Springboks must improve tactics or they'll lose to England
South Africa booked their place in the 2019 Rugby World Cup final against England with an attritional win over Wales on Sunday, but it was a performance that has garnered mixed reactions.
The Springboks got over the line 19-16, in the end, thanks to a late penalty from Handré Pollard, but it was a game that could have gone either way. The match was dominated by kicks from hand, with 73 in total between the two teams, as neither side played with a lot of ambition in attack.
South Africa’s game is largely built upon kicking for territory and playing the game in the opposition’s half. A powerful pack and solid defence will then manage to eke out penalties, which was the case in Yokohama. They can play in other ways, but that was their tactic against Wales on Sunday.
Head coach Rassie Erasmus will not change his approach before the final of the RWC, and has even said that the RWC will not be won by a “very expansive gameplan and wonderful tries.” In spite of that, fans on social media do feel that the Springboks must sharpen their game if they are to overcome England on Saturday.
It would be unfair to say that Faf de Klerk’s kicking was poor in the semi-final, as he was able to find space or put Wales under pressure on occasions. But that is inevitable when he made 19 kicks himself in the game.
There were equally kicks that were not as dangerous. Ironically, some of the scrumhalf’s poorest kicks went in his team’s favour as they were so short that Wales’ players in the backfield were too deep, and therefore struggled to claim kicks that barely went 10 metres. He cannot expect to be as fortuitous against England.
Even in attack, the Springboks often looked to grubber kicks from Pollard, Damian de Allende or Willie le Roux as a way of breaching Wales’ defence. It was only when they had a penalty advantage in the second-half that de Allende opted to make a charge on his own towards the line in the wider channels, and was rewarded with a try.
"Did you catch the Wales game Fordy? Yeah, neither did the Boks" #ENGvRSA #RWC2019 #RSAvENG #RWCFinal pic.twitter.com/rY4HuFJ7RC
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 28, 2019
While there are those on social media that are demanding South Africa to kick less, many others are simply calling for an improvement. The frenzied speight of charge downs in the second-half was a microcosm of the entire match in Yokohama, as both teams engaged in a kicking war with varying degrees of success.
Although Wales were sucked into that approach, they grew from strength to strength as the game went on, as the Springboks continued to spill the ball in the backfield. If they are to engage in such a game against England, an improvement is a necessity.
This is what has been said:
https://twitter.com/EkilErif/status/1188413175324168195?s=20
https://twitter.com/sharkk95/status/1188411034517852161?s=20
https://twitter.com/WihannK/status/1188484541163421696?s=20
https://twitter.com/_Fire_Rabbit_/status/1188492649889751040?s=20
https://twitter.com/stevehughlee/status/1188425777785778177?s=20
https://twitter.com/kellan_nkundla/status/1188432629860843521?s=20
https://twitter.com/Rooikat2u/status/1188499982820827142?s=20
We urgently need to replace Willie Le Roux and Faf de Klerk!
Why do we have a player like Kobus Reinach but he does'nt play?
When he did, scored 3 tries in record time!
He will increase the flow of the game with better service behind the forwards!
Not to mention,less poor kicks!— JHP BREEDT (@JHPBREEDT) October 27, 2019
It was this tactic that was the downfall of the Springboks against the All Blacks in the pool stages at the beginning of the RWC, as they failed to put Steve Hansen’s side under any pressure under the high ball.
They have improved as the tournament has progressed, but would have been rueing such an approach had Wales managed to sneak a win against them, which was a possibility.
Comments on RugbyPass
Je 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
1 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 Crusades , you can keep going.
1 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!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 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.
25 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
25 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to comments