The Lions selection snub that the Springboks are 'happy about'
World Cup winner Schalk Brits believes the British and Irish Lions have missed a golden opportunity to boost their chances of a test series triumph over the Springboks by ignoring the inside information England forwards coach Matt Proudfoot could have delivered.
Proudfoot was at the heart of the Springbok success as forwards coach at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan where his pack destroyed England in the final in Yokohama. England head coach Eddie Jones was so impressed he asked Proudfoot to replace Steve Borthwick when the forwards coach took up the director of rugby role at Leicester.
While England’s fifth place finish in the Six Nations counted against Proudfoot, Brits is adamant that with the Springboks having to rely on many of the players who won the World Cup, the Lions have denied themselves vital inside information by assembling a new look coaching team under head coach Warren Gatland made up of Gregor Townsend, Steve Tandy, Robin McBryde and Neil Jenkins.
Gatland has left the door open to add another specialist to his coaching line up but that is likely to be New Zealander Scott Robertson rather than Proudfoot for the eight-match tour. Brits, who played against the Lions for the Barbarians in the lead up to the 2017 tour to New Zealand and famously threw a punch at Saracens teammate Owen Farrell in the game, is more than happy that Proudfoot’s inside knowledge will not be utilized against a Springbok side that has not played a test since the World Cup final.
He told RugbyPass: “Not choosing Matt is a missed opportunity for the Lions by not giving him an assistant coach role for the tour because of his experience with the Boks. We are happy about that and he is still very highly regarded in South African rugby. It was a big task for Matt to take over the scrums and line outs with England and most team’s I was involved in had to coaches for each of those key areas of the team.”
Brits has concerns about the lack of matches for the Springboks leading into the Lions series but takes some comfort from the fact key member of the World Cup-winning squad are involved in Europe’s top leagues rather than being limited to domestic rugby at home. “You need a couple of warm-up test matches to see where you are but now we are going in against one of the top teams in the game who will be hungry to come to South Africa and give the world champions a beating.
“It is not the ideal way of entering into the series but by deciding to keep the tour in South Africa has swung the pendulum in our favour and we have a good record. Most of our key guys are in Europe and the big success of our 2019 World Cup win was the alignment camps that happened well before the tournament and for the first time ever we had lots of time together. Now, we don’t have that time which means there is a bit of the unknown.
“Our European-based players do help us because it is great to have diverse experiences and you need Faf de Klerk playing at Sale Sharks and Handre Pollard with Montpellier while Jesse Kriel is in Japan.”
Springbok head coach Jacques Nienaber, his assistants and the rest of the management staff, have just met with a number of leading players in Johannesburg (Lions and Bulls), Durban (Sharks), Cape Town (Stormers) and Bloemfontein (Cheetahs) during a series of camps.
'Farrell, Itoje and their Saracens teammates might be playing in the second leg of the Championship play-off final the week before the Japan game, so does that mean they might be overlooked in favour of players from the PRO14?
The @AndyGoode10 Column ???https://t.co/mxZdulYuyR
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 16, 2021
World Cup-winning head coach Rassie Erasmus, now Director of Rugby, Dublin-based assistant coach Felix Jones and Andy Edwards, head of athletic performance, joined the sessions online keenly aware the last time the Boks played was the Rugby World Cup Final against England on November 2, 2019 in Japan. Those squad members who are now playing in Japan met Nienaber and his fellow coaches online on Thursday, and next week is the turn of the players based in England and France.
The Lions are planning to go ahead with the July and August tour despite the coronavirus pandemic, but an original schedule consisting of a June warm-up against Japan in Edinburgh and an eight-match tour culminating with three Tests against the world champions could be revised with the possibility of creating two bubbles – one in Cape Town and the other in Johannesburg while the touring party are building up to games in those areas.
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to comments