Springboks set to reinforce Japan-led approach to optimum performance
In 2019, ahead of the first World Cup held outside of the traditional rugby nations, Japan took a unique approach to preparing for the showcase competition.
Instead of the Brave Blossoms players turning out week after week for the Sunwolves, Jamie Joseph regularly pulled men out of Super Rugby altogether to train with the national squad.
While the Sunwolves were playing the top teams, the World Cup training squad was competing against Super Rugby development sides. Matches were limited – both in volume and in challenge – but that didn’t bother Joseph. Come the World Cup, the Brave Blossoms were one of the most cohesive and well put-together sides.
Japan’s players were fresh and ready for action and played the likes of Ireland and Scotland off their feet. They also had a clean bill of health, and they achieved a historic quarter-final finish at the competition.
Contrast that with the likes of traditional superpower England.
While Japan were wrapping their players in cotton wool and keeping their playing minutes to a minimum, England supersized their schedule.
In 2019, Japan played just four tests – against Tonga, Fiji, USA and South Africa – in the lead-up to the World Cup.
England played nine.
While England’s top stars – who were expected to peak in November – began their campaign in February with a match against Ireland, Japan’s brightest were playing in the odd Super Rugby match, but mostly sticking to training camps.
Come the end of the year, Japan played nine tests altogether. England played 15 – and it would have been 16 if their World Cup pool match with France hadn’t been cancelled due to the typhoon that hit Japan part-way through the tournament.
It's fine for Tonga to put the Cook Islands to the sword but God forbid a tier-one team is forced to play a tier-two team outside of the World Cup ? https://t.co/EkcrJKf7AJ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) July 25, 2021
It was Japan, however, who overachieved – while England fell short at the final hurdle.
In short, Jamie Joseph and the Brave Blossoms showed that contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to play a lot of tough rugby to prepare for big matches.
Last year, Argentina made a similar statement, finishing second in the Tri-Nations, going undefeated against the Wallabies and recording their first-ever win over the All Blacks.
That was all on the back of minimal preparation throughout the season due to the impact of COVID.
The Jaguares played a handful of games before the world came to a standstill, and Argentina’s top players were put on ice and didn’t play a single professional game until they showed up in Australia hungry to prove that a lack of minutes wouldn’t hold them back.
Now, a similar task is being asked of the Springboks.
While half of the squad plays their club rugby in Europe, the remainder have been limited to dribs and drabs of minutes in the Rainbow Cup and a handful of Currie Cup matches (when Covid hasn’t forced round-wide cancellations).
As a team, the Springboks have played just two games together since their 2019 Rugby World Cup triumph – the rusty first-up clash with Georgia at the start of the month, and their win over the Lions while playing under the guise of South Africa A.
Unsurprisingly, both the Springboks and the Lions looked far from their best in their opening test on Saturday, with the result ultimately boiling down to which team made the fewest unforced errors.
While the Lions have now played a handful of matches as part of their tour, the team they rolled out in their 5-point win over South Africa was almost an entirely new composition to any line-up they’d fielded in the past three weeks. As such, it’s no major surprise the team looked rusty.
“We can certainly salvage this. A proper review is needed, but we can sort it out, no doubt."#CastleLionsSeries #LionsSA2021 https://t.co/PbxCA5U335
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) July 24, 2021
In past tours, the Lions have tended to field a team very close to their top line-up in at least one of their warm-up matches played prior to the first test.
In 2017, the match-day squad they rolled out against the Crusaders on June 10 and the Maori All Blacks on June 17 was, bar a few players, the same as their test team.
They’ve had no such opportunity this year, however, due to players being put into isolation for short burst of time whenever any potential signs of sickness appear.
What we’re left with are two teams that haven’t played a whole lot of rugby together and might lack match cohesiveness. Cohesiveness doesn’t have to just be built on the playing field, however, as Japan showed in 2019 – it can be forged on the training pitch.
The important thing is that both teams should be physically fresh come the second test and with another game and a week of training under their belts, the best is clearly yet to come for this series.
The global pandemic has seen to it that this won’t be the Lions tour that was so eagerly anticipated following the Springboks’ 2019 World Cup triumph, but a lack of game time shouldn’t preclude it from still playing out in an exciting fashion.
Saturday’s game was not easy on the eyes but that will quickly change and, providing South Africa can come back strong in the second test, we still should have a tense series on our hands.
Comments on RugbyPass
Great story. Rugby needs new investment in teams like Brussels another pro league in Europe would be great.
1 Go to commentsAlso, looking at the data from last year, it seemed like by far the two biggest predictors of success were (1) kicking more than your opponents, and (2) having a higher rate of line-out wins than your opponents. I haven’t gone through the stats this year with a fine tooth comb, but the increase in kicks per game and the increase in tries from lineouts would suggest that these two metrics are only getting more important. England’s move away from a kick-heavy game to win against Ireland was seen by some as evidence that running rugby is on the rise. Alternatively it could be taken as evidence that if one team kicks more, and the other team wins more lineouts (as England did) a match is bound to be close to a draw.
2 Go to commentsI have been finding it odd that points per 22 entry has become such a talked about stat, given that your points per entry can be driven down by having more entries. These data would seem to confirm that it isn’t a useful metric, or at any rate is less useful than total entries.
2 Go to commentsI think the last two games England have played is some of their best rugby they have played under Borthwick. There has been a lot more attacking instinct and as a reward have created some well worked tries. Ollie Lawrence is a good foil at 12 as he offers the hard direct lines whilst the rest of the backs can play open. As much as it pains me to say but I do hope England keep playing this way. On a side note my favourite try of the weekend was Lorenzo Pani’s for the nice loop play that put him away and his finish was excellent. Thanks as always Nick.
39 Go to commentsMost exciting player on the planet right now, worth the price of a ticket.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith and Ireland live rent free in Safa’s heads. Their comments only triggers because its true. If the Boks had dismantled a 14 man AB’s, then there would be more respect. But they didnt, in fact quite the opposite, the 14 man NZ were clearly better. And the Bok have always been ordinary between RWC’s, thats why their supporters are now ‘only RWC’s matter’. They know thats BS. Its BS to both AB’s and Bok’s due to their history. But now its all the Safas have. Now we’ll hear excuses when they lose “oh we didnt have all our players available, the ABs/France/Eng/Irel were at full strength”, forgetting for a minute that its because of their own dumb policy. Oh well, makes a change from blaming ‘cheating refs’.
23 Go to commentsNo Nick, they did not, in fact, justify any ‘probables’ label. At no time did they seriously compete for the championship. Ireland led from start to finish and in the end, as a result of glaring referee errors, were never under serious pressure to lose their crown.
39 Go to commentsMoney for him, and his family, has been the sole motivator since he signed for Queensland aged 17. Why else sign for Melbourne. Tupou is poorly advised. If he’d stayed and developed in NZ he would have had a long Test career. If Leinster offer him a few more coins than he’s currently earning, he’s goneburger.
4 Go to commentsFinn. No one would say Ford had played well up until the last game. One standout performance in 5 is hardly in form . It should be a given that a 10 will control play . Not in Fords case be praised for suddenly doing so. Where was he against Scotland ,Italy. The pundits were saying how far away from play he was standing and one even said that the Ireland game was his last chance saloon to perform . Not exactly top form catching anyones eye. If he can play like this game after game then great. Keep him in . But after 90 odd caps we all know he just doesnt keep it going . By all means keep him there but the issue is that Borthwick will persist even when he plays poorly. Which is more often than not. Thats why i am concerned that Smith ,despite fab form , cannot get a game at his preferred spot. Can you imagine Ford at full back .
5 Go to commentsI do not really get why put Ollivon at 6 when he’s a 7, while Cros was the best Frenchman of the tournament, playing at…6. His only game replacing Aldritt at 8 doesn’t change much in terms of his impact. Lamaro was also outstanding in that brilliant Italian side, probably better than Reffell. So putting 2 Welsh players from the wooden spoon holders, and none of the 4th nation (Scotland) is also strange. Is it about showing that in this harsh transition Wales is, there were some standouts…?
6 Go to commentsThe events at this year’s six nations should undermine many of the arguments made against promotion and relegation between the six nations and the REC. If Italy had been allowed to yo-yo between divisions it conceivably could have really hurt their development, but if Italy, Wales, and Scotland are all at risk of relegation, with none of them being relegated more often than once every 3 or 4 years, you’d have to back all of them to muddle on through it, especially when you factor in the likelihood they’ll still be guaranteed world league matches against tier 1 opponents. Another way of looking at italys resurgence would be to say that the development model of adding an extra team to the six nations has worked, and now must be done again. Georgia could join to make it a 7 team round robin, and if and when Georgia demonstrate an ability to consistently win games, Portugal can also be added to make it an 8 team 2 conference competition. Frankly at this point I think it falls to world rugby to demand that the 6N act in the interests of the game. If the 6N won’t commit to expansion then the 6N teams should be handicapped in world cup draws (i.e. world cup seedings would not be based on their ranking points, but on their ranking points minus a 5 point penalty).
6 Go to commentsSteve Borthwick deserves credit for releasing the shackles on his England side and letting them play in a manner that somewhat resembles the top sides in the Gallagher Premiership. Will they revert to type in New Zealand in July.?
39 Go to commentsJames Lowe wouldn't get in any other 6N team. He's a great example of Farrell’s brilliance, and the Irish system. He is slow. His footwork is poor. But he fits perfectly in that Irish system, and has a superb impact. But put him in another team, and he'll look bang average.
6 Go to commentsCrusaders reached their heights through recruitment of North Island players, often leaving those NI teams bereft of key players. Example: Scott Barrett and Sam Whitelock robbed the Canes of their lineout and AB locks. For years the Canes have struggled at lock. This rabid recruitment was iniated by rule changes by a Crusader dominated NZR Head Office. Now this aggressive recruitment has back-fired, going after young inside back Hamilton Boys stars. They now have 4 Chiefs region 10s and not one with the requisite experience at Super level. Problems of their own making!
2 Go to commentsOver rated for a long time…exposed at scrum time too.
4 Go to comments“Firing me” should have been Gatland’s answer.
2 Go to commentsFinn Russell logic: “World” = 4 countries. Ireland may be at or near the top. FR’s bigger concern should be he and his fellow Scots (incl. the Bloemfontein ones) sliding back down to below top 10
42 Go to commentsMind games have begun. Ireland learned their lesson after saying they could beat England with 13 players or whatever. Still, if they win at Loftus, that would be impressive - final frontier etc.
58 Go to comments$950k for a Prop that isn’t fit enough to play 10 mins of rugby? Surely there is someone better to replace Big Mike with
4 Go to commentsFour Kiwis in that backline. A solid statement on the lack of invention, risk-taking and joy in the NH game; game of attrition and head- banging tedium. Longterm medical problems aplenty in the future!
6 Go to comments