Brutal Boks blunt Scots
17 Nov 2012
RYAN VREDE, in Edinburgh, watched the Springboks deliver an almighty defensive performance in the second half to beat Scotland 21-10 at Murrayfield.
This was not a wholly clinical performance from the Springboks on a number of fronts, but one that will nonetheless please Heyneke Meyer and galvanise his side ahead of the sternest Test of the tour in London next week.
It was undoubtedly a victory built, once again, on brutal, accurate and disciplined defence. This has been the hallmark of all the Springboks’ victories this season, and they will have to sustain this if they are to become the dominant team they envisage being.
At the heart this success has been Francois Louw. Irrepressible and seemingly omnipresent since his installment in the side, Louw is now surely among the world’s pre-eminent opensiders and undoubtedly the most valuable player in the Springboks’ ranks at this stage.
Louw was not alone in his excellence. His back row brothers Willem Alberts and Duane Vermeulen shone on attack and defence. The trio are gradually growing into a triumvirate, formidable in their combination, all possessing power and fearlessness in equal measure. Their form and indeed that of Eben Etzebeth, who surely was created for the sole purpose of playing Test rugby, and others like the industrious Adriaan Strauss and unrelenting Jannie du Plessis, is promising, not only for the showdown with England but beyond that. Meyer has the makings of a truly great Springbok pack, and the addition of Bismarck du Plessis, Andries Bekker and Schalk Burger next year will further amplify their potency.
There was little to excite from an expansive attacking perspective, but this is how it will be until the back division settles and finds cohesion and synergy. Meyer has been criticised for myriad reasons, but today he deserves praise for what was a clear directive to pound Scotland into submission through his heavies. The hosts never looked capable of repelling their surges in the first half, losing the gainline battle which consequently robbed them of contesting the breakdown in a meaningful way. When the momentum swung they looked equally inept at bossing the tackle fight, which undermined their cause.
For the first 40 the Springboks were able to control possession and, more pertinently, territory, from where they relied on the best rolling maul in the game to ravage the Scots. Pat Lambie banked two penalties before converting Strauss’s try after a maul.
So dominant were the Springboks that their hosts’ first entry into their 22m came in the 35th minute and their ambition was duly blunted by the brilliant Louw, who earned a breakdown penalty on his 5m line. It was 14-3 at the break, with the Springboks looking supremely comfortable.
That changed in the second half, with Scotland summoning a spirit that was reminiscent of the one that drove the Springboks to a second-half turnaround at Lansdowne Road last week. Strauss got his brace, anticipating and intercepting a pass, and Lambie added the extras, but that was the sum total of the time the Springboks spent in Scotland’s territory.
The home crowd’s belief was stirred with a well worked try off the lineout, scrumhalf Henry Pyrgos slicing through a hole engineered by intelligent splitting of the Springboks’ lineout formation. Greig Laidlaw converted and Scotland’s siege continued unabated. The composure and unfailingly accuracy the Springboks exhibited under extreme pressure was inspiring. They will take heat for what will be perceived as a struggle. But this Scotland team scored three tries against the world champion All Blacks last week. That is the perspective that should inform any assessment of this match.
The tourists held on, even when Flip van der Merwe was sin binned for cynical play. Are there major improvements needed in the week ahead? Absolutely. England are a far superior side and more capable of exploiting the Springboks’ deficiencies. An attacking edge continues to elude them. They again failed to convert their first-half time in the goal zone into more points, which would have made their passage more comfortable.
But this inexperienced Springbok side has passed another important test, one a superior team failed in 2010. Their education continues. The journey is long.
743 Comments
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17 Nov 2012, 21:23 pm
@ufo-195:
7 wins 3 losses and 2 draws…?…
and you’re not happy.
expect next year to show huge improvement on creative play.
17 Nov 2012, 21:25 pm
@phil72-186: not quite
1 Gurthro (should be on a par with Beast)
3 Jannie is our best TH at present till they get Mujati sorted out
4 Etzebeth is the premiere 4
6 Flouw is the best for that position
7 Alberts is probably our best 7 except possibly for Juan Smith if he ever comes back and regains the form he used to have
8 Vermeulen certainly not worse than Spies
9 Pienaar – unfortunately the best 9 we have at present – not sure we will se Fourie du Preez back
10 Lambie Goosen – verdicts out Goosen breaks down a lot
14 JP Pietersen is our premiere 14
9 out of 15 of our A team players
Granted we have some very good players out of action at present
1 Beast/ 2 Bismarck/ 3 Mujati (if they can sort him out)/ 4 possible return of Bakkies/ 5 Andries Becker/ 6 Brussouw/ Burger and Kolisi all possibles for the future/ 7 Juan Smith 8/ Spies/ Kanko/ 9 slim possibility of a return by Fourie du preez/ 10 Goosen (but unproven still)/ 11 Habana/ 12 Frans Steyn/ and possibly Jan Serfontein after next years Super season/ 13 Jacques Fourie/ and maybe future inclusion of players like Ebersohn or Jordaan/ 14 Aplon not being utilised at present
17 Nov 2012, 21:26 pm
Francios Pienaar coined the perfect word past Thursday on telly: SPORTAINMENT
Thats what modern day sport is
This sh*t being dished up has no place in modern sport
Folk literally change the channel or move onto numerous other forms of entainment
The days of rukbie being part of volk and vaderland are far gone
Produce that which entertains and sells or step down if you cant
At least Coach Mo was darn funny
17 Nov 2012, 21:26 pm
@Tacitus-184:
you’re being disingenuous Tac…
but you can’t rewrite history to suite yourself…or heyneke
how did they get the ball over the line to score and earn the try attempt at goal…?
the basis of rugby was RUNNING WITH BALL IN HAND to earn a try at goals… they did not kick the ball over the line to earn a try at goals now did they…?
but you know that… and are simply trying spinning your top for heyneke…
17 Nov 2012, 21:26 pm
We lost 3 games this season… 2 against the number 1 ranked and 1 against the then the number 2 ranked. And we are now 2nd ranked team…… How bad has this season been? This is a game between 2 teams… Deal with it, we will loose every now and then!
17 Nov 2012, 21:27 pm
@Slumtown-191: sweet as
17 Nov 2012, 21:27 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-201:
If those 2 draws had been 1 point wins this would have been an exceptional first season in charge. Now it is merely an average one.
Certainly not cause for all the negativity around here. Perspective is sorely lacking among the critics.
17 Nov 2012, 21:29 pm
@poppa69-206:
17 Nov 2012, 21:30 pm
@Slumtown-202:
I differ with you slightly, but out of the 23 I would suggest we have at least 10-15 not available, Who the coach would select if all available is pure speculation. Sure next year we would have a better prospective on the matter?
17 Nov 2012, 21:30 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-201:
why do we have to wait for next year…?
when he was appointed heyeke said EVRY game was vital.. he never said it would only be good enough next year… or at the world cup… so why the backtracking…???
does that mean all our players are really useless and skill-less.. or heyneke is just not able to to coach complete rugby and has to single-task and focus on one aspect of rugby per year…?
17 Nov 2012, 21:32 pm
A player is happy and performs well when he has self-confidence,that comes from trust from the coach..some players are restricted to use their capabilities and that lowers their self confidence and it reflects on the field!
17 Nov 2012, 21:34 pm
@phil72-209: yep definitely – I do think when we have our first rate players back we will be a lot stronger and there is going to be some stern competion for some positions – but the main issues are still poor selections (such as CJ/ Juandre/ Jean de Villiers/ Houghaard and Kirchener), poor tactics and forcing naturally good players to play a boring one dimensional game and finally my main issues in the backline the continued selection of Jean de Villiers and Kirchener in particular as Jean kills all attacking ball and Kirchener has no idea how to counter attack.
17 Nov 2012, 21:37 pm
CJ is not even 1st choice prop for the Lions, yet makes the team ahead of his Lions team mates.
Guthro slips 3 consecutive tackles because he doesn’t use his arms and guys spin out of the hit.
Lambie is either playing under such stifling orders, or doesn’t have the ability to control or take control of the game from the flyhalf posotion. And this against poor opposition – Scots and Irish not exactly awe-inspiring at the moment.
JDV said in post-match interview that they did not play in the right field-positions in the second half. I suppose that would mean in the Scottish half. Then why do we insist on kicking box kicks and up and unders in our own half which are 50/50 balls. Why not use deep kick- in from our 22 meter or kick dep into the corners and use our “brutal” defense to push up and trap them in their own half.
HM will certainly be tempted to give Morne a run against England. And if he half performs, we’ll be back to seeing Morne clogging up no 10 for the next few test match.
Taute’s just as good defensively as NikNaks at fullback, and gives you something on the counter-attack.
Jantjies deserves another go at flyhalf.
If they can get Juandre to actually jump as well as run the line-outs, he’ll be OK. Can’t recall him taking one ball today.
Ricardo Laubscher and Johan v Graan great backline coaches ……. LOL. What were they practising all week, high kick and charge?
17 Nov 2012, 21:38 pm
Tac… I will always support the Boks…
coaches come and coaches go and i’ve ‘served’ and supported under too many to count now… i supported the boks when streuli was coach… my support will not waiver…
but yes… i am extremely disappointed with the sterile style of rugby being produced under this coach…
i hope for all our sakes things do come right miraculously… and you can come on here and say you told me so…
but the fact is i am not seeing ANY improvement at all… the ABs… the best team in the world… blasted scotland out of their kilts…
we, the second ‘best’ RANKED nation… would have lost if the scots had taken their kicks at goal… and yes they way they kept us pinned in our 22 in the second half I have no doubt they would have got back down there to pressure us into more penalties…
had they got their penalties we would have lost…
how is it acceptable for the second RANKED nation to only win a game against they 9th or 10th nation because they eschewed their kicks at goal because they thought they could score from lineouts…??
how is that acceptable…?
17 Nov 2012, 21:40 pm
@Tacitus-207:
perspective sorely lacking among the praise singers too…
17 Nov 2012, 21:40 pm
Naas and Nick Mallet were the only guys making sense in the Supersport studio. Sounded like Matthew Proudfoot and Victor Matfield ggot the same interview script as the Boks for their post match interviews, or maybe they didn’t want to say anything negative about HM for fear of not getting a job on his coaching team.
17 Nov 2012, 21:41 pm
I’ll rather watch NZ and France if I need rugby entertainment …and SA if I want to torture myself.Heyneke calls it an ugly win!!He is well on his way to surpass Straeuli as the worst Bok coach ever.
17 Nov 2012, 21:41 pm
anyway… vented my frustration..
thanks for the shoulders to cry on…!!
now to watch the french/argies…
cheers all
17 Nov 2012, 21:44 pm
UFO: a win is usually acceptable, but the play not necessarily so
17 Nov 2012, 21:46 pm
CJ folded like a house of cards three times out of the last four scrums.He dropped Cilliers for a player that’s derided by Leinster fans as a lazy and kuk player.They had a farking laugh when they heard CJ was coming over.
17 Nov 2012, 21:47 pm
Pdv ‘s lost to scorland… Well done heineke… 11 point win… Glad you showed the cape town tikkoppe how kak jdj is
17 Nov 2012, 21:51 pm
JP Pietersen didn’t get the ball once from a backline move. Excuse – the Scots were using a rush defence. So, one of our primary attacking runners and line-breakers able to take on the big defenders are neutralised in one fell sweep. How about bringing him in between Lambie and the inside centre, for real or as a decoy runner. Instead JDV is the go to guy and if that was blocked, Lambie tried to force the gap and got smashed by the forwards. Even JP at fullback and anyone else on the wing is better than Kirschner.
17 Nov 2012, 21:51 pm
quick last post…
if the sharks can play such awesome total rugby under plumtree… why can’t the springboks do the same under meyer…? plumtree doesn’t have all the boks available to him… (yes, he has a lot of them) but meyer can pick anyone he wants to… and we have so many excellent players…
so why can’t the boks play the entertaining running power clever rugby the sharks are playing…??
maybe plumtree should take over the boks…?
or maybe we should actually play the whole sharks team as the boks…?
seriously…
17 Nov 2012, 21:52 pm
@Tacitus-207:
i can only imagine what they would have been saying if the coach was instead mallet and it was he who achieved 7 wins 3 losses and 2 draws.
@ufo-210:
of course every game is vital. believe me, no one feels as uncomfortable with the seasons results as heyneke does. we can be sure he will seek to improve on what has been an ‘ok’ first year.
of course you take no cognisance of the fact he has had to rebuild a bok team literally from scratch, post PDV. as well the huge number of injuries to otherwise first team players.
to put it into perspective, australia have won 7 lost 5 and drawn 1 so far this year (correct me if i’m wrong).
17 Nov 2012, 21:53 pm
@nikoli-219:
when the great scorer comes to write against your name…
he writes not that you won or lost…
but how you played the game…!!
yes, old fashioned…
but still very important to me…
.
.
out
17 Nov 2012, 21:53 pm
Suffer_guy, spoken like a true Blue Bull, suppose you want Meisiekind back!
17 Nov 2012, 21:55 pm
@JJSlabbert-226:
Not a WO fan!!!!!!!!!!!! But over JDJ…….. any day of the week!
17 Nov 2012, 21:56 pm
Meisielind is a jdj killer look at the history… Jdj maybe more talented… But for some reason he pisses his pants when playing wo…. He gangnum style straight to hospital
17 Nov 2012, 21:57 pm
2 years ago pdv’s boks lost to scotland… Now we win by11 and everyone wants pdv to replace heyneke…. Crazy… But its only the soccer supporters who has a problem with heyneke
17 Nov 2012, 21:57 pm
@Tacitus-184:
Tacitus….if a team wants to play consistent winning rugby, they have to be a number of things..a jack of all trades and a master of them all..neglecting an important component of the game,”not this running with the ball concept” will inevitably lead your team to plateau and unable to break through say the 80% winning percentage.
17 Nov 2012, 22:01 pm
UFO and when the fervent fan judges you he not only expects you to win but to do so beautifully & majestically…
17 Nov 2012, 22:02 pm
@ufo-214: YOU know what they say.
To get to number 2 is the easy part. Staying number two is the hard part.
17 Nov 2012, 22:03 pm
@phil72-205: lose or loose? hmmmm
17 Nov 2012, 22:05 pm
lovely try
great rugby
17 Nov 2012, 22:05 pm
Lol! And Argies score.
17 Nov 2012, 22:06 pm
Go my team!
17 Nov 2012, 22:07 pm
France vs Argentina after 5 minutes, more running the ball and players in gaps than our last 10 tests.
Hope Meyer and Ricardo use their PVR’s
17 Nov 2012, 22:07 pm
Besides. Give Scotland a gap.
an all that. Vaste vyf vaste ses.
17 Nov 2012, 22:09 pm
Aaaah the freedom of running.
Lovely to watch
17 Nov 2012, 22:10 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-234: Ja, it’s just like watching the Boks
17 Nov 2012, 22:12 pm
there already more passing and interplay by these 2 teams back lines in the first 5 minutes than Boks produced in 160 minutes of rugby on this tour under this inane idiotic dumb fck moron backward thinking coward of a dead end rugby coach.
Boks are sterile backward f’ng imbeciles plying this archaic garbage that this HM morose idiot is force feeding down this nations throat. Get the dunce out before we suffocate ourselves with more of this inept bloody boredom.
17 Nov 2012, 22:13 pm
At-least no 1.7m 75 kg midgets on the park tonight……
17 Nov 2012, 22:14 pm
typical french inconsistency/unpredictability
the physaicality from last week no to be seen
17 Nov 2012, 22:15 pm
Jdj should go play for fiji
17 Nov 2012, 22:15 pm
@nortierd-237: snap
17 Nov 2012, 22:16 pm
@kaksioek-240:
whatever could you mean..?..
17 Nov 2012, 22:17 pm
@skopdiekan-245: @skopdiekan-241:
Ditto
17 Nov 2012, 22:19 pm
What a great game to end off the weekend with
Early days yet, but the intent is there
We can only but dream………
17 Nov 2012, 22:19 pm
typical french
17 Nov 2012, 22:19 pm
@ufo-223: And so say all of us.Goodnight
old friend
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