Touch rugby torture
28 Aug 2010
JON CARDINELLI writes Saturday’s nine-try display lacked the intensity and defensive excellence of a typical Tri-Nations Test.
Where was the defensive element that defines top-flight rugby? For traditional powerhouses like the Springboks and Wallabies, Saturday’s match was a sloppy and unacceptable display.
The Loftus Versfeld crowd responded positively to the feast of tries, and the atmosphere resembled that of a Barbarians fixture or a high-profile sevens clash. The Boks’ conceded four tries inside the first 30 minutes; the lack of organisation and poor breakdown work contributing to a porous effort.
After five Tri-Nations matches, the Boks have leaked 17 tries. They’ve conceded the four-try bonus point on three occasions. Compare those stats to those of 2009, where they conceded just 11 tries in six games and zero four-try bonuses, and it’s clear the Boks’ defensive reputation has been shattered in the space of a year.
Discipline is a problem. The accuracy and communication is just not there. Their tackling woes and poor decision making is compounded by their perpetual failure at the collisions. Whatever intensity they conjured in this year’s competition they left in Soweto.
The stats tell a story but don’t complete an embarrassing tale. The manner in which they gifted the Aussies four tries was shocking.
A simple three-phase, same-way attack saw Drew Mitchell over the line in the second minute, and a TMO call in favour of the hosts only delayed the inevitable. From the very next scrum, the Wallabies built through five phases to score, their superb clearing at the ruck allowing for a quick recycle, and the final movement helped by a missed Victor Matfield tackle.
The Wallabies’ second try was down to a quick clearance at the breakdown, and for their third, Bryan Habana dropped a kickoff to allow James O’Connor to avoid two would-be defenders. The fourth was birthed from a turnover deep in Wallabies territory, and when Habana held onto the ball at the breakdown, the penalty was taken quickly and walked over by lock Dean Mumm.
The Aussies enjoyed better momentum at the collisions, and if not for a few handling errors, may have racked up more linebreaks. The Boks were still susceptible in the wide channels, and when the Wallabies got fast ball at the breakdown, the hosts’ poor defensive structure was exposed.
Fortunately for the Boks, the Wallabies’ defence lapsed at crucial periods. Apart from the 15-phase build up to Pierre Spies’s try, the Boks scored some soft tries. The lack of intensity throughout said a lot for this dead rubber.
There were exceptions although the second half shouldn’t erase the first. Juan Smith had another outstanding game on defence and Francois Hougaard crunched Adam Ashley-Cooper late in the second period to deny the Wallabies their fifth. Replacement flyhalf Butch James weighed in with a massive defensive hit, and reserve hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle poached two turnovers at the breakdown. Matfield was highly effective at the lineout, pinching several balls off the opposition throw.
But the lift in the Boks’ standard also needs to be viewed in conjunction with the flagging intensity and sloppy handling of the Aussies. A better team would have buried the Boks, fortress or not.
Top teams don’t concede four tries, and they don’t leak them in the soft manner that the Boks did at Loftus. They may have broken their Tri-Nations duck, but this inconsistent performance showed why they’re no longer the No 1 side on the planet.
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91 Comments
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28 Aug 2010, 23:46 pm
i;m not as thunk and you drink i am … typos galore…
29 Aug 2010, 00:01 am
BH-49
Fair enough but I think its judged the best game by far more than the Antipodes.saw rave reviews of that game even in British publication/RugbyWorld st the time.def much better than those “Calcutta Cup classics”
But my main gripe is hypocritical reporting of this game.wasn’t great yes but it wasn’t “torture/abomination”.there was grunt work by likes of Guthro/Flip/Burger/Smith
Watching Stade vs Toulose…Jauzion & Liebenberg playing 10??? WTF?
29 Aug 2010, 00:13 am
@mshiniwami(mshiniwami)-52: fair enough, imo Lions tests tend to get the biggest raps up here, ’71, 74, ’97, 1st test ’01, 2nd test ’09. In terms of 6N classics Wales v Scotland this year was excellent, worth a watch if you haven’t seen it.
Those French clubs have trouble with 10s because they put most of their playmakers at 9 (much like SA).
Agree on the reporting although I guess the disorganisation in the Bok ranks in the first half rocked their faith, but I think they fail to take into account the effort put in last week from SA and indeed what it takes to come back from 3 damaging tries.
29 Aug 2010, 00:47 am
There is no doubt that this 3N has provided the best spectacle for years. I know it would be tough for the Bok supporters who haven’t had much joy but the games have been a treat with last minute tries, length of the field movements etc.
The gap is huge currently between the 3N and the rest of the world at the moment. You see that in players returning to the SH and they are simply not able to cope with the speed and intensity of the southern game.
29 Aug 2010, 03:02 am
I’m not sure, I think England are playing a better style and much smarter Rugby that the Boks who are still stuck in a game plan and tactics from years ago.
Just a shame they have a pathetic coach and prominent players who are concerned about extending decaying careers rather than reinventing a game plan and style that will take Bok Rugby forward where it should be.
29 Aug 2010, 04:19 am
Sure, the first half exposed both sides poor defence, but the second half was classic trinations stuff. Sometimes I think people enjoy moaning and look for any reason to be negative. For me one of the more enjoyable rugby matches which had it all.
29 Aug 2010, 05:34 am
Great rugby pathetic journalism
29 Aug 2010, 09:34 am
So, if defence really wins world cups, SA and Oz won’t be anywhere near the business end…
29 Aug 2010, 09:58 am
spaghetti western…..candy floss …..this rubbish will serve only to paper over the cracks as saffas beat chests and proclaim ‘ we back ””
No gents…..this is a team with structural flaws ……and a management team incapable of fixing it.
29 Aug 2010, 10:03 am
@grant10(grant10)-59: Yes, that may be true, but it was a hell of a entertaining game, so for the next week I’m happy.
29 Aug 2010, 10:08 am
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-60: it was a Barbarians type of game….lacked intensity …..will take the win but i see it for what it was…..a game devoid of defensive structure….that 1 st half was comedy hour…..
Only winners here the kiwis…..
29 Aug 2010, 10:15 am
@grant10(grant10)-61: No doubt the handling errors were schoolboy stuff. Credit to the Aussies for pouncing the way they did. Lots to work on this week. I really hope they pull Gio Aplon in for Brian. He really needs some time in the minors to sharpen up.
29 Aug 2010, 10:16 am
our defence has been kak all season.
I also have genuine problem with our backline play and the coaching that goes one.
I refer to the alignment of our backs. Why are they never running from deeper with pace when compared with the other 2 sides. We complain that the flyhalf never passes…but take a look at the options that are on for him as well. Not many, basically.
also, when we start going through the phases….why is it that our forwards always appear to be getting in the way of our backline moving the ball wide quickly?
29 Aug 2010, 10:19 am
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-62: Frans Steyn is completely out of shape….i am a Frans fan….but he doesent deserve to be there.
If we really wanted to rest and condition we would look at next weeks game as an opportunity to play the fringe boks…..
Personally i would play smit….let us retain the mandela trophy and then he can retire with silverware in his paws….
But i would certainly rest
Spies
matfield
habana
F Steyn
M steyn
JDV
Guthro
We need to see what Butch can do in particular….he and Chilliboy were great subs yesterday…..Both made telling contributions when it was looking bleak.
29 Aug 2010, 10:22 am
Nothing has changed much in my mind from previous games though.
I still believe Smit has a role to play but, given he has had the proper rest and selection is justified with performance next season, I see his role coming from the bench in the last 20. We still need a fetcher….it’s just not Louw,particularly after what I saw against the cheetahs.
And our bench needs more X factor amongst the bench. Aplon should have been there coming on.
I would have actually had Matfield or Steyn as my man of the match. The lineout showing was the best of the season and the flyhalf the same.
but a lot of our key players are so obviously knackered and need a break.
As an aside….will the bulls please,please buy just 1 player for next season. Bjorn Basson.
29 Aug 2010, 10:25 am
@Brigadier Van Zyl(Brigadier Van Zyl)-65: read the Rapport….
Seems Bulls keen to do a deal with JP Pietersen.
Lions keen on Smit [ r 4 m a year ]….Butch…Joe v niekerk….Kankowski…B James…
29 Aug 2010, 10:28 am
yeaterdays game turned on a few key moments.
Hougaards tackle on AAC….
Juan Smith andV Matfield made telling against the throw lineout steals in Boks 22.
Chilliboy and Butch brought a hard edge to boks defensive effort in last 20 minutes….
29 Aug 2010, 10:34 am
@grant10(grant10)-66: They can have them mate, Kanko, a bit sad but if he wants to push off from KZN then goyougoodthing. We have the academy, the Lions don’t.
29 Aug 2010, 10:35 am
@grant10(grant10)-64: True. I also liked the look of Butch. Although Morne took the ball up a bit yesterday, Butch deserves a full run. Agreed on the fringe Boks.
Anyway, off to take the kids to the Wor;ld of Birds. What’s the weather like down your side? Looks great my side. (Winelands)
29 Aug 2010, 10:43 am
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-69: magic here as well…..i am going to do a huge walk later….love it!
29 Aug 2010, 10:46 am
@goyougoodthing2(goyougoodthing2)-68: see Rapport…..speculation at the moment.
Perhaps with Alberts there….and Mapoe….a few players looking for new pastures?
Mapoe and Mvovo may be putting heat on JPP…
Lions also want JPP..
You lot better off without Smit and the complications he brings…
29 Aug 2010, 10:52 am
@grant10(grant10)-71: Speculation in the Rapport usually comes from decent sources. You know my thoughts on SmitFit match yours. He can push off and live in JHB and take FoxyRoxy with him. From gated estate to Crackland in the middle of the concrete jungle. Sure they will love that as much as they loved France.
MrsSmitFit will pull out the strapon again and he’ll waddle back to the coast.
29 Aug 2010, 10:58 am
@goyougoodthing2(goyougoodthing2)-72: LOL
Ja….Rapport usually accurate….but for the moment i think its all pretty much in the air….Straueli seems confident sharks will retain Smit and JPP…..
I know JPP was good mates with Waylon Murray…..so who knows.?
Both Smit and JPP out of contract at end of CC in 2010….hence the scramble for there signatures….
Lions could do with a solid leader ….so the Smit move makes sense….especially with Bissy and Burden playing out there socks….
29 Aug 2010, 10:58 am
good player JP pieterson.
I’d take him
29 Aug 2010, 10:59 am
pakistan cricketers right in the kak.
29 Aug 2010, 11:00 am
@Brigadier Van Zyl(Brigadier Van Zyl)-75: with the bookies?
29 Aug 2010, 11:02 am
@grant10(grant10)-73: “Lions could do with a solid leader” that’s funny. YOu mean an wobbly leader?
Smit’s agent want s 2 year contract at The Sharks but was told no, so maybe he is sniffing jockstraps at altitude.
29 Aug 2010, 11:03 am
@Brigadier Van Zyl(Brigadier Van Zyl)-75: Yea makes Trott’s innings look a little thin today which is unfair.
Pakis are a funny bunch though, Islam strictly prohibits gambling and yet they seem fairly adept at it.
29 Aug 2010, 11:05 am
@goyougoodthing2(goyougoodthing2)-77: Freudian slip….’solid’…
2 years?? Bloody hell….thats insane….surely he must go at the very latest after 2011 wc?
Seems he is intent on leaving on a low note….
29 Aug 2010, 11:10 am
@grant10(grant10)-79: Any particular merit SmitFit had has been eroded since his book. A great man does 2 things:
1. Leads well
2. Knows when to bow out.
SmitFit did 1 and forgot number 2. No respect for him anymore.
29 Aug 2010, 23:32 pm
JC you are wrong. The nature of teh game is that more tirea re socred by keeeping ballin hand and getting quicjker ball back. More tries WILL be scored if quicker ball is available. Full stop. You can have a fantastic defensive system, but if you allow quick ball for teh other side, tyou will concede tries. The only way to slow their ball legally is by driving them back in the tackle, forcing their backline to retreat, and driving over the ball to slow them getting it quickly. This is what we did quite effectively against the AB’s in the last game (but this defence takes a large amout of energy and we ran out of steam eventually because we never ever forced THEM into long periods of defence, and therefore they never got tired and we did).
If we manage to control peossesion effectively and get cleaners to eth ball quickly and effectively and HOLD ONTO the ball, they will tire eventually, and we will score tries. the AB defence looked great against us, because we never ever tested it properly for sustained periods of pressure.
30 Aug 2010, 01:00 am
The team I would start for next weeks clash
15 Gio Aplon
14 JP Pietersen
13 Jaque Fourie
12 Jean De Villiers
11 Bjorn Basson
10 Butch James
9 Francois Hougaard
8 Pierre Spies
7 Juan Smith
6 Francois Louw
5 Victor Matfield
4 Danie Russouw
3 CJ Van Der Linde
2 Chillyboy Ralepelle
1 Guthro Steenkamp
16 Bismark Du Plessis
17 Tendai Mtawarira
18 Adriaan Fondse
19 Schalk Burger
20 Jano Vermaak
21 Morne Steyn
22 Juan De Jongh
30 Aug 2010, 01:18 am
funny how the wheel has now turned….
Don’t be fooled by adrenalin thrill
By Peter Bills
South Africa and Australia came close to producing a new version of rugby this morning in Pretoria.
It was essentially rugby sevens played with 15 men a side – an interesting hybrid model which, alas, I don’t think has a future.
Neither, for that matter, does either of these teams if they continue to play the game in such a dumb fashion.
Yes, it was entertaining enough if you just want the vicarious pleasure of watching players dive over the whitewash. But for any serious observers of the game it was close to a joke at times. “Surreal” was how one leading world rugby official called it, and he was right on the money.
Not to put too fine a point on it, it was a kind of rugby diarrhoea.
Tries spewed out at regular intervals, with no-one on the field apparently able to control the flow.
There were nine tries scored and only some desperate, scrambling defence by both teams prevented that number being doubled.
Back in New Zealand, there must have been expressions of bemusement mixed with humour on the faces of the All Blacks players and coaches.
For this was a game that told us exactly why New Zealand are already home and hosed as 2010 Tri-Nations Champions, not to mention Bledisloe Cup holders yet again.
All the structure, authority and composure the All Blacks have brought to the international game this year, even while playing an open, attacking game, was missing in Pretoria. We had the farcical situation of Australia leading 14-0 after just four minutes, 21-7 after 11 minutes and then 28-17.
Yet all the while, Robbie Deans’ side never had control of the game. At times, it exactly mirrored Sevens – one side scored, the restart went to the opposition and they scored. Six tries were scored in the first half alone yet of that tally, four were down to gross defensive errors and a fifth came from a forward pass.
That summed up the game, really. Unforced errors lay all over the field, like corpses on the Somme. Technically, it was pretty lamentable and merely served to confirm New Zealand’s overwhelming technical superiority in their rugby this year.
South Africa won in the end chiefly because of their traditional line-out excellence at critical moments in the crucial final quarter.
Leading 34-31 with the game finely balanced, the Springboks seized two vital Wallaby line-out throws which stole away potentially vital attacking platforms deep in the Boks 22, from the attacking Australians. Victor Matfield, on his 100th Test cap appearance, reminded us of his timeless ability and those around him deserved
praise, too.
Even worse for Deans’ side, they then butchered two simple tries which were there for the taking had their players simply made the ball do the work by taking out opponents with passes. Instead, mindless shifting of the pill across field which allowed the defensive line to drift ruined at least two scores.
Another was saved when impressive half-back Francois Hougaard got across to smash Adam Ashley-Cooper in the tackle, forcing him to spill the ball rather than walk it in over the line.
Australia couldn’t come back after that glut of missed scoring opportunities. But their decision making was awry in the final quarter too, when they turned down kickable penalties for punts into the corner. Their faith in hooker Saia Faingaa’s line-out throws was misplaced.
There was none of the precision or clinical execution we had become accustomed to seeing from the All Blacks this season. Literally, they are in a class of their own on this evidence.
Bryan Habana dropped a simple re-start kick and then missed James O’Connor on the outside for one try; Kurtley Beale made the ‘Boks defensive line look about as mobile as the Maginot Line with a few sidesteps to open them up, leading to O’Connor’s first try and, at the other end, the defence parted like the Red Sea to allow the impressive Juan Smith to steam through an enormous hole to score for the Boks.
It was helter-skelter stuff, harum-scarum rugby with desperation written all over two ordinary teams. No-one ever really got a grip on the game with some proper structured rugby in the style of the New Zealanders.
So yes, for the uninitiated it was undoubtedly aesthetically pleasing and a real adrenalin thrill.
But don’t believe that all South Africans were fooled.
The vast swathes of empty seats in Pretoria, heartland of the South African game, told you plenty about what knowledgeable South Africans think of the present state of their side.
30 Aug 2010, 01:32 am
@grant10(grant10)-73: a 1 year deal then a move to the NH (Sarries?) seems the smartest move for JS
30 Aug 2010, 08:17 am
I would rather watch a hard test match with two or three tries than that rubbish.
It made a mockery of what test rugby should be, what a joke!
30 Aug 2010, 08:19 am
@iceman(iceman)-85: Then piss off to Scotland!
30 Aug 2010, 08:21 am
Or Italy
30 Aug 2010, 09:24 am
@toddke(toddke)-8: @mshiniwami(mshiniwami)-14:
You guys are not seeing the big picture, your rantings and ravings just show that you are OK with mediocrity, the bok’s defence is shocking and it does not seem to be getting any better, I’m sure all the journos here on Keo celebrated the win and are happy that Vic got a victory on his 100th game, but they are not so ignorant to think that the win has solved the problems in the Bok camp.
I find that our nature as South Africans is to accept poor standards in most facets of life, we are quite content to accept 2nd place, that is total BS! we are one of the best rugby playing nations in the world and the pressure should be on our team 24/7 to play better in every game, lauding one unconvincing win out of 5 does no one any good.
30 Aug 2010, 09:26 am
@MacToogie(MacToogie)-88:
More seun! I’m so glad hearing this from you!!!
I have been saying this for the past year. We were fortunate to win the Lions series – we won the Tri-Nations, but cracks were there already…Now the old legs don’t get moving anymore and suddenly we realise that things have to change fast.
30 Aug 2010, 10:00 am
@Bill Reyts(Gumboots)-89:
hey Billy Boy, yeah, went MIA after the soccer city fiasco, depression, she was deep
there are problems for sure, but i have faith in the senior guys that are there and with a few new faces pushing them along we should be fine, i think they just need the time off now to focus on the RWC, they know what they need to do .
the worrying part is the coaches are not fixing the defensive issues, Muir needs to go, end of story, you look at the Lions now, much improved under Mitchel, they were improving under JW as well, D! ck comes in and they get a record losing streak, now the Boks are leaking tries at an alarming rate, coincidence? i think not
30 Aug 2010, 15:49 pm
@Mighty Horua(Mighty Horua)-86:
I’ve got a better plan mate, why don’t you piss off to Hong Kong and then you can watch the 7′s every year!
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