolution of their attacking game will take time and is dependent on a range of factors.
The Springboks’ attacking method has been widely lamented as being overly pragmatic and bordering on conservative. Their focus on gaining territory through tactical kicking has, however, reaped considerable reward. Their time spent in the opposition’s 22m compares favourably with the All Blacks, the difference being how clinical the world champions have been once there.
On Monday Heyneke Meyer lamented the ‘unacceptable’ return of tries considering their opportunities in what he described as the ‘goal zone’. ‘The top teams in the world get points when they get in there,’ he said. ‘It may be a coaching or inexperience thing, but it has to improve. We get in the right areas and we get clean ball, but we don’t convert.’
I’ve maintained that the the focus of the criticism of the Springboks has been wrong. How they get into the opposition’s 22m has been targeted, but what they do with possession while there is the real problem.
It would be remiss not to note the affect injuries, (particularly among the back division) have had on the team’s attacking potency. There has never been a settled combination, while three different flyhalves have started, with Elton Jantjies coming on as an early replacement at Soccer City.
However, how they resolve this deficiency should be a matter of great concern. They’ve desperately lacked imagination, flair, unpredictability and precision when shifting the ball wide. Van Graan, who is also involved in the attacking play, said they had a vision of a preferable outcome, but stressed that there are prerequisites for them to get there.
‘You don’t get the end result immediately, its a process. As soon as you get into a winning habit, combinations settle and you gain experience as a team, you can start evolving,’ he said. ‘There have been some massive moments in our game development, with Bryan Habana’s try in Soweto being a prime example of where we want to go with our game. But game development is about tweaking the small things and surprising the opposition like that.’
The Springboks have relied heavily on their rolling maul as an attacking weapon. However, denied the territory they covet against Ireland in the first half on Saturday, they looked impotent and rudderless. They recovered well and were able to hurt Ireland with their rolling maul. But Van Graan warned that this facet of play will come under stern examination against Scotland at Murrayfield once more.
‘It is a big part of the our game. Our base is so vital and the tight five work hard to keep that base up. Once it is then they can’t sack you. From there it’s technique and synergy. It’s when we use it and where you use it,’ he said.
‘You also have to show respect to the opposition, most of the northern hemisphere teams stop the maul quite well by blocking off your middle and back options, and give you the front ball. They hit and sack you there. So you have to be clever and perhaps take a risk.’
He also noted the Scots’ focus on stifling the recycle at the breakdown. They succeeded in patches early in the game in this regard against the All Blacks, before the tourists stepped up their tackle fight and consistently got over the gainline to deny them a crack at the contest.
Van Graan continued, extolling their hosts’ other strengths.
‘They’ve shown that once they get into the 22m, it doesn’t matter how good the defence is, they can keep the ball. They did that quite well against the All Blacks. They’ve also got some big runners in the backline and their mauling and lineout is one of their big strengths. We’ll have to be clever in countering that,’ he noted.
167 Comments
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13 Nov 2012, 13:15 pm
Champions inside the 22……dragon
13 Nov 2012, 13:16 pm
And the coaching team is striving hard to pass a bowel movement so deep out of depth
13 Nov 2012, 13:34 pm
This Blue Bull coach,is the forward coach as well as the attacking coach??My liewe donner!!!
13 Nov 2012, 13:38 pm
Three in one Johann van Graan.
Forwards coach
Technical analyst
Attacking coach
13 Nov 2012, 13:50 pm
RYAN VREDE, in Edinburgh.
Wow.
Suck it all in Ryan. You only live once.
13 Nov 2012, 13:55 pm
Van Graan must shurrup.
13 Nov 2012, 13:57 pm
@nama1-4:
And he can coach NFL if goes states side !!!!!!!
13 Nov 2012, 13:59 pm
It’s a pity the Boks are currently stuck with the Van Graan nepotism joker. He needs to shut up and stop adding insult to injury.
13 Nov 2012, 14:00 pm
@cane-5: last week he started every post with ‘Dublin’ …. and after a few pints,in his final post, he reported that the Boks were brilliant.The black stuff can fark with your mind after a while.
13 Nov 2012, 14:00 pm
I can see him giving the Al Pachino “inches” speach (Any Given Sunday)all he needs is a headset and a coke habit
13 Nov 2012, 14:01 pm
As long as they prefer size over speed and skill ,no matter what they try and implement, they will fail.
While Flouw has been a revelation at test level this season ,the other loosies have been miserably average at best . Alberts is starting to have less and less impact on the field while Vermulen inst quite having the impact I had hoped for bar one or two steals. I like what the Sharks did with Coetzee ,Daniel and Kankowski .
Without Bismarck our forward pack is looking lame. I cannot say what Juandre Kruger actually adds to the side ,he is no better than Etzebeth in the line-outs and doesn’t do much around the field.
IMO this would be a potent forward pack;
1.Beast
2.Struass
3.Jannie
4.Flip
5.Etzebeth
6.Louw
7.Coetzee
8.Kankowski
13 Nov 2012, 14:01 pm
@Rockn Rolla-7: Just keep him away from my Saints.
13 Nov 2012, 14:02 pm
And I know Beast and Kanko are out…
13 Nov 2012, 14:03 pm
Hahaha shame they should rather not say anything to the media. It all points to the “staff”.
Nag ou Groote
13 Nov 2012, 14:07 pm
The attack has been bad, there is no doubting that, but to say Mayer is lamenting the finishing is a tad dramatic don’t you think? Lament usually describes mourning the death of a loved one. I would say Mayer is bleak about the way his forwards keep stuffing about in the backline.
13 Nov 2012, 14:09 pm
Forwards ‘Spiesing’ about in the backline.
13 Nov 2012, 14:09 pm
@wnbb-12:
Saints are cool
Im a Oackland Raiders man myself – just saw Pittsburgs getting their a$$e$ handed to them by Kansas City (dont know if the Steeler came back tho)
13 Nov 2012, 14:12 pm
How they get into the opposition’s 22m has been targeted, but what they do with possession while there is the real problem.
Spot on. You know the problem, now fix it, and I’d suggest start with your first receivers – the ball goes to the wrong people.
13 Nov 2012, 14:15 pm
WP won the Currie Cup – whooo hooo !!! WP for life
13 Nov 2012, 14:16 pm
@Rockn Rolla-17: Good man.Great victory for the Saints on Sunday against previously undefeated Falcons.Ffs,it was too close for comfort!!
13 Nov 2012, 14:17 pm
But on a serious note i belive van Graan did go States Side and study NLF play, that would explain the whole up and under culture
13 Nov 2012, 14:19 pm
@brains_trust-19: No they never….its all just a dream !!!
13 Nov 2012, 14:22 pm
Here are a few more problems for Mayer to deal with:
1. Too often, our first phase ball goes to our primary strike runners. They’re not taking the ball at speed, so it is easy to defend and it removes that strike runner as an option. The ball isn’t moving through the hands, which makes the problem even more pronounced. They should mix it up with a ‘dummy’ strike runner who passes to a second strike runner or an offload or a few quick passes to the wing with each receiver running straight and drawing defense.
2. The ball is not being protected. The receiver gets the ball and goes straight to ground after being tackled, often with only 1 supporting player. The opposition just ruck us off the ball. If we’re going to keep it tight, we need to commit more players to protect the ball.
3. Our backline is used defensively. When we get the ball, we’re keeping it tight with the forwards. At the moment, our backline is being used to make tackles and occasionally counter attack. We should be using players like JPP and Taute as first receivers, taking the pass at speed.
13 Nov 2012, 14:26 pm
@catchlightuk.com-23:
Not to mention tackle off-loads and runners looking for space rather then trying to bash and bash all 80 min
We all see that funny how the National Coach dont
13 Nov 2012, 14:29 pm
@catchlightuk.com-23: Spot on@Rockn Rolla-24: We can all thank old Uncle Ian Macintosh for the re introduction of “bulldoze-rugby” in the 90′s or at least his version.
13 Nov 2012, 14:35 pm
Overall, I have been very disappointed with what has been on display from the Springboks this season.
There has been nothing convincing about anything that they have done and there are no positives that I can take out of any game.
I mean, they couldn’t even beat the Argies at home, scraped through against lowly Ireland and were beaten by a very weak Australian team. This should not happen from a country with the depth and talent that we supposeably have.
I know that we have allot of injuries at the moment but our game plan and execution of various moves is a joke! Nothing is precise or accuarte. And the needless penalties are running up like a grocery bill. Where has the discipline gone?
I’m afraid if the we do not see the writing on the wall now when will we?
13 Nov 2012, 14:41 pm
Nick Mallett made another great point on Saturday: For the All Blacks, “bad” ball goes to the forwards and “good” ball goes to the backs. For the Boks, it’s the other way around – the wrong away around.
13 Nov 2012, 14:47 pm
@iceman-26:
It obvious our players get far more superior coaching at their unions, look at the way the Sharks, Cheetahs, and now recently WP run their plays not to mention the Lions to a degree
they must step out of a bok set-up gone all backwards, union coaches must now spend half the pre season undoing Meyer and Co’s work
13 Nov 2012, 14:47 pm
This is why your forwards coach shouldn’t also be your attack coach – and if he is related to your former boss then things get even more dodgy.
13 Nov 2012, 14:51 pm
I would love to see JDV being called up on the next camp and say “fuckthat this crew of dipshits and its too long in my career to fuckaround with these fools”
It would look fantastic on national print
13 Nov 2012, 15:16 pm
Some good posts / comment above.
Our problems:
No variation – we are so predictable.
Not enough support runners to take off-loads – crash and bash is our (boring) game.
We’d rather take the tackle / die with the ball rather than find space / gaps.
We always try to run through defenders instead of around them.
Brute strength will get us past the minnows but not (with any consistency) against the teams with big-ish players too (top 8 teams).
The All Blacks have mastered the off-load in the tackle. That’s a large part of why they are in a league of their own right now.
We don’t take the right attacking options when play opens up – the AB’s do.
Our culture is to defend. This, surely at International level, is a prerequisite. The AB’s culture is to attack. Defence is a prerequisite for them.
Anything else?
13 Nov 2012, 15:25 pm
@Rockn Rolla-30: JdV is the head dipshit,he couldn’t get the Stormers backline going and he’ll never get the boks backline going.The definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
13 Nov 2012, 15:31 pm
@Maljan-31:
What irritates me most is that predictability!
Man I’m tired of watching the same thing over and over
Ruck….pienaar to forwards running at opo 10 channel and repeat….over and over and over.
When counter attack presents itself……high kick and chase……
Even when we score from lucky bounce I’m not even getting excited anymore. Because it was the bounce of the ball and not a slick run from a fullback like Percy or Pieter Rossouw or Breyten cutting the defense or Andre Joubert making space for his wings, or Andre Snyman cutting the back line and then actually finishing the move with a try or James Small rounding of a backline move from Hennie and Japie or Joost breaking around the ruck and setting up nice break or offload from Bobby making huge space………NO NO NO NO….it was lucky bounce and now van graan tells us Hbana try was example of his plan????? So luck is his plan?
Where are the days where our players were brilliant!
13 Nov 2012, 15:36 pm
Not to mention the kick offs on saterday!.. Every single kick to exactly the same place….WTF??? The All blacks surprised us with short middle kicks in soweto and they beat us 80% with that surprise….that is a surprise attack van graan….not the ball bouncing for your wing and then make as if it was your plan???? WTF???
13 Nov 2012, 15:49 pm
Pointless kicking away of hard earned possession has definitely not been successful, evidenced in HM’s poor record thus far this year as coach, not only with many losses and draws, but wins that were very marginal at best.
If the Bok forwards actually tried to dominate up front, getting forward momentum, breaking opposition defences, they and the backs would score a lot of tries, yet they prefer to not commit to the rucks and stand by watching the ball get turned over or slowed down, then it gets kicked straight down one of the opposition’s throats. Great strategy heh?
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Scots beat SA again this weekend, rain forecast of course.
13 Nov 2012, 16:02 pm
Heyneke Meyer keeps defending the Kick Chase gameplan, saying there is nothing wrong with it.
The thing he doesnt seem to realise is that its not the kick chase game plan thats flawed, its the fact that its the only game plan we have.
Heyneke some variety would be nice!
13 Nov 2012, 16:11 pm
@18 Pissant
I am surprised you say spot to Ryan’s comment. I do think it makes a big difference how you try to get there. While I am not calling for a run everything approach, you can’t realistically expect the backline to do nothing outside of the 22 and then all of a sudden become amazing, skilled runners creating & using space, with slick passing etc just because they get close to the try line.
They need to be challenged to run when it is on, create space & mismatches all over the field not only at certain times.
We need our backs to be able to break a line regularly. We may not score from each one, but our linebreaks need to improve. This will only come with more ambition, the converse of which is less kicking in general play.
13 Nov 2012, 16:16 pm
Van Graan says: But game development is about tweaking the small things and surprising the opposition like that.’
Are we continually surprised by the kiwis? No, we are outplayed by them because they are more skillful. He is talking twak, he needs to up skill his players fast.
To be fair, they should be a lot better than they are coming from their franchises, it is not as though they are setting the world alight in broken play either.
13 Nov 2012, 16:22 pm
Evidence is clear. The players are being moulded into drones, which negates what made them special and good in the first place. Take Lambie as a prime example, he is now doubting his own talent and game; the result becoming an indecisive player. Why not try and make players better players by adding skills or improving their weaknesses and then letting them decide how to play what is in front of them. I am all for maybe applying some structure or having a certain style but it is clear that players are nervous to just be themselves and actually express themselves. It makes defending the boks easy as talent (maybe the wrong word) is being coached out of players. Enjoyment has become pressure which is evident.
13 Nov 2012, 16:24 pm
@Rockn Rolla-28: Same as the English premier Football – Great at club level but shocking at national level
13 Nov 2012, 16:25 pm
@pie eater-39: Exactly, SA players are over coached. Should work more on skill, and less on structure.
13 Nov 2012, 16:26 pm
@Hoops-33: “and now van graan tells us Hbana try was example of his plan????? So luck is his plan?”
HEY watch what you say aboiut “Kitch Christie” van Graan!
this guy is a GENIUS!
13 Nov 2012, 16:31 pm
Van Graan doesnt instill much confidence with this blabber. Jeez he seems to be out of his depth as an attacking/skills/backline coach at international level! Id have a Eddie Jones, Carel du Plessis, Alan Zondagh any day!
13 Nov 2012, 16:34 pm
@Rockn Rolla-28: I tend to disagree. Even though the Currie Cup and Superrugby is exciting, I for one cannot believe the number of forward passes, dropped passes, bad passes, half made tackles, poor maul structure etc. All of these very simple skills. How is it some really decent players battle to pass both ways?! Compare this with NH game where conditions are a lot worse yet the ball rarely gets dropped etc. I for one think skills have gone backwards in SA. What those coaches have got right though is the self confidence and backing to allow players to express themselves and show what they are good at. A simple skill like passing the ball in the tackle seems to be lost to SA, yet is devastitnf for tha AB. This worm maul, that has grced our fields or the inabaility to pass the ball to the back of a maul rather one guy worming his way backwards, are the other forwards to dumb to hold the ball?
Skills need developing and weaknesses improved. An enjoyment introduced again too.
13 Nov 2012, 16:35 pm
@The Bill-38: upskill incrementally, not at once like PdV tried to which embarrassed the likes of Matfield, Smit and FdP, as they were “world champions” their egos didn’t allow them to open themselves up to learning a new way of playing and be seen to be “rebuilding”, world champs don’t rebuild, they vindicate their title was the mantra between FdP and the manne.
13 Nov 2012, 16:40 pm
how uncanny is it that the 1st choice 13 at the Lions is nowhere near the Bok match 22 but the fullback who played there as last ditch resort when the team was depleted by injuries has STARTED 3 Tests in the same position for the Boks.
that’s like sean maitlan starting at 13 before robbie fruean…
13 Nov 2012, 16:41 pm
@Jeez-43: what has carel done since being fired by the Boks in ’97?
13 Nov 2012, 16:43 pm
@Transformation-47:
It wasn’t the Boks that fired Carel…
…Keo will have you know it was him.
13 Nov 2012, 16:47 pm
@Transformation-42:
He doesnt seem to grasp the simple fact that the boks arent up to standard in the basic skills department, compared to Aus and Nz. The backs will never be potent enough to read the situation and react accordingly if they dont have the basic skills set the ABs have…
The Australian’s squad has never been so depleted and weak, but their basic skills stay the same, which keeps them competitive, enough so to beat the boks even though ,with all our injuries, technically the boks still have a stronger squad than they do.. why?
If you want to believe the stats that the boks spend the most time in the opposition’s 22, you have to ask what would the Aussies or Kiwi’s have done in those situations due to their superior finishing skills …
HM is rightfully stating the obvious, ‘its a coaching thing’ Van Graan is worried and is making excuses.
13 Nov 2012, 16:49 pm
@Transformation-46:
you think new zealand does not play provincial players out of position in the national squad?
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