Learning from Leicester lesson
9 Nov 2009
Intensity will be the watchword as the Springboks prepare to erase the Welford Road capitulation with a robust showing against France.
Bok skipper John Smit used the word liberally on the 2008 tour of the UK, and the recent debacle against Leicester would serve as a timely reminder that intensity is king on the heavier fields of Europe.
The Tigers went into the fixture as underdogs despite the SA XV’s lack of experience, but always looked the hungrier side at the collisions. After dominating at the tackle point, they had the kicking game needed to pin South Africa deep in their own territory.
It’s no exaggeration when I employ a cliche to contrast the Springboks and their midweek alter-egos. The Cheese got served last Friday, but we should expect a better showing from the Chalk when they play in Toulouse.
The Springboks have the best second-row and halfback pairing on the planet, and, as France coach Marc Lievremont pointed out recently, they are the most physical team in world rugby. They need to take this compliment to heart in preparation for Les Tricolores this Friday. They’ll need ever bit of grit and determination to deny the proud Frenchmen, who will also be anticipating a forward assault.
There has been concern over the fitness of top players like Fourie du Preez and Victor Matfield, who’ve endured a helluva lot of rugby in 2009. Smit, Bakkies Botha and Bismarck du Plessis have also been over-utilised, and Bryan Habana could also have done with a rest ahead of a busy 2010 season.
It’s a pointless debate with these players already picked and primed for a taxing European tour, but every player would do well to know this could be one of the tougher Tests in 2009. Playing at the end of their rugby season, the Boks will need to operate at an optimal level of intensity.
The SA XV lacked that intensity against Leicester and they were duly punished. There were other aspects that cost the tourists, namely the poor scrumming effort, wayward tactical kicking and suspect decision-making, but it was concerning to see a South African team beaten by a club side at the breakdown.
Australia also battled in the initial stages in their match against England on Saturday. The Poms turned the Wallabies over in promising positions because the visitors failed to protect the ball-carrier. When they adjusted in the second period, they prospered, and were thus able to play the game at a more familiar tempo.
Heinrich Brüssow and Schalk Burger are expected to start on the flanks against France, while Ryan Kankowski will fill in for the injured Pierre Spies. Brüssow and Burger worked well in tandem at the back end of the Tri-Nations, but it will be interesting to see how they respond to Friday’s challenge. Plenty will be expected from Kankowski in a ball-carrying capacity.
Nobody outbullies the Bulls when they bring their trademark physicality to the party, but as seen in this year’s Super 14, when the Bulls don’t front at the collisions, they are beatable. The lowly Highlanders outmuscled the Bulls in the league stage, and perhaps it served as a good reminder that physical dominance is something you need to work for in every single encounter.
Smit said it at the beginning of the 2008 tour; intensity is the team watchword when touring the northern hemisphere. The midweek side may be forgiven for not knowing this due to a lack of experience, but their failure should serve as a reminder to Smit’s men that nothing less than the Boks’ uncompromising brand will do in Toulouse.
It’s a tough ask at the end of a long season, and it’s fair to say that should the Boks return from their three-Test tour undefeated, they will have achieved more than just a 3-0 result.
By Jon Cardinelli
248 Comments
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9 Nov 2009, 10:07 am
#93 Big Hit:
I also think Big Joe still deserves to be in the Bok mix.
Imagine if this 22 played against the Tigers on Friday:
Van Der Linde
Coetzee
Botha
Kruger
Britz
Watson
Van Heerden
Van Niekerk
De Kock
James
De Villiers
Barrit
Joubert
Russell
Steyn
Humaan
Britz
Skeate
Sowerby
Claassens
Hougaard
Burger
9 Nov 2009, 10:08 am
#95 grant10: Its only an opinion, but at what stage do you change your opinion? I mean you seem to be constantly hoping our front-row will be decimated, well to date they have stood up well, certainly no worse than any other modern era bok scrum. So at what stage do you get behind the team and admit Smit can play at 3? What does the guy have to do?
9 Nov 2009, 10:09 am
#97 Papoose: Bekker fronted up and was a physical as I’ve ever seen him. He was more the enforcer than Danie even. Adams was solid too, and our winds did pretty much everything you could have asked considering they didn’t get any ball to play with.
9 Nov 2009, 10:10 am
#100 grant10: it seems not, probably off skiing
#101 puff: should’ve just let Saracens play Leicester, they’re mostly South African and probably would’ve won easily against their reserves
9 Nov 2009, 10:11 am
Even with CJ joining and the possibility of BJ making a bid for a place in the 2011 squad, I still think the search for stronger and better TH’s and LH’s must continue.
While the likes of CJ and BJ will definitely improve the current situation , I do not for one moment believe that they will allow us to dominate opposition.
They have played together before and have been drilled and have seldom been dominant.
So while it will help and will avoid the embarrassment of last Friday night, their inclusion is by no means the end of our scrumming woes.
9 Nov 2009, 10:12 am
#103 Mutant: Exactly, to me Bekker made a huge leap forward. he really got stuck in, rest of the pack, not great, bar maybe Johnson, but he made some crucial errors. Physically Deysel had some impact, but not his best game either.
9 Nov 2009, 10:13 am
#105 justrugby: as I see it, SA don’t have any props capable of dominating all-comers, but the reality is they don’t need them, they just need parity to be solid on their own ball
9 Nov 2009, 10:17 am
#102 Ratel Brussow (MSIUR): Smit can play 3? Let’s face it, without Bakkies to add a bit of grunt behind Smit in the scrums he comes off looking pretty ordinary. You only need to take a look at his performances once back in the Sharks jersey to justify ppl’s opnion’s that perhaps Smit isn’t a great tighthead. So yes, fair enough, Bakkies will be there Friday night to back Smit up, but what happens when he is replaced or injured?
France and Argentinia are without a doubt the greatest scrummaging teams. SA better be focussing a helluva lot more on the scrums that the other 80% they usually get right.
9 Nov 2009, 10:17 am
i’m new on the site. how do you direct a comment at someone?
9 Nov 2009, 10:17 am
#102 Ratel Brussow (MSIUR):
Ratel you are being a total numbnut, how can you say that Grant10 is not 200% behing the BOks , he is more passionate about the Boks than anyone I know, but and I concur, he has the insight to highlight and expose weeakness and campaign for the side to be better than whst it is currently.
Your are living in a cocooned world if you believe that front row of ours is the best in the country and cannot be improved on, maybe you are the one that does not havethe Boks best interest at heart ??
Oh yes it is a sharks front row…..now I understand !!!
9 Nov 2009, 10:20 am
Can somebody please drop Steenkamp! Enough of guys already; he was ordinary in every single CC game this year, yet he somehow makes the team? Why?! For once just pick on bloody merit!
If the Cheetahs frontrow had been playing on Friday night we might have seen a different Bok team
9 Nov 2009, 10:20 am
#102 Ratel Brussow (MSIUR): I dont believe Boks have done well at scrum time except 1 st teat vs B lions.
Certainly embarressed by Aussies….
Anyway…PDV and Gary Gold seem to share my concern….and thats what counts…
Bringing in The french ex 3 a step in the right direction.
And CJ a marker for whats to come,
Go watch the Gold interview, see who he talks about as needing to improve.
Never mentions Beast or Bissy once…only J Smit.
When do you change opinion that Smit should go back to 2….once we lost a few tests??
Be proactive man….do whats neccessary before we all pay the price….
But dont try and convince me that Smit is an international class 3…too many times he has been found wanting…ask the cheetahs!!
9 Nov 2009, 10:20 am
#109 bored@work: click th first arrow next to their name
9 Nov 2009, 10:22 am
#113 mbaxman93: thanks!
9 Nov 2009, 10:23 am
#107 Big Hit:
You’re quite right, which is why the call for bringing in younger guys, based solely on their scrumming prowess is rather short sighted. It’s their all round play that’s vitally important at test level, not just scrumming.
9 Nov 2009, 10:25 am
#107 Big Hit:
Parity is good but domination of the scrums is the ultimate, when dominating the entire side is boosted and and the backs gain huge confidence from it, if we can dominate on the opposition put in the game becomes so much easier.
I fully understand that with the modern era and the quality of the athletes around that dominating scrums is unlikely.
However I believe that we have neglected aspiring to dominate for years now, if we can search for the players with the ability to dominate and if our coaches believe that having a dominate scrum is a massive advantage and pull out all the stops to achieve this then I truly believe that the Boks will be almost unbeatable.
9 Nov 2009, 10:28 am
#109 bored@work: Click on the first arrow next to the persons’ name.
9 Nov 2009, 10:28 am
#103 Mutant: whether the wings got opportunity or not, did they do anything to put they’re hands up? No
still nt convinced bekker did enough to be put in category “played well” as the more senior guy there i hoped to have gotten more out of him
maybe thats y am soo bitterly disappointed in Russouw
he’s also senior and should’ve done more to hold it together IMHO
9 Nov 2009, 10:30 am
#89 capebull: Boks could pick anyone. If they picked their G team it’s because they COULD and — typically — they were cocky enough and dumb-dutchy stupid enough to dream that their G team could defeat the Leicester C team.
Well, they couldn’t.
Leicester C served them their beans. Well and truly.
Smoked South Africa’s dirt-trackers with contemptuous ease, really.
Now the yarpies are suddenly plunged into a seriously deep crisis…
9 Nov 2009, 10:30 am
#107 Big Hit: My biggest problem with scrums nowadays is their interpretation by referees. There is so much inconsistency and guesswork that no one knows what the hell is going on, especially the man with the whistle.
I don’t have a solution to it, but it makes no sense for a scrum to annihilate another one week, and then suddenly be on the back foot the next. Yes there are good and bad days, but there has not been one consistently dominant international scrum over the past year for example. One week its the Boks giving the Lions, then it’s the Aussies giving the Boks, then the Boks on top of the Blacks and it goes in circles. Needs serious addressing from higher powers
9 Nov 2009, 10:33 am
#110 justrugby: Is that your real name….looks like you’re JustInsertedIntoGrant10
9 Nov 2009, 10:33 am
#115 David: Yeah David, your thoery got blown out of the water on Friday night. Did any of the front row’s performance in the loose make up for their poor scrummaging? When selecting a tight five you pick good scrummagers, good lineout jumpers, guys with grunt, and then you start with all the other pretty nice-to-have stuff
9 Nov 2009, 10:33 am
#116 justrugby: Isn’t Heinkie Van der Mervwe supposed to be the best scrummager in SA? he was dominated by his opposite number but he got the better of young Dan Cole when he came on in a late scrum against Tigers.
#120 Mutant: I think the emphasis on the ‘hit’ has damaged scrummaging. They cause collapses and refs have to penalise. I’m in favour of sequential engagement, props first, then second row and back row. No more collapses and odd interpretations, just solid platforms.
9 Nov 2009, 10:34 am
#107 Big Hit: forget parity! lets get back to DOMINATING dammit
9 Nov 2009, 10:35 am
#122 Richie_7: the problem with those front row players is that as well as being fairly useless at scrummaging, they weren’t much cop around the field either. I don’t think the same can be said for Beast, BDP and Smit who are probably the best front row in the world in the tight/loose
9 Nov 2009, 10:36 am
#110 justrugby: #112 grant10: Pick a better international frontrow from SA based players than our current one. Please enlighten me.
9 Nov 2009, 10:37 am
Tackler as always you have lot to say about the Springboks but when your glorious boys in black gets a hiding you are as quiet as a mouse. I only have one description for you – chuffnut!
9 Nov 2009, 10:39 am
#123 Big Hit:
1st game in almost a year, should never have been there….but probably our strongest LH when match fit !!
9 Nov 2009, 10:40 am
#101 puff: no young/previously disadvantaged/development players. good side though!
my team would have been:
1. Wian
2. Adriaan (c)
3. Nel
4. Danie
5. Bekker
6. Louw
7. Duanne
8. Johnson
9. Ruan
10. Grant
11. Basson (not sure if he is injured, else Odwa)
12. Adi (WO to start test)
13. Juan
14. Mapoe
15. Pietersen (goal kicker)
16. Guthro
17. Chilli (great future, needs to be handled better)
18. Jannie dup
19. Gerhard Mostert
20. Dewald
21. Hougaard (Can cover pretty much any position in the backline)
22. Odwa/Juries
9 Nov 2009, 10:41 am
#116 justrugby: #120 Mutant: #112 grant10: Please read Mutants post at 120. If there is no consistency in scrum interpretation. Boks beat Lions, Aussies beat boks, All Blacks beat Aussies, SA beat All Blacks highlights this. Then what is the point of picking players only on their scrumming prowess? I mean the best scrum in the world may be dominated by the refs whistle. Again name the 3 strongest players in world rugby 1 to 3, scrumming wise.
9 Nov 2009, 10:43 am
#122 Richie_7: amen!
9 Nov 2009, 10:45 am
#125 Big Hit: and one of the most kak scrummaging units….cant have bread buttered both sides….as Richie 7 says…1 st and foremost …do the primary stuff….
9 Nov 2009, 10:46 am
#130 Ratel Brussow (MSIUR): OKAY RATEL…..FFS…STAY WITH THE POWDER PUFF FRONT ROW THEN…
BLOODY MORON!
9 Nov 2009, 10:47 am
#126 Ratel Brussow (MSIUR): Easy as pie…
1 W du Preez
2 J Smit
3 WP nel
9 Nov 2009, 10:48 am
#122 Richie_7: #131 grant10: Has anyone stopped to question Maku’s prowess in the scrum? The guy hardly plays CC rugby, what does he scrum like and what was his impact on his 1 and 3. Surely the frontrow is a unit and when you have a third grade hooker in your line-up your scrum will suffer?
9 Nov 2009, 10:49 am
#134 grant10: although i would rather hace cj or bj at 3…
9 Nov 2009, 10:51 am
#134 grant10: Wow, 2 uncapped props and one of the least mobile hookers in the country, not to mention that Smit is probably the tallest guy in that front-row, not clever. If that is SAs BEST frontrow, I’m glad PdV has picked our worst! Imagine starting a test match against France/Ireland/NZ with this line-up. Everybody look at the wisdom of grant10. This is his front-row wish for Saturday:
1 W du Preez
2 J Smit
3 WP nel
9 Nov 2009, 10:51 am
#128 justrugby: agree 100%…although Beast and Wiaan probably give a bit more about the park….
Point is you cant have an average scrummer at 3 if you have an average scrummer at1 as well….what you then get is what we saw Friday,
Seems some fools never learn!
9 Nov 2009, 10:51 am
#133 grant10: Anger management dude, it’s just a web discussion…chill out
9 Nov 2009, 10:52 am
#135 Ratel Brussow (MSIUR): Dont know a lot about Maku….did well against B lions though for E Boks
9 Nov 2009, 10:54 am
#137 Ratel Brussow (MSIUR): Imbecile….i would have CJ at 3….
But you a doos of note ….tiresome little shark blinkered guppy.
9 Nov 2009, 10:55 am
#139 Mutant: Ja…best i go do some work….Ratel gonna give me a heart attack…cheers
9 Nov 2009, 10:56 am
#137 Ratel Brussow (MSIUR): you a jerk of note.
9 Nov 2009, 10:57 am
#141 grant10: CJ can not play in the 3N, so get over it. Who is the real Imbecile, 1 W du Preez,
2 J Smit, 3 WP nel. How many S14 games have these props played? They are prospects, but to throw them straight into the international arena is madness. If you can’t see this then you are an idiot.
9 Nov 2009, 10:57 am
#130 Ratel Brussow (MSIUR):
Pointless exercise because evryone has their favourites, deal with the facts and the obvoius, our scrum has battled….fact !!
JS not a TH fact, Beast converted loose forward fact !!
If JS was not captain fantastic would you be calling his praises ….I doubt it !!!
JS was a very good hooker and is a great captain, Bissie is a good hooker but is he that much better a hooker than JS that the captain had to be asked to play TH ??
The correct decision was to leave JS at hooker and play bissie off the bench….actually simple.
If JS leadership was not an issue then he should of been demoted to the bench or dropped.
We need to get over ourselves about haveing JS on the field at all times as a leader, (as good a one as he is).
I again pose the question what if in training today he has a carreer ending injury, does this mean Bok rugby collapses, no !!! ……what it means that the next great leader gets the opportunity to take the side forward !!
Sentimetal gestures have a limited space in sport !!
For the record I think HVDM, Bissie, WP Nel is a better front row than our current one !!
9 Nov 2009, 10:57 am
#122 Richie_7:
Fridays performance didn’t contradict my statement, or theory as you put it. I was merely pointing out that there’s more to selecting a prop than their ability to outscrum their opponent. As BH pointed out, parity is essential, but trying to achieve dominance, which is rare nowadays, at the expense of other aspects of a props contribution is also short sighted.
9 Nov 2009, 10:59 am
Ratel…go read news 24…heading PDV heeds call…seems you out of step again…making your name gat here….go see what the experts are saying you one eyed sharkie!
9 Nov 2009, 11:00 am
#143 grant10: Seems every time your points are exposed you revert to insults and then if that doesn’t work you run off the website. I don’t think their is an international coach in the world that would pick 1 W du Preez, 2 J Smit, 3 WP nel over Beast, Bissie and Smit. The reasons are obvious.
9 Nov 2009, 11:03 am
I’ve just read through all the comments on this article, and whilst there are several good points made by most of the commenters, there is also the usual drivel from some – more particularly one Tackler – the man (or object??) who still has such an enormous identity crisis, and has still not realised that no matter how much he tries to be accepted by the New Zealanders as a Kiwi, he just NEVER will be.
In their eyes he will ALWAYS remain a South African reject! A misfit who doesn’t seem to belong anywhere.
And all this going on about the Boks midweek team and how they were outplayed and outscrummed just doesn’t make any sense, because the team that will be playing against France this week is DEFINITELY NOT remotely the team that played against Leicester.
True, the performance was shocking and embarrassing, but that is the cause for another major concern, namely DEPTH!!!
And yes, I agree, that needs serious attention.
But c’mon guys, let’s get real. The depth issue currently has ABSOLUTELY NO bearing on the Bok team for this coming Friday in the short term.
It is all about what John Smit & his men do in the 3 tests on this tour – and based on their tests thus far in 2009, we currently (and hopefully still in the next few weeks) do not have any excuse to panic about our test squad.
They have played 8 Tests this year with their first-choice team (test 3 vs Lions was with 10 changes, remember) – six against the number 2 and 3 ranked teams in the world, and the other 2 against the British & Irish Lions) – and won 7 of those!!!
Until that awesome record is undone (which I doubt is gonna appen this tour!!) I refuse to be drawn into paranoia and panic about our Main Frontline Bok Team.
GO BOKKE, and don’t take note of all the negative, nervous and paranoid fairweather supporters who are now doubting you just because of one really admittedly dismal performance by a team comprising players – none of whom were automatic starters for the test squad in any case.
The World Number One ranked team still proudly holds that titl – they have not played a match YET to suggest that they are in danger of slipping…….
So Tackler, you just keep on clutching at straws as you try to convince everybody (including yourself) that you belong in NZ.
Because we certainly don’t want RSA rejects back here.
And all you other Bok supporters – get over yourselves, and keep the trust and pride you had in the Bok squad – pre-Leicester – going. Because to date, NOTHING has changed.
And to SARU, the Provinces and all those responsible for player development at ALL levels, GET OFF YOUR ARSES and start sorting out our depth situation.
Surely it’s not the responsibility of the Bok Coaching staff to coach guys on how to play rugby properly. Surely when you reach national level you ought to be quality enough to slot in.
9 Nov 2009, 11:03 am
#145 justrugby: I’m not saying JS is a scrumming machine all I’m saying is that he is the best choice at TH in the country at the moment. We have very few THs better than JS purely as a player, but many Hookers. So the best thing for SA right now is JS at 3. What SA based TH would you rather play on Saturday at the cost of Bissie as well. To drop someone you need to have a replacement and the sad fact is SA don’t have any replacements for JS in SA at the moment hence the SOS call to CJ.
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