Boks fly into quarters
4 Dec 2009
Ryno Benjamin scored four tries on the opening day of the Dubai Sevens as South Africa finished at the top of their pool.
The Sevens champs beat Australia 29-0 win to set up a quarter-final clash with Fiji. Benjamin scored a brace in the first half while captain Paul Delport rounded off a great period of play where South Africa displayed their great ball retention and innovative attacking skills.
At 19-0 down at half-time, the Aussies were dead and buried. Mzwandile Stick crashed over from close range early in second period, and added his second just a minute before the final whistle.
In their second pool match, Chase Minnaar scored a brace in South Africa’s six-try demolition of the Arabian Gulf. The Bok Sevens outfit emerged 36-7 victors in their second pool match where they were dominant across all facets of play. Minnaar showcased his speed and skill to beat the defence for South Africa’s first try, a score which was quickly followed by a five-pointer for Delport.
Their strength at the breakdown, where Kyle Brown was particularly prominent, resulted in a number of penalties. Delport’s vision and acceleration helped the Boks immensely, as he spun a long pass to MJ Mentz who in turn found Benjamin for South Africa’s third try.
Neil Powell and Brown got on the scoreboard while Minnaar added his second to round off some sparkling interplay. Arabian Gulf were denied by some fantastic defence early in the match, but Marcus Smith did manage to crash over for a consolation score right at the death.
In South Africa’s first match on Friday, the Blitzboks began their defence of the Dubai title with a 28-14 victory over Wales.
Benjamin opened the scoring when Delport opted for a tap penalty. Delport was involved again just a moment later when he intercepted a Welsh pass and cantered over the tryline.
Mpho Mbiyozo bashed his way through some feeble tackle-attempts to extend South Africa’s lead, but Wales scored an important try through Alex Cuthbert right on half-time.
The Blitzboks were far less clinical in the second period, spilling the ball in contact on a couple of occasions when they had the tryline at their mercy. Cuthbert sparked Wales’ second try when he sprinted down the touchline and found Lloyd Williams for the finish.
Wales attempted to level the scores in the dying seconds, but Stick turned defence into attack when he beneffited from a loose Welsh pass. Stick chipped and had the pace and skill to beat the cover defence for the regather as South Africa finished a mediocre second-half with a flourish.
For the latest results, click here.
263 Comments
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5 Dec 2009, 00:01 am
@Shakes: Maybe you are right… we should just categorise them all as twats..and only twats.. There should be equality in Twat World
5 Dec 2009, 00:01 am
@carol:
LMAO – you worse than my sister. hopeless.
they are the gunners, but a gooner is a slang term for their fans.
5 Dec 2009, 00:01 am
What is wrong with you people
Charlize had to lose the accent for her career, she’s trained herself out of her Benoni drol and has lived in the states for 15 years now.
She makes regular visits to SA fronting anti rape drives and even dedicated her oscar to SA.
The world cup draw was watched by 250 million people, the target audience is not the 30 million black South Africans with no DSTV.
You fella’s get over yourselves, Charlize is a white, its no big deal.
5 Dec 2009, 00:03 am
@Shakes: Oh well, cheer up……You guys can now plan next season and give old PDV and his cronies some advice on how to improve the team!!
5 Dec 2009, 00:03 am
It’s possible to be white…and fully African.
5 Dec 2009, 00:04 am
@haribaldi:
you thinking albinos?
5 Dec 2009, 00:05 am
@cab: I did go and see Swindon Town play once…..
Once was enough, even though I went with someone I fancied!!
5 Dec 2009, 00:05 am
@carol: 22% of white Britons see the BNP as an option… you don’t read much do you… TRy and read a bit more than the Daily Mail darling
5 Dec 2009, 00:06 am
@Langenhoven:
Whatsup Shawn?
Carol is cool, give her a break, there is no racism there.
I bet you wish you were in CT tonight, downing beers with Grant etc in the best city in the world.
The cousin still ok??
5 Dec 2009, 00:08 am
@Langenhoven: You probably have never had the chanace to meet someone like me, so it would be a mistake to put me in your box ‘luvvie’!!!
Never assume!!
5 Dec 2009, 00:09 am
@carol:
Swindon Town, good god i think they were like 4th division.
yeah some of the games atmosphere are pretty good fun tho.
all i can say is that poor referee, you have got to be in a tight spot to want to be a roundball referee.
5 Dec 2009, 00:11 am
@Robzim: Rob, because I am English and white why does Shaun ‘assume’ I am a racist?
He is just SO narrow minded!!
5 Dec 2009, 00:11 am
@Waz: I did not have to lose my accent for my career.. but I accept that I probably sound a bit different because I am exposed to English accents all the time..but you certanly don’t need to change your accent. I have no problem excusing my accent when people cannot understand what I am saying… so do the Irish and the Welsh and the scottish and the Geordies
5 Dec 2009, 00:16 am
i think charlize accent has taken on such changes that its probably not put on, probably had to go to a voice coach and all that – dunno what is so fancy about the yankee accent in any case – its terrible and they mangle english. the boksburg/benoni accent is far nicer, i know, cos i have one.
5 Dec 2009, 00:17 am
@Langenhoven: Heres the thing… When Charlize went for her first casting sessions she was told that at all costs she had to lose the accent otherwise she had no future in her chosen career. Its actually not that big a deal, after all look at her now.
5 Dec 2009, 00:18 am
@carol:
You know, if you and Shawn must meet in real life the 2 of you will get along quite well.
Anyway, this place is a bit phoney, so don’t worry.
I even founded some common ground with JL1 tonight.
Charlize Theron!!
5 Dec 2009, 00:19 am
@cab: Perhaps Swindon Town was a bad introduction to football!!
The fans were ‘salt of the earth’!!
5 Dec 2009, 00:19 am
@Robzim: I watched the draw at a pub close to work..The vibe in London is always good.. I sense dishonesty with Carol… Remember I look at peoples choices rather than what they say..
I spoken to the cousin for a while.. she has sent me a few emails (Funnies).. I will give her call tommorow
@carol: I have met many people Carol.. You find that racist twats of RT entertaining.. that says a lot
5 Dec 2009, 00:21 am
@Langenhoven: Sorry, could you repeat that I did not understand a word!!
5 Dec 2009, 00:21 am
Cheers all out of here.
5 Dec 2009, 00:23 am
@Langenhoven: @Robzim: Sorry rob.. Meant to say… I have not spoken to the cousin
5 Dec 2009, 00:23 am
@Robzim: I’m sure if you met JL1 you would find a great guy, good sense of humour and very bright…..good company.
However, Shaun is determined to dislike me….!!
5 Dec 2009, 00:23 am
@carol:
i’m sure they very nice, was just pulling your leg.
i just found it amusing when you said you did not know lucas.
you getting quite serious these days, suppose the keo boys dont let up.
5 Dec 2009, 00:25 am
@carol: Excuse my accent then… Our choices defines us
5 Dec 2009, 00:28 am
@Langenhoven: Shaun, speak as you find…if you find me dishonest well that is your choice, you obviously are a poor judge of character.
Don’t slag off my RT friends either.
Tell me, this bragging thing you do……what is it about, it makes you sound such a to$$er??
5 Dec 2009, 00:28 am
@Shakes: See you…
5 Dec 2009, 00:28 am
@carol: YOu are dishonest Carol… I reserve the right to dislike dishonest people.
5 Dec 2009, 00:33 am
@cab: Cab, it is not me getting serious, the Keo Night Owls used to be such a laugh, then Hater and old Shaunie here managed to really mess the site up!!
You probably noticed!!
5 Dec 2009, 00:34 am
@carol: NOt bragging… just a display of confidence… Something that apartheid and racism had attempted to destroy…
5 Dec 2009, 00:35 am
@Langenhoven: Shaun, you have such a chip on your shoulder!!
Cheer up…..!!
5 Dec 2009, 00:38 am
@carol:
different strokes, besides i thought the night owls were chatting elsewhere these days, tolerance.
shaun and hater have there reasons but perhaps sometimes overkill and too many judgements allround, but who knows.
i’m off too. Soda should be around shortly, he knows about leeds. later.
5 Dec 2009, 00:41 am
@Langenhoven: 229 – aparthied and racism are hateful. It is terrible for anyone to live through or with this…….Glad you are out of it!!
Think before you speak to me though!
5 Dec 2009, 00:44 am
@carol: Chip on the shoulder??? A phrase redefined by apologist of racist behaviour???
Remember I am the one with the exaggerated ego???,, Bit of a contradiction??
5 Dec 2009, 00:44 am
@cab: The Night Owls are now split in two…..
RT very relaxed sort of site, still enjoy my Keo mates too!!
See you CAB….
I’m out too
5 Dec 2009, 00:47 am
@carol: YOu will never know… and I always think before I speak to you.. I do have a problem with you..
5 Dec 2009, 00:49 am
@Langenhoven: Shaun, stop being a misery guts….smile, count your blessings…….. You know your fantastic good looks, wonderful job, swooning women, shopping opportunities!!
Life is good, stop whinging at me….”I ain’t bovvered”!!
Oh yes good night…
5 Dec 2009, 00:53 am
I am out too… But we all should remember that this site was intended to illuminate white rugby players and degrade black rugby players… The owners of this site are confirmed racist twats who refuse to engage in open debate… Destroying their vision of white springbok team is my goal… While they try to sell white supremacy, I will always be around to counter them..
Long live the spirit of no surrender
5 Dec 2009, 00:54 am
@Langenhoven:
@carol:
You guys will get along quite well in real life, no doubt about about it.
Shawn, Carol is not the devil, she never experienced the sh#t we had in this country, give her some slack.
Catch a wave, it is cool.
5 Dec 2009, 01:06 am
@Langenhoven:
I dont think any of that is true.
Keo, the original designer of this site, was always very much in favour of transformation and blew the whole Geo-gate thing wide open. Not only do they allow open debate but they allow you, with no small measure of tolerance, your obvious baiting and crusading. In fact, they allow your denegradation and indeed alienation of others to such an extent that it affects their site. So i think thats a little rich to be honest.
5 Dec 2009, 01:12 am
@bananaboy: No blasphemy here tonight please.
And you to Shunter – the Benoni accent has serious pull with Cape Town girls.
5 Dec 2009, 01:14 am
@cab: Aye. Double aye. Fk gotta be the bane of Keo.
5 Dec 2009, 01:17 am
@SodaJoe:
241.
WTF are u and the French legion talking about
5 Dec 2009, 01:23 am
@SodaJoe:
ahh the benoni bandit…
5 Dec 2009, 01:27 am
@gunther: @Robzim: Evening ladies.
5 Dec 2009, 01:29 am
shaun is a good guy, perhaps this tactic of shock and awe is as a social service provided by shaun to unmask the hidden racist lurking within, but sometimes ppl will give that just to piss another off and then some. It then just becomes silly, and there is no open honest meaningful discussion which has ever taken under those defensive conditions.
5 Dec 2009, 01:31 am
This is quite interesting. Especially for you Shunts. Gary Gold’s blog. Long read so you can save it maybe, his blog is rugbyIQ.com – kind of the opposite to Keo.
My take is this – bollocks – we need quality ball, not be saved by Spies’ good hands.
I wish we had more serious discourse about rugby instead of slating a true, beautiful, successful, intelligent woman.
But for all the near hi-jacking of Keo I do come back because you guys are here.
Facing the real problems
December 3rd, 2009
Good day to you, rugbyiq.com friends! What a year we’ve had… Unfortunately, it didn’t end too well for us with a defeat to Ireland, and there seem to be a few question marks over our side – in particular our scrum. This week, as promised, I will attempt to show you just where the Springbok scrum stands in relation to our opposition from 2009.
First up, it was obviously very disappointing to have come back from the tour having won just one of our three Tests in November.
It is post-mortem time, as it would have been had we come back with a 100% winning record, but we do now at least have the time to reflect on just where it went wrong for us – in particular in Toulouse and Dublin.
Hopefully, we will rectify those mistakes in our post-mortem process, and for that very reason I would like to respectfully disagree with those comments suggesting that we could not have learnt anything from this tour.
On the contrary, as painful as losing is, it is unfortunately when one tends to learn the most – possibly because we may tend to analyse our faults deeper off the back of defeats. On reflection, and I am sure Peter and **** will agree with me, we have certainly learned more from our two defeats out of two visits to the northern hemisphere in the last year, than we did from the four wins…
It would very naive and arrogant of us, as coaches and no doubt the players too, if we did not take away plenty of food for thought, from this tour. I can tell you that we have and – as I mentioned above – we will be looking to fix those errors next year.
In last week’s blog – in the build-up to the Ireland Test – I had a look at the various selections in our starting XV. I alluded to John Smit’s move from tighthead back to hooker, saying it was not because he had failed in the No.3 shirt, but rather because of the match situation (our opposition and because of injuries).
As promised, I intend to illustrate further this week just why his move to prop is certainly not the disaster made out by all and sundry and, at the same time, why I think the hype around the Springbok scrummaging abilities – or rather the supposed lack thereof – is slightly off the mark and is possibly being over-played.
However, before I get down to this, let me stress in the harshest way possible; I do not believe that our scrum is the most powerful in the world and I will admit that we have not been firing on all cylinders or certainly to the level that we would have wanted to. I have no doubt, however, that we can improve our scrum and that is something high on our agenda ahead of the 2010 international season.
Before we touch on the scrums, it is important that I share with you some facts from international matches that have taken place this year – in order for you to get an holistic view of what actually happens in modern-day Test rugby, and hence where I believe our serious coaching energy should be placed.
Here goes:
- On average, there are 60-70 breakdowns (i.e. rucks, mauls, etc) on attack during a Test match.
- There are, on average, 65-75 ball-carries per Test match. That means our players will enter a contact situation – where a player either passes, off-loads or goes to ground (and then has to recycle the ball) – sixty-five to seventy times in 80 minutes. (Well, actually the ball is in play for 40 minutes only, but let’s not get totally pedantic – I think you know what I mean!)
- Whether we like it or not, there are on average, 30/40 kicks in every Test match; kicks to clear our line, but also those that need to be chased and hopefully retrieved. Those kicks, in turn, play their part in ensuring we can have between 17-20 lineouts, on our own ball, per game.
- Also, on average, each team out there needs to make about 85 to 95 tackles per Test match.
- And, finally, when it comes to scrums, there are on average, some eight to ten scrums in Test matches at present.
Do you see now what I am getting at? Do you see which areas significantly affect the outcome of a match and those that do not have as significant a bearing, although all are still incredibly important?
Against France, for instance, our ball runners lost the ball in contact 10 times. TEN TIMES we just handed the French ball whilst we were on attack, so in turn our defence was totally disorganised. Ten times… that is more individual turnovers than scrums we had in that entire game (we had nine scrums against France) – clearly we need to improve that facet of our game. (In the 2009 Super 14, 50% of ALL tries came from turnovers – it makes sense why, it is when one’s defence is at its least organised.)
At the same time, in order to become a more consistent and world-class team we need to cut down our high penalty count. Against France, we had a penalty count of 5 v 13 (against us) – with 12 points coming from those 13 penalties in a game we eventually lost 15-20. Again, we have to be ruthless on our discipline, especially in our own 22m where most world-class kickers will punish you. This fact is also slightly skewed, because we thought Wayne Barnes was particularly harsh on us – but hey, cowboys don’t cry, and there was no way he got 13 penalties wrong.
We also need to take our try-scoring opportunities better. Points-scoring opportunities do not come around that often in Test match rugby – a world-class team needs to take its opportunities in the ‘red zone’ (in the opposition 22), as we did so regularly during the Tri-Nations, or at least convert 95% of the opportunities into points. An example of taking one’s chances came in the Test against France when we had a vital lineout five metres from the French line. I have no doubt we could have driven over from there, but we lost the lineout… and thereby the match.
As a coaching staff we are certainly not against criticism – as long as it is constructive and valuable and, most importantly, accurate and specific about where we are falling short.
Alright then, back to the scrums, have a look at the table below. The table, basically, is a summary of all the Test-playing nations we played against in 2009 (except the B&I Lions, as they are not a regular Test-playing country, and we all know how we fared at scrum time against them) – explaining how our scrum has progressed according to theirs.
Funnily enough, and possibly the most painful irony of the year, is it seems that most pundits out there thought our scrum was excellent against Ireland – yet we still ended up losing the match. How ironic that this should be the case in the week when I am attempting to highlight exactly how significant a dominant scrum is.
Again, before I continue, I have to stress once again – scrummaging is important in the modern-day game, but it is not the most telling facet of play. Yes, a strong scrum could certainly give you a psychological advantage during a match, of that their is no doubt.
The table below begins by showing the amount of scrums awarded (pack) versus ball actually fed (i.e. successful scrums that were not reset) and it also shows how much ball we were able to play off (ball out).
CLICK HERE for the table!
As you can see by the table we need to improve the amount of ball we actually play off – we need to get that percentage up to 92%+ at least (currently on 89.5). Interestingly, Italy have the best success rate in terms of the amount of ball they play off, 95.1%, but unfortunately had been winless in their last ten outings before beating Samoa this past weekend.
Significantly, however, we are second on the list in terms of actually getting the ball out – i.e. the least re-sets. Of course, it’s nothing to boast about, but it does show just how small the margins are in international rugby, yet it is significant that Australia are clearly the worst. This suggests, as has been suspected for years, that Australia are perennial scrum collapsers should they not get the hit they require, and have the most resets.
So as mentioned earlier, we have managed to play off 89.5% of our scrum ball, which means we have not off 10.5% of our ball, as I have already said this figure does need to improve by at least 3-4%, but it is also interesting to have a look at the same facts on all opposition ball; that is when it is our opponents’ scrum, and we are defending. That fact interestingly shows that our opponents, off 130 scrums against us, were able to play off 88.5% – which means we were able to turnover 11.5% of opposition ball. A memorable example was our scrum that turned over the All Blacks in Durban which led to Fourie du Preez picking up the ball and playing Morné Steyn who scored on the left-hand side of the uprights and, in turn, won us the game. Without getting too caught up in numbers, it is interesting that we can play off more ball than we allow our opposition to play off, albeit only 1%.
I do believe, however, that the quality of our scrum ball, which is not illustrated in any stats table, can improve significantly with an accurate set-up, quicker hit and a more powerful leg-drive. That improvement would then be able to give Fourie a better quality of ball for our backs to run onto and, in turn, will necessitate the opposition loose forwards being bound for longer – thus making our ability to break or penetrate the advantage line more significant. That, I concede, is not happening enough at present, and am the first to admit we really do need to improve that aspect, because quality scrum ball is great ball to attack off.
I hope these examples have allowed you some deeper understanding behind the perceived scrumming woes in the Bok side.
Some people might accuse me of being over-defensive… I am not. I have truly tried to be as honest and objective as possible, by using these facts, I hope one can now see that, although we need to improve, we are not losing Test matches because of our supposedly ‘dire scrum’.
Before I sign off this week, I must just add this: When we started our coaching website at the end of last year, our aim was (and still is!) to produce a coaching aid for aspiring coaches, players and supporters who want more in-depth information and, possibly – dare I say it! – even to assist the odd learned journalist who honour us by visiting this very website.
This site is a forum to debate the game at an intellectual level – dealing in hardcore facts, and not emotions driven by whether one’s team wins or loses, and not at all because we think we know more than anybody else – hence the name RugbyIQ.
To those of you who continue to visit rugbyiq – even if you do not agree with our views, which you are very welcome not to! – we humbly appreciate your visits to our site and hope you can share your views with us, whether you agree with us or not.
But we will do all in our power for this website to remain one where all of us rugby-lovers can debate the merits of the game without needing to be abusive, facetious or personal about any team or individual who loves this great game of ours, there are enough ‘Jerry Springer-esque’ websites out there for that…
Until next time,
GG
5 Dec 2009, 01:32 am
@cab: I think he is without doubt that most boring person ever to slobber pretentious self-inflated drivel on Keo. I honestly despise him.
5 Dec 2009, 01:33 am
@SodaJoe: Actually CHAZ is a close competitor.
5 Dec 2009, 01:35 am
You guys are all obviously reading the wisdom of Gary Gold. Or furiously visiting RugbyIQ – the site that is not the “Jerry Springer” of rugby websites.
5 Dec 2009, 01:37 am
Xkreni is the Chaz of SA.
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