My predominant feeling after the SA/Australia match was that I want to puke. It was one of those matches that the Aussies didn’t won we lost it.
They didn’t create the win we created the loss through bad mistakes, stupid decision making and by going into a defensive mindset.
There were a number of things in this match that left me wanting to puke afterwards but let me outline the 5 main ones:
- No line speed on defence
- Stopped playing and going on a defensive mindset after taking the lead in the first half
- Losing the ball in contact mainly because we try and barge through defenders instead of attacking space
- Horrible decision making at crucial times in the match
- Bringing the playmakers on too late in the match.
No line speed on defence
The Pumas in their game used an age old tactic of the Springboks to play the All Blacks to an absolute standstill. The commentators called it line speed on defence. It has been called rush-up defence in Jake Whites time but it is essentially pressure on the halfbacks before the advantage line.
Literally every single time we have beaten the All Blacks singe 1921 we have done so by trapping their half backs behind their forward pack. Flat on defence making absolutely sure they get no front foot momentum or time to orchestrate starter or planned moves from set piece. This is in essence all the Pumas did, they took the All Black playmakers out of the game with speed off the line and low tackles.
Line speed was totally absent in the Springbok game against the Aussies. We had absolutely no line speed on defence. We were waiting for them on our side of the advantage line and our midfield defence was found wanting on a number of occasions because of that; it is hard to tackle a opposing player charging at full speed towards you if you stand still. It is far easier to tackle a fast and/or big player before he has running momentum namely when he receives the ball. Most importantly the player who is hitting the collions with the greatest speed will move forward in the tackle. So go ask the Argies how to prevent the opponents from creating front foot ball; how to take opposition playmakers out of the game – you hit the attackers behind their advantage line low and hard before they built-up momentum.
Neither our loose forwards nor our backline moved up on defence and that kept Cooper and Genia in the match.
Stopped playing after taking an early lead
This is by far the thing I find the most irritating. It annoys the absolute hell out of me when we stop playing once we are ahead on the score board.
This Aussie side is poor. Absolutely horribly poor as evidenced by the fact that it took them almost 60 minutes to make up 7 points while we were not even trying to score points. We only played for about 5 to 10 minutes in the first 70 minutes of the game. It took us 5 minutes of constructive rugby -between minutes 15 and 20 of the first half- to score a try and then we stopped. After scoring the Habana try we didn’t run with the ball again until we fell behind in the sixtieth minute of the game.
Attack is the best form of defence. A cliché maybe but it remains true. There is no killer instinct in the team; no desire to put the opposition away.
Losing the ball in contact
How many more times are Willem Alberts going to lose the ball in contact? Every time we start to get momentum Alberts lost the ball before the advantage line while trying to barge it up. He loses it before the advantage line mainly because he receives it standing still. I could see the lack of line speed problem in the first minute of the game. Why the hell could Meyer and the supporting coaching staff not see it? This cost us the match. You can’t create pressure and turnover ball without line speed on defence. You can’t create front foot ball and a disorganised defence without line speed on attack.
Our ‘balanced’ loose forwards were unbearably shyte with regard to line speed. I don’t care how big or strong or fast they are if they don’t put pressure on the opposition by hitting the line with speed on attack and defence then they are absolutely worthless. The rule of thumb in New Zealand is that the effectiveness of your loose trio (and team for that matter) is determined by the speed of the slowest loose forward.
Our balanced loose forwards are too slow. They can’t stay with the pace of the game; they have no perception of how to run with speed onto the ball; how to attack space; how to offload; how to link with the inside backs and they are way too predictable.
Entering the contact area in predictable fashion in slow motion and in an upright position allow the defence to gang tackle them behind the defensive line and rip the ball out of their hands.
Horrible decision making
Frans Steyn did it last week against the Pumas and he did it again this week namely skip passing the ball to the widest attacker when our backs have a man over situation. WTF!!! It’s a no brainer; passing the ball to the man on the outside allows the defence to drift onto you. For Pete sake just move the ball though the hands and draw the defender before you shift it on to the next man. How difficult is that?
The worst case –and this is also not the first time that this happen – was Ruan Pienaar kicking a box kick with 8 minutes or so left on the clock after we’ve just equalled the score. That box kick in his own 25 after he slowed the ball down by repeatedly toeing it back into a poorly constructed ruck resulted in Ben Alexander’s try. What the hell was he thinking? You’ve just equalled the match, there is less than 8 minutes left on the clock your main thought has to be to get back into the oppositions 25 and play from there.
Another example is when the lineout caller decided to go deep –for the first time in the match- with 3 or 5 minutes left on the clock just after Liebenberg came on the field. You’re running out of time, your replacement hooker just came on and you decide to throw the ball to the back of the lineout. Dumb, just f**king dumb and idiotic decision making.
To be absolutely straightforward I can’t remember the last time I was so pissed off with a Springbok team.
Playmakers too late onto the field
Francios Louw, Johan Goossen and Patrick Lambie made immediate impact when they came on. The game sped-up and you could see the desperation in the Aussie team.
You add Daniel or Kankowski and Gio Aplan to that mix and you have a lethal bunch of impact players that can win you matches.
Bringing them on with only 10 minutes left on the clock is however a bit too late I reckon.
On a last note Duanne Vermeulen made a massive impact – Yeah right!! Unfair comment – maybe? What do you expect from a player who has been recovering from injury since the 6th match of the S15?
You said it in 2010, South Africa get rid of this useless coach before its too late.He’s got no clue. It is either that or he should get off his hi horses for courses attitude and get some help from someone who has done before.
Dom kan ek vat. Astrant ook, as dit moet, maar dom astrant gaan my te bowe. Heyneke het nou gewys hy is net f****ken dom astrant.
What a good article. Congrats to you. Keo , please see above how to write a rugby article..
Hi Wicus
I couldn’t agree more. In NZ on yahoo NZ we have an idiot called “Man in the Stand” who writes articles for shock value who wouldn’t even hold a candle to McLooks well balanced non biased articles.
Onto the rugby:
After watching both games I think the RC is still up for grabs especially between the Boks and AB’s because if Argentina beat or draw against the AB’s in Argentina which is highly possible and if the Boks win or lose by 7 or less in NZ and go onto win whilst playing in SA and SA beat OZ in SA then the table opens the field.
I think it’s fair to say that the Boks and Argentina have had the unfortunate travel schedule during the early stages of this years RC whilst NZ and OZ have had the luxury of travelling less between the Tasman but after the Boks play the AB’s in NZ the travel arrangements will start to benefit the Boks and Argentina.
I think the AB’s and Pumas played well considering the weather conditions and I was very impressed that the AB’s held their nerve but the score flattered the AB’s.
The Wallabies and Bok game in my opinion is exactly what McLook says….”the Wallabies didn’t win it but the Boks lost it” through bad decision making and the Bok captain Jean De V looked lost at times.
The next few weeks will be interesting considering NZ and OZ will have to start the travelling playing in two passionate rugby nations ie Argentina and SA.
“I think the AB’s and Pumas played well considering the weather conditions and I was very impressed that the AB’s held their nerve but the score flattered the AB’s.”
About the only thing the All Blacks did right was hold their nerve.
McLook and the other saffers round here may be very dis-satisfied with the Boks, and with good reason. However, as a Kiwi I’m looking at this supposedly great All Black team, and I think we are very very vulnerable. We may have some great players, possibly past their best, and some useful up-and-comers who have not really served a proper apprenticeship. For example, Aaron Smith’s inability to read the play and vary his game stood out last night.
If the Boks can recover their traditional strengths, I’m expecting us to be knocked over very soon – if not next week, then most certainly on the road in Argentina or South Africa.
I find it hard to believe this All Black team will go through unbeaten.
And overall the standard of test rugby is very poor from all teams – except Argentina, who are footing it really well with the big boys…
Argentina was outstanding at the rucks and tackle ball. I thought they gave the All Blacks a beating in that area of the game.
The commitment, structure, explosiveness, low body positions at the rucks and the speed at which they arrived at the tackle ball was exemplary.
Aaron Smit was under constant pressure and you are right he had difficulty mixing it up. Things started to go better when Weepu came on. Weepu’s solution was to shift the ball quicker away from the rucks as the Pumas had four players lurking around the fringes who rushed-up and who were not afraid to put their bodies on the line.
It seems to me as if Henry’s structures are slowly slipping under Hansen’s coaching and that the All Blacks are more vulnerable this year than the previous 2 years.
The Pumas just reminded us how to beat the All Blacks. I find that reminder very interesting as I am sure the game tactics was part of Henry’s influence/instructions. Fact that he followed the traditional SA recipe is very interesting.
South Africa just don’t have the loose forwards on tour to exert the same amount of pressure on the All Blacks (as the Pumas did on the weekend) next weekend. I will therefore be very surprised if we beat them next weekend but I am hoping the Springboks took notice of the Pumas strategy and that they will make some adjustment to their lacklusture line speed. The Pumas showed that the AB are beatable. They are beatable if you can disrupt their pattern of creating front foot ball close to the rucks and if you put pressure on their halfbacks.
Part of the Pumas succes at beating the AB at the breakdowns and around the fringes of the rucks and loose scrums was I thought their solid set piece. Their scrums was solid and their lineout outstanding.
This Puma team has improved more in four matches than the Springbok team since Jake White.
Hats of to Sir Graeme; that what you call coaching.
I wasn’t too impressed with Savea but I reckon Messam stood up to the plate but I’d rather see Sam Cane on the field.
I’m not 100% agreed when you both (Kimbo and McLook) say that the AB’s are vulnerable at this early stage but I 100% agree that Ted’s influence for the Argies helped wonders.
I also think we’re missing Wayne Smith but it’s still early days.
Yes I also thought Messam and Weepu made a difference. Weepu got the ball away from the hotspot (behind the rucks) and was better at keeping the ball alive. He also kicked less.
All Blacks started to play the ball away from the fringes to Cruden sitting deeper/further but with Nonu running with speed onto the ball to create that much needed front foot ball.
Oh yes, I am getting the same feeling namely that the AB are missing Wayne Smit’s hand in the backline.
Good comments. Add one more thing, The Boks ARE very one dimensional. When it is working it works well, but we look quite sterile on brainpower when it is not working.
Great summary on what was wrong with the Springboks and certainly with the tactics. It seems that the coaching is flawed or that the players can’t take instruction. Either way its not going to be easy to fix. I wonder if the coach will react to the poor performance.
I wonder if he’ll take notice of what Pumas did and in particular of how they did it.
The silly mistakes was not Meyer fault in fainress to him. What was his fault was the construction of the loose forward combo and the lacklustre line speed of the team on attack and defence. I don’t know who is the defensive coach but he’s got no clue how to beat the All Blacks and the Wallabies.
I think the biggest problem with the Boks is that neither Heyneke Meyer or Jean de Villiers will admit that there is a problem. You first have to admit you have a problem before you will do something to resolve it – ask Alcoholics Anonymous.
The latest:
Bok-kaptein hou vol span is op regte pad
What else can he really say. He did admit after the game that we should have won the match and that silly mistakes cost us the match.
He is right it will take the team time to start playing like a cohesive unit and that they need time on the park to develop the necessary experience not to make those silly mistakes.
The lack of line speed I thought was the primary problem and that is a coaching and desperatation to win issue.
Admitting those problems is first step towards getting things right. HM also has to admit that he got his selection and basic game strategy wrong.
Spot on with most. Also wrt decision making, wtf was Morne thinking trying to score himself two or three times on the Aussie try line when he had men on his outside who could have? That was just evident of how far Morne is from making the right decisions. He needs to take a break from rugby and Meyer’s structures to find his natural game again. He was never as bad as he is now.
On Duane, yes, an unfair comment. He seemed out of breath after 15 minutes and just telling that you cannot just come back from injury and be expected to perform at 100% at this level. He did win an important penalty near the end though and deserves another few matches before people should make up their minds about him. Next week he plays the best team in the world and I would expect a better performance from him.
Will you start with Goosen against the AB’s?
Remember Gaffie van Heerden in 1999 against the AB. He was never the same after that and it essentially ended his career. So I don’t think they should experiment in the same manner with Goossen.
I would like to see Lambie and Pienaar as the 9/10 combo and bring Goossen on 20 minutes into the 2nd half with Lambie then moving to 15.
“My predominant feeling after the SA/Australia match was that I want to puke. It was one of those matches that the Aussies didn’t won we lost it”.
…and you’d have to give the same assessment to the test match last night. Don’t the Springboks want to win?! Crazy stuff. You can’t piss away 17 points at international level, especially in South Africa vs New Zealand games and expect to win.
Forget all this stuff about “a great All Black team”. This is a poor All Black team, or at least a potentially very good team that plays poorly far too often, but does enough to win ugly. At least we are no longer chokers!
But I’d be frustrated if I was a South African, because that was a test that was there for the talking, but the Boks threw it away. But Saffers should be optimistic, because this All Black team is ripe for the plucking – and if the Boks don’t do it in 3 weeks in Soweto, then Argentina will probably do it the week before in Buenos Aires.
Yes I agree Kimbo, the Boks could have won that one if Steyn’s boot was on song, I don’t know if you’ve heard the latest (Hamish McKay-Radio live show) but Steyn put it down to the actual ball being played which whether it was or not a telling factor is immaterial in my opinion, the fact remains the same ie the Boks could have easily won last nights game.
Like I said or mentioned on another poster/article writer, next year will show just how much our new coaches (AB’s and Boks) fare under new management/coaching staff.
I’m still not convinced that we (AB fan) have the right back coaching staff and we sorely miss the likes of Wayne Smith, the Cheifs won the S15 under back play and our new incumbents in the AB’s are concerning back play (ALL BACKS).
Different game compared with Argy last week where Weepu stood up and Aaron Smith faltered whereas the reverse against the Boks could be said.
“Steyn put it down to the actual ball being played which whether it was or not a telling factor is immaterial in my opinion, the fact remains the same ie the Boks could have easily won last nights game”.
Yeah. The great thing I love about McLook’s blog is that it pus NZ vs SA rugby clashes into a context. Have a browse around on this site, and you’ll soon find there is nothing new under the sun. The test last night reminded me of two previous encounters between these two great rivals: -
First test 1976, thrown away by the All Blacks because they didn’t take their chances, whereas South Africa, with a great captain Morne du Plessis (and Richie McCaw is now a great captain, fit to compare with the best in All Black or Springbok history) cleverly directing his team to snatch whatever crumbs fell their way. The All Black kickers in 1976 threw away bucket loads of points, and complained about the type of balls they had to use. A good tradesmen never blames his tools…
The other game this was like was the game in Wellington in 1998. Carlos Spencer, who was in because John Hart (unfairly IMHO) blamed Andrew Mehrtens for the loss to Oz in Melbourne in the game before, butchered 5 penalty kicks with the wind behind him tin the 1st half. Nick Mallett had talked up Spencer all week, “he’s a really dangerous player”, but afterwards was grinning from era to ear. Spencer with his unsound play behind the gain line, and unreliable goal kicking was the first five eighth the Boks wanted in the All Blacks. As much as it pains me to see a Ponsonby player do poorly, Spencer was rightly substituted at half time, but it was too late. The Boks used the wind well in the second half, and then with a few minutes to go, executed the coup de grâce (pretty much how we did last night), by bringing Pieter Roussouw in off the blind side wing as the extra man. All throughout that first half I remember shaking my head and saying, “you can’t miss points against these guys and expect to get away with it”. Last night, for one of the few occasions in my memory, the boot was on the other foot.
I agree with you re the All Blacks medium term development. Grant Fox seems to be the guy who is the analysis/ideas man in the panel to replace Smith. The problem is Foxy, for all his undoubted rugby knowledge, has never coached long enough at a high enough level (Super XV – I think he had one season) , and even then it was only as part of a coaching team. If you are the ideas man, you have to have a data-base of hard-won experience, soling problems, and learning by trial and error. And Foster, other than making one Super XV final, never had any success after many years at the Chiefs. He goes, Smith comes in, next minute they win a title. Sure Foster left some sort of foundation, but the statistic is damning.
It’s not that I want the All Blacks to lose, and at the moment, because they are sneaking by, everything seems fine. But you are dead right. Once the template that Henry, Smith, and Hansen collectively set and maintained needing updating, because nothing in international rugby is ever static, then the cracks will appear. And dozens of journalists, and hundreds of talk-back radio rugby callers will be running with the narrative I’ve just outlined above. THEN we will see how good our current coaching and selection panel is. With talented and proven coaches like Dave Rennie, Mark Hammett, and Jamie Joseph (all with proven records of improving teams) in the system, the current panel may soon begin to feel the heat…