Boks lack Plan B
The European tour has underlined an old concern pertaining to South Africa’s inability to think outside the box.
The Boks only know how to play one way, but when it doesn’t work for them, they don’t have an alternate plan or means of breaking down the opposition. Brutal physicality will always be the bedrock of South African rugby, but the attacking play is in dire need of a revamp.
They were exposed in Toulouse and again at Croke Park. The French had them under pressure up front early in the fixture, and by half-time it was clear they couldn’t be beaten using typical tactics. In Dublin, the Boks employed the right tactics but their inaccuracy at flyhalf and in the set-pieces let them down badly. What was worrying about that match is that no one decided to change tack.
Marc Lievremont was wise to the bully boy tactics, and the talk in the week preceding that Test was about the Boks’ physicality. It seemed obvious what the Boks would do even before they left South Africa, and surely the Bok coaching staff should have expected this kind of response.
When asked about preparation in the aftermath, however, several Bok players said the French caught them by surprise. Come on. You come to France as the world champions and you have a reputation as the bullies of world rugby. What did you think France were going to do? Give you their lunch money?
Naivety aside, the senior Boks should have realised things weren’t going to work early on in the game and made a decision to change to Plan B. That’s what they should have done if there was a Plan B to change to.
Morne Steyn has had a fantastic year and I’m sure the IRB got it wrong – it wouldn’t be the first time (cough-Richie McCaw-cough) when they nominated Frans Steyn as a Player of the Year nominee. But Morne Steyn has been uncharacteristically shaky on this tour, and one wonders how bad his decision-making would have been had Fourie du Preez not been around to guide him.
Steyn was striking the ball horribly in Udine, but saved his worst performance with the boot for Dublin. He missed a few penalty punts and his tactical kicking left a lot to be desired especially since the Boks were playing with the wind in the first half. John Smit said it best when he pointed to two missed penalty kicks at the end of the half as potentially game-costing. Steyn, who sinks them from 50m on the highveld and at sea-level (ask Western Province) knows he should have done better.
Kicking is Steyn’s strength, but it worried to see him utilising so few of his other talents. By neglecting these, he underused his dangerous runners out wide. Jaque Fourie has been a force since returning to the starting line-up but has not received enough chances. Bryan Habana is living off scraps while JP Pietersen had a very quiet tour.
The Adi Jacobs experiment – what else would you call it – well and truly failed. Jacobs doesn’t have the build or skill set to be the kind of No 12 the Boks need and is more suited to the No 13 position. Jean de Villiers will be back in South Africa in time for the World Cup, but in the interim, the Boks should go with Wynand Olivier who had an outstanding game at Croke Park.
The future of Ruan Pienaar remains a mystery. He was Peter de Villiers’ first-choice flyhalf in June, but seems to have lost all confidence. He’ll undergo corrective surgery to his knee when he gets home, and one hopes he’ll be adequately prepared for the 2010 Super 14.
If he is to be the alternative to Steyn, he has to play flyhalf in the Super 14 and build some confidence. At present, he’s an erratic goal-kicker and perhaps something needs to be done to increase his mental strength. He’s also a fine attacking player who could provide the Boks with variety they need to truly evolve (and perhaps even develop a Plan B). Pienaar’s important, and it’s high time the powers that be stop treating him like a bit player.
One player who impressed during his short stint on tour was BJ Botha. So that’s what the Bok scrum looks like going forward. You could almost forgive the Bok inside backs for giving away possession given they’re so unaccustomed to go-forward ball from the scrum.
Botha’s another who wants to come back to South Africa and could be an important player if the Boks are going to defend their world title. Smit is fine player when he’s scrumming between Beast Mtawarira and Botha, but battled when he went back to tighthead in the dying stages of the Ireland game. Since it’s clear the Boks cant do without his leadership, maybe it’s time they pick a decent tighthead, pick Smit at hooker and leave Bismarck du Plessis on the bench. It’s the obvious sacrifice that needs to be made if the Boks are to retain leadership and scrumming strength.
The sad truth is the Bok management have no intention of moving Smit back to No 2 permanently. It’s truly a shame, as this South African side could explore their attacking capabilities if they were afforded a decent platform from the scrum.
By Jon Cardinelli, in Dublin
November 29th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
@Transformation: Like most Arsenal and Chelsea fans you can’t make up your mind
whereas ManU supporters are faithful through thick and thin.
November 29th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
@Transformation: combine the jerseys and in that way you will always support the winner.
November 29th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Just get rid of this idiotic ou doos idea that our senior player coaches get to chuck their toys out their cot’s when we trying to inculcate a running game because we want to play to our ‘traditional’ Saffa glory boy ’strengths’, because they not strengths at all. They are god damn WEAKNESSES.!
November 29th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
@AndrewBK: Interesting that the AB’s and Bokke have both won it 3 times now since the inception of the award. Twice under JW by the way
November 29th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
@David: accept when manu is involved where the chap in black always supports red!
November 29th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
BTW. Did anyone see the report in the Sunday Times of PdeVs previous meeting with Paddy O’B last year? Apparently he told him that he’d wanted to meet God ever since he was a little boy, and here he was in the same room with him. You got to love the guy.
November 29th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
@skopskiet: Barney lost the plot(and a lot of respect)when he lost the lineout(skew)and then chucked the ball away…that was the turning point in the match….I won’t be surprised if he retires soon…
November 29th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
@David: LOL…classic
November 29th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
@skopskiet: Let me guess – you’d drop the Bulls players (but not BH as he’s now WP) and you’d replace them with the entire WP team?
November 29th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
@bananaboy: Yep all things pretty equal…when you’re up you’re up…expect the AB’s to take it next year tho’….both Bulls and Boks gonna find the going tough next year
November 29th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
@skopskiet: Skoppie we don’ t have any other strengths to play to at the moment. Players like Earl Rose etc cannot feature without the ball so we have to have the ball winning and retention capabilities. My problem is that if you look at yesterdays game we won the scrums which is heavily reliant on body weight and lower body strength as much as upper body strength but then when we ran into contact we coughed the ball up. Even Brussouw when he had his hands on the ball in a tussle with Wallace lost the possession. You can see that the other teams are getting much stronger in the upper body , just look a Heaslip for example.
This means our traditional playing style is coming under threat in Internationals but we haven’t spent the time in our structures teaching our boys to be patient, run different lines, maintain the support, keep the pill moving, play into space, play the game at pace etc. When we won the scrums yesterday we kept pushing forward when we had 5 meters on either side to attack from , surely we were not thinking of a pushover try from the 10 meter line.
November 29th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
@skopskiet: The Boks must get shot of PdV rather. The entire Bok management haven’t got a clue in my opinion though there’s no-one else in SA who can take over unless we can convince a foreign coach to step in.
November 29th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
@Valkyrie: He knows what’ s best for him.
November 29th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
@David: @bananaboy: ha ha ha i love peter de villiers! The man is a either a ****** or a total genius. When he started he said he can get the springboks to play 40% better & everyone including the “journalist” that wrote this article said he was talking k@k.
He also said he wants these “world cup winning” springboks to “play the situation” and he was ridiculed for a “helter skelter” gameplan.
In yesterday’s performance does anyone see where a 40% improvement can be added? Can we really say that our “world class” halfback combination played what was in front of them ie “morne there’s a rookie “sexton” in front of you can you take the ball up to him & sidestep/fake/dummy him to allow you to pass through? I’m not asking you to play jake white rugby or pdv rugby or “structured” rugby, i’m asking you to bamboozle this 24 yr old with one cap under the belt & get past him & then pass to wynand, is that easy enough?”
Earlier in the year Graham Henry called our skop & jag rugby “boring”, i was vocal in saying where he can stuff his comments and shouted “look @ the scoreboard”, on the evidence of yesterday both australia & new zealand played the most enterprising, exciting rugby! They smashed into the opposition @ the tackle point, the gain parity in the set phases & out-thought the hell out of their opponents! Kudos to them.
Good Lord can you please bless our country with a creative flyhalf, please Nkosi i’m going to die if have to watch & praise dan carter & matt giteau for another season.
November 29th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Wow that was disappointing to say the least.
Scrums were sensational and now we lost the lineouts? I think this was one big factor, so many of our moves come from lineouts, and we were lucky to get a tap ball.
Then everytime we ran the ball, we looked dangerous, why not more? I agree enough of the %%#$@#@!@# kicking every time. Would rather have conceded a few tries and scored a few than just do the same mindless kicking and chasing when it was not working at all.
Morne is mainly in the team for his kicking, this has been shocking on this tour. Cost us Irish test, maybe French one also.
So who else we got at fly half?
November 29th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
@bananaboy: Just look at the ABs – they constantly offload all the time. Quick ball, passed down the line. Defenders are stretched as the ball is move away from them all the time while ABs are making progress as the ball gets recycled and BAM suddenly they’re on your try line.
The ABs play as an efficient unit while the Boks play as individual glory hunters. Each trying desperately to be heroic but getting nowhere. SA rugby is in dire straits.
November 29th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
@Storm outta hell: i won’t be too upset (or surprised) if the AB’s dominate next year. it will follow history of them peaking before the WC… although the AB’s seriously can’t lose the WC 2011 in their own backyard… can they?
November 29th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
@David: lol…i don’t have a ref’s kit dave…
November 29th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
@bananaboy: lol.he probably doesn’t like the prospect of sir alex’s 10hour chewed bubblegum shoved into his mouth!
November 29th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Plan ‘B’?
And what about Plan ‘A’?
November 29th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
@Crouching Tiger Hidden Bokke: Heyneke’s back…maybe second time around he’ll get a fair chance…but knowing SARU and our politicos it’ll be Alistair Coetsee…just because y’know
November 29th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
@Transformation: Aus and the ABs seem to be always up for it. The ABs were on fire last night. I think what this tour highlights is the huge chasm between the mentality of Aus/ABs and the Boks.
For the Boks playing rugby is just a job but for the ABs its their life.
When the Boks go on tour they get down and depressed – “oh no not another tour, lets just get this over and done with”. w
With the ABs its the chance to show case their talents and show up these overrated NH teams just how kak they are.
Bet you there was big celebrations and laughter in the ABs changing room as oppossed to the Boks which was probably as quiet as a morgue. Pretty depressing being a Bok supporter right now.
November 29th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
@AndrewBK: are they taking bets on the world cup yet?would be real confident to put a few bucks down that they will commit hari kiri again.
November 29th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
@AndrewBK: Watch France peak in 2011…and knock the AB’s out in the semi’s…PRESSURE
November 29th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
@Valkyrie: @bananaboy: fyi boys, i don’t support either of the teams…my TEAM is playing in El Clasico tonight! La Blaugrana “more than a club” the Catalan Maestros that destroyed Manure in the Champions League Final! Barcelona!!!!
But in the EPL any team that beats ManYoo is fine by me! remember Burnley?
November 29th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
@Crouching Tiger Hidden Bokke: Agree wholeheartedly and for all the athleticism that we have we don’t have a playing culture or style that can beat all-comers as I believe the AB’s do. Even our most skillful players cannot play for 80 minutes at hammer and tongs pace . I’ve watched Ruan play in a game for both the Boks and the Sharks live and noted the amount of times he was taking a breather. Our guys are nowhere near the fitness levels of the AB’s and Ozzies I think and when you play as individuals you get that.
I coach an under 14 side and the other day we went 17-0 up in the first 15 minutes and you thought well we will run riot, but then my boys decided to stand out of the rucks looking for the glory ball and attack the gain line without support and although we camped in the opposition half we only scored 7 more points in the whole game. I bollocked them at training and yesterday we played a far better side away and thumped them 50-7 simply because these boys were told that they will be dropped (irrespective of how good they were or the consequences to the team) if they didn’t adopt a team attitude. They played as a team , committed themselves to getting clean,fast ball and ran into space with support and scored 8 tries against a better side.
November 29th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
@Storm outta hell: Not convinced Meyer has the answers either. He’ll want to play poison bulls rugby. No we need a coach with fresh ideas and a deep understanding of rugby. One who’s not afraid to change the culture of Bok rugby. But I hate to say this the problem is more deep seated than that. It starts at provincial level. None of the provincial sides play enterprising rugby. Its pretty much kick and chase most of the time. That’s the SA way of playing and until this changes there’s likely to be little change amongst the Boks.
I said from the start this EOYT would be the tour from hell and 2010 is going to be the year from hell for SA rugby at S14 and international level.
November 29th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
@Transformation: I support Barca except for when they play Man Utd. There’s only 1 Glorious Club in World Football though.
November 29th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
All right guys I’m off shopping with the wife. Have to keep her happy and here in Holland you only get 1 weekend when the shops are open on a Sunday.
November 29th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
@Crouching Tiger Hidden Bokke: PdV was supposed to be that coach…until his brand of rugby was branded as loosing rugby as opposed to the Bulls brand of winning rugby…
I expect the Stormers to carry on their winning ways next year
November 29th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
@bananaboy: Yep I think you are spot on. ABs have also had a long season but they looked fresh as daisies last night, full of beans! We need fitter, more committed and passionate players who see rugby as their live and not a job that is entry to celebrity fame, commentary jobs and life long endorsements.
Do you think Dan Carter or Ritchie McCaw cares about what advertising campaign they’re going to feature in next? Doubt it very much but they’re flippin concerned about winning. I envy ABs supporters because they go into their matches confident while we go in with dread and most times are proven correct.
The only player I think is truly committed enough is Habana, Bakkies and Juan Smith. They never stop trying. The rest are just there because its a job.
November 29th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Wow I’m being moderated for using proper english and no swear words?
November 29th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
@bananaboy: Yep I think you are spot on. ABs have also had a long season but they looked fresh as daisies last night, full of beans! We need fitter, more committed and passionate players who see rugby as their live and not a job that is entry to celebrity fame, commentary jobs and life long endorsements.
Do you think Dan Carter or Ritchie McCaw cares about what advertising campaign they’re going to feature in next? Doubt it very much but they’re concerned about winning. I envy ABs supporters because they go into their matches confident while we go in with dread and most times are proven correct.
The only player I think is truly committed enough is Habana, Bakkies and Juan Smith. They never stop trying. The rest are just there because its a job.
November 29th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
@Transformation: if i had to go for a spanish team i would go for them over franco’s boys. can’t wait for the wc draw,as i got tickets, this friday to see if i will have the pleasure to see messi and my favourite national team argentina after bafana play in the opening game at the new cape town stadium.
November 29th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
Frankly I think most of the comments on this blog are uncalled
for and plain and simple trash.
Players dont become useless overnight.The Boks failure has
a lot to do with the planning and preparation and conditioning
of our players.Frankly players like John Smit may carry a lot
of bulk but they look podgy compared to the Aussies and
All Blacks.
Yes the Boks trounced the ABS and Aussies but a lot of that
success hinged around the kicking ability of Steyn and almost
brutal physical forward play.
Now we must remember that the ABS and Aussies were the recipients of that physicality but yet having played almost
the same amount of rugby they appeared to stronger and fitter
and more hungry on their EOYT than the Boks.
This to me indicates better coaching, player management and
fitness levels.
This tour was supposed to be the icing on the cake of one
of the most successful seasons in South African rugby history
but has done much to put a damper on the whole thing.
The coaching staff and selectors much share responsibility
for the tours failure because they are responsible for
bad selections in critical areas.
Both world Cups were won by teams with strong front rows
good lock combinations and loose trios who had mastered
the art of scrumming.
It was clear for all to see once the Bok front row was
exposed by the Cheetahs that front row selection would
play a vital role in the tour’s success,but yet players
were picked who suffered against the Cheetahs.
If it were not that PDV was able to pick European based
players the tour could have been an even greater disaster.
After his outstanding success as a kicker one had to expect
that Steyn as all players would have a dip in form,yet
no reliable second kicker was included in the touring squad.
Steyn missed against the French and even more against the
Irish.
Had he managed only 50% of his kicks both results could
have been different.Much blame was assigned to different
rugby balls.So why were no balls in South Africa made
available for practising purposes.
I am gutted that bad selections, poor player management
and coaching has led to a dismal and of a fantastic season
and find it very difficult to put all blame on the players
as some on this blog do.
November 29th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Juan Smith could be the answer to cover Bakkies at lock…we have enough back rowers but not enough real tough secound rowers…..not like Hargraeves if you know whant I mean….
November 29th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
@Crouching Tiger Hidden Bokke: that never happened to me ,a model blogger of immaculate standards!
November 29th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
@Storm outta hell: as far as i see it pdv will not take the springboks in a new direction with the core of the “jake white” springboks being dominant in the team, the two concepts are mutually exclusive. How can guys with so much experience need to be spoonfed that they need to switch between the prototype that annihilated aus in perth & the kick & chase low risk rugby?
November 29th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
@Crouching Tiger Hidden Bokke:
You right about changing the culture and approach of Bok rugby. I think that’s what PdeV tried to do but was hijacked by the senior guys who managed to convince him that they were more comfortable playing the way they were used to.
Skop is quite right in his assessment that it’s the established players who’re holding the team to ransom and need to be brought down to earth.
For a start, I’d try playing Morne with a new SH to allow him to start making the decisions. The guy is not as one dimensional as he appears but now needs to stand up and say FU to his Bulls elders. I genuinely believe that it’s time he moved provinces and was allowed the chance to take full responisibilty for his own game.
We have to take our physical approach as a given and start from there. At the moment it’s become an end in itself.
November 29th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Boks need a real back up to Bakkies……why bringing Hargraeves on tour ??
November 29th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Load of codswallop.
Stupid strategy, all those up and unders cost us the game.
Players didn’t lack a plan-B, they lacked direction from the side of the park.
Hope the three of them learnt from this exercise.
Well done Irish, it won’t happen often!!!
November 29th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
@Kronung: it happened three times in a row now mate!can’t seem to win in dublin anymore.
November 29th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Smit must just retire and get it over with Matfield can follow suit. Between these glorified player coaches we basically stagnating in our own juice. I’ve never seen such dire inconsequential rubbish rugby that this team dished up this Eoyt and the pain of it is that its been staring us in the face ever since these Gavin Rich glory hunters declared they pulled a palace revolt during 2008 to revert to our so called ’strengths’.
Anyone thinking Heyneke Meyer would have been the answer is living in doo doo dream land. The whole entire problem is giving these high profile fools far too much say and credibility for their own good. Muir is a joke, Gold hardly much to write home about. Smit and Matfield and Fdp supposedly running the show behind the scenes coughing up and exposing their blatantly poor levels of professional ability time and again.
Its been coming thick and fast, the illusion that we arrived in our own gratuitous glory after fluking a string of kick n chase fictitious victories due to applying one dimensional power play pressure but sure as dem rotten apples must fall from the tree when the oppo reads our open book its as easy as snatching candy from a baby.
I watched yesterday as we led from a dominant platform and slowly but surely wittled our own advantage away by negating every attacking opportunity apart from one and putting boot to f.ng ball time and god forsaken time again. M. Steyn is a dead end option to nowhere and Fdp a compliancy in the problem.
I been saying it long enough already the cancer in our team is believing our own overrated hype and especially believing this dumb *** kicking game is ever going to get us anywhere far. The real problem with our backline rests squarely with Fdp and M. Steyn. Change those two now and watch this entire team swing around.
This my team for 2010
Blaauw / Beast / vd Merwe
Liebenberg / Strauss / Maku
Nel / Buys / BJ
Sykes / Steenkamp / De Villiers
Bekker / Hargreaves / Raubenheimer
Brussow / Potgieter
Deysel / Louw / Smith
Vermeulen / Alberts / Spies
S. Pretorius / Hougaard
Pienaar / M. Steyn / JL Potgieter
Habana / Mapoe
Grant / De Jongh
Fourie / Jacobs / WO
jPP / Joe Pietersen
Viljoen / Kirchner
November 29th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
yes a scrum half like Sarel Pretorius might very well unlock Morne Steyn’s latent potential. Fdp stagnate’s the hell out the game, he takes a goddamn age to clear away from the ruck. The difference between the Ab or Aus back line continuity compared to ours is almost a joke if it weren’t so crying pathetic. Genia supplying Giteau or Adams supplying Pienaar compared to Fdp supplying Steyn is like watching two different games altogether the latter almost as frustrating as watching paint drying on a damp wall. Fdp has been hyped up to be this god of scrum halves to the inevitable destruction of our back line play. He is almost the cancer in the setup and I’d drop him and get a Pretorius or an Adams in fast to set the pattern right, and abolish out of hand kicking unless it is absolutely imperative for field position or defense. Steyn must either learn to shift the ball to the centers at some go forward momentum or give way to Pienaar even at the cost of losing points to some missed penalty kicks.
November 29th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
@skopskiet: keep drinking boet, keep drinking. And keep telling yourself, “I know a lot about rugby”.
November 29th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
One thing that had me seeing red and spitting bile and acid: A few minutes left in the game, JdV breaks down the left wing and gets into some serious space. JPP on his shoulder when he makes the break, he then SLOWS DOWN to a canter, leaving Jean to sprint into space on his own, looking around for the offload while the laziest springbok ever to wear a Bok jersey jogs along 5 metres behind!! JdV Goes to ground and JP half-arsedly joins the ruck – absolutely a massive try opportunity left out there to rot – I mean WTF!!!!???? Anyone else see it the way i did? Or did I miss something? I would have him doing pushups till he PUKED if I was coach, and carrying drinks for the next 5 matches
*&*(*^*&%*^!!!!!!!
November 29th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
So we won the scrum, but lost the test.
November 29th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
yeah thanks to Fdp and M Steyn we coughed up the test on a plate maak die overrated Bulle almal koeie
November 29th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
yeah they all buggered, had it in the 1st half, but the irish too hungry in 2nd half – our boys beaten fair and square – if u dont have the intensity, might as well go sit on the beach, cos not going to win.
November 29th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
@skopskiet: But the skop skop skop game plan is exactly what Div prescribes for the Boks. You saw that yesterday and throughout the 2009 season.