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The Nienaber reaction to Steve Hansen's 'Boring Boks' accusation
Springboks boss Jacques Nienaber has given his reaction to the latest criticism of his team’s style of play, ex-All Blacks coach Steve Hansen using a radio show appearance over the weekend in New Zealand to unload on the standard of rugby played by South Africa and the Lions in their recent three-match Test series.
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The Springboks bounced back to win the series 2-1 after losing the opening Test on July 24, but the spectacle was far from pretty and the lack of entertainment was widely criticised in the aftermath. Hansen has now joined this lengthy queue of Springboks critics by attacking the approach of Nienaber and Lions boss Warren Gatland in the series.
“You have got two big packs and two coaches who don’t have any belief in what is going to happen if they throw the ball around, so they just beat each other up,” alleged Hansen. “‘Let’s slow the ball down, let’s get off our feet, do whatever we can to make sure our defensive line is stable so we can keep battering’.
“It’s not a game that anybody wants to watch. Yes, we want a good physical contest, that is what the game is about – physicality, speed, using the ball and skill. Could you say we saw that in that series? Of course we didn’t and it turned a lot of people off.”
With the Springboks having emerged from their recent 23-hour in-room isolation in rude health following the cancellation of their planned Monday training session in Queensland, Nienaber fronted a virtually held media session on Tuesday on how his squad have been settling in since flying to Australia last Thursday from Cape Town on a charter flight shared with Argentina.
TRUTH ALERT[?]: ‘Let’s slow the ball down, let’s get off our feet, do whatever we can to make sure our defensive line is stable so we can keep battering’.https://t.co/bhX2Ytl4KZ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 29, 2021
Both teams are now quarantining in the same shared facility ahead of their next Rugby Championship matches on the Gold Coast on September 12 and aside from being quizzed on what that settling-in period has been like, Nienaber was also asked about the negative Hansen reflection on the style of Springboks play and whether he is getting tired of comments like this. “Yes,” he said. “To be honest, I didn’t see the comment. With everything that has happened to us and the quarantine stuff and us doing our review and having our goal for this week and what we have to produce as a team, I didn’t see Steve’s comments.
“But for me on playing styles, as I have said in the past, each team has its own squad, has its own skill set and will have its own unique athletic ability and DNA and they will play towards what strengths their DNA. That is the beauty of rugby. It’s the different styles and different ways to win Test matches. You play what you see in front of you and then you have to adapt to that.
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“In 2019, I don’t want to go back to that continuously but in the quarter-finals, we played one of the most exciting, most attacking teams in Japan. Then in the semi-final, we had to adapt and change our way of playing to play against Wales and it was pretty much this massive arm wrestle. Then we played England which was probably a good blend between the two, between Japan and Wales.
“They had a good kicking game, a good defence system, put you under pressure in various ways. Not that the others don’t do it but, as I say, each team has got its own DNA and your ability to adapt to that and also play to your strengths and your DNA, pretty much every team in the world is going to do that.”
Nienaber was speaking from Australia at a media conference he shared with the fit-again Duane Vermeulen, the 2019 World Cup final man of the match who hasn’t played since for his country as he was left requiring ankle surgery following a June injury while playing for the Bulls in the lead-up to the Springboks’ July Test match resumption after a 20-month layoff between fixtures due to the pandemic.
Both South Africans sounded delighted to be on the ground in Australia preparing for the Springboks’ four remaining Rugby Championship matches, two games each against the Wallabies and the All Blacks. However, neither were willing to take any questions at the session regarding the upcoming misconduct case featuring Rassie Erasmus and SA Rugby.
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Director of rugby Erasmus fell foul of World Rugby during the Lions series with his trenchant criticism of the match officials and while his actions remain a major talking point for rugby fans around the world, the hot topic was off-limits at the Springboks press conference, media manager Rayaan Adriaanse explaining at the start of the briefing that no questions on Erasmus, who hasn’t travelled to Australia, were welcome.
"We clean our own rooms… nobody is allowed to enter our red zone"
– Both the Springboks and the Pumas were looking to hit the ground running this week in Australia but Monday training was cancelled at their shared Rugby Championship facility https://t.co/HXfb601f7p
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 31, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
Big 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
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 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 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.
30 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 comments