Ben Youngs reveals the tactical tweak that might have seen England beat the Boks
Though South Africa had their share of tough matches on their way to winning the World Cup, winning all three knockout contests by a solitary point, they looked to be in the most perilous position against England in the semi-final.
While Jacques Nienaber’s side led from the third minute onwards in the final against the All Blacks, they only led for the final two minutes against England the week before in a match in which they were trailing 15-6 in the final quarter. In fact it was only in the final ten minutes that they gained any kind of ascendency at the Stade de France following RG Snyman’s try on 69 minutes.
That was obviously the crucial phase of the match though, and it has left England ruing where they went wrong and what they could have done differently.
One area the Boks were comfortably dominating in the final quarter was the scrum, which was nothing short of a penalty machine through Ox Nche and Vincent Koch come the end of the match. England faced more scrums than they would have wanted in that phase of the match, and scrum-half Ben Youngs recently voiced the side’s regret that they were not able to tweak their tactics to lower the number of scrums, or at least change where they were taking place on the field.
Youngs, who recently retired from Test rugby as England’s most capped player, was not part of the matchday squad against the Springboks, but explained recently on The Rugby Pod how Steve Borthwick’s side were not able to execute the required tactical change.
“So the South Africa game I really thought, with ten minutes to go until RG Snyman scored, I really thought we’re going to do this, we’re exactly where we need to be,” the 127-cap England international said.
“But when he scored, you’re thinking ‘right, all the momentum is with South Africa, we don’t want set pieces.’ I think tactically up to that point we had been brilliant in terms of going to contestable kicks. But we had to change. We should have gone to kick it long, stay away from contests, because as soon as you go to contests it only takes one knock-on- scrum. Boot it as long as you can, let them mark it, that’s fine, they can have a scrum pen in their own 22. But as soon as we started going to contestables on the half way, landing it on half way, that is when the message was coming on but we weren’t able to adapt. That was the bit where if we just made that little change, maybe… maybe. I’m not saying we would have done it, they are a phenomenal team.
“It was a tough one to take that one.”
The final few minutes of the match played out exactly how England would not have wanted it to, with Handre Pollard kicking a penalty from half way following a scrum penalty. That scrum came from a knock on by Freddie Steward (maybe the only mistake he make in a sensational performance) while chasing a short kick. Had the kick gone longer, the result may have been different.
Comments on RugbyPass
What a sad way to end a glittering career. Somebody should tell him to delete his social media accounts and face the consequences of what he's done. Then he should slip away quietly into obscurity. This isn't likely to happen, something tells me he'll be back in The Sun / Daily Mail sooner rather than later.
2 Go to commentsguys its fine! he understands why he did what he did and has taken accountability for it; why should he have to be accountable to a court? after all he did was abuse people in person - its not as if he was engaging in _online_ abuse!
2 Go to commentsChiefs flanker Kaylum Boshier yellow-carded for collapsing the scrum as it rolled towards the line. It was a maul….
1 Go to commentsyou know, i’m a leinster fan so I want Northampton to lose and it is gonna be tuff with Cortney lawes, Alex michell and the other guys🏉 lets go leinster🏉
1 Go to commentsWelcome to the Pro ranks. Those hard teams of old do hit the sole better though. its a dog fight at the top.
6 Go to commentsCan someone fill me in please, I've read a number of Ben Smith articles now and it seems he's got something again South Africa? Surely, this game was over and done with 7 months ago. Can't we have something a bit more interesting and relevant, or is this the calibre of journalist on this site?
228 Go to commentsNot sure what the Welsh are moaning about. They’ve had far more players off England, than England have had off Wales. Guys like Josh Hathaway and Kane James will play for Wales in the end. And they’ll be fsr better players for having played in the Gallagher Premiership, than they ever would have been had they stayed mired in the shambles that is Welsh rugby.
3 Go to commentsThis is all being blown totally out of proportion. First of all, since half the Irish team isn’t Irish - it’s very likely that none of the Irish players said that at all and, thus, we’re not being arrogant. Second, since half the Irish team is Kiwi - it’s very likely the Kiwi players were predicting a NZ SA World Cup final. Which they got spot on. Good on them!
163 Go to commentsAha. An Irishman with logic! Follow the flow: - Ireland peaks with a >80% win record between 2020 and 2023. And then… - crashes out of another QF at the WC; - Beat a poor French Team; - Beat 6N wooden spoonists Italy; - Play shite against eventual wooden spoonists Wales; - Lose against the most boring, “the worst English team ever” , a team widely regarded as unable to attack; - scrape through against Scotland. This article, No - Trimble, is on the money! Except for one glaring statement: _The Springboks have a few aces in the hole in this debate being the reigning world champions and official world number ones_ There is no debate, boys and girls. There it is. In black and white. “Reigning World Champions and OFFICIAL world number ones”. Come July, the overrated Andy Farrell and this overhyped team are going to enter into a world of hurt.
86 Go to commentsI’d like to know what homoerotic events Daniel enjoyed at 8th man. I clearly missed out!
19 Go to commentsThis article is missing some detail, like some actual context or info about what led to him abusing the ref.
2 Go to comments*They used to say that football is a gentleman sport watched by hooligans and rugby is a hooligan sport watched by gentlemen. How times have changed.*
3 Go to commentsexcept ot wasnt late wasnt late at all so dont know why you all saying its late he commits early and its your fault fir not paying attention
30 Go to commentsNot sure the Bulls need another average utility back in their ranks. Chamberlain has been ok for the Sharks but is by no means an X-Factor player. Bulls bought several utility backs which they barely use. A typical example would be Henry Immelman who plays mostly Fullback. The Bulls however have rarely played him this year and he has played wing or centre. Bulls want to build depth but seems like they have too many surplus players
1 Go to commentsABs lost against a side playing without a hooker - The guy playing, had one shoulder. Line outs were a gimme for the ABs, and the last 8 minutes 14 played 14 against a team that had been smashed 3 weeks in a row… Yet with all that possession, with all that territory, with all the advantages they actually had, especially in the last 8 minutes, they couldn’t buy a point. Those last 8 minutes determined if they outplayed the Boks or not. History will show that the Boks completely outplayed the ABs, especially in those last 8 minutes, the business end of any rugby match
228 Go to commentsWould’ve, could’ve, should’ve, didn’t.
228 Go to commentsKok will become a fan favourite
1 Go to commentsI am really looking forward to Leigh Halfpenny playing his first Super rugby game for the Crusaders Playing a long side his former Welsh and Scarlets team mate Johnny McNicoll.Johnny has been playing great, back in a Crusaders jersey.The attack has strengthened big time. Also looking forward to David Havili at 10. David is a class act, it also allows Dallas McLeod to remain at 12. A good thing.
1 Go to commentsIf he had stopped insisting on playing in the backrow, instead of wing, where everyone told him he should, he would have been a Bok years ago….
11 Go to comments‘Salads don’t win scrums’ 😂 I love that.
19 Go to comments