Why playmaker change won't make Springboks more attacking against Scotland
After Elton Jantjies was handed the Springboks’ No 10 jersey for Saturday’s clash against Scotland, fans were left wondering if Jacques Nienaber’s side might play a more attacking brand of rugby.
Judging from Jantjies’ comments this week, it seems the Boks won’t deviate too far from what has worked for them recently, but they also want to make better use of their opportunities.
The 31-year-old flyhalf said the Boks will stick to the tried and tested as they aim for their eighth win of the season.
“The way we play works for us as a group – it covers everything and if you look in detail, you’ll see there is still a big emphasis in looking for attacking opportunities as well,” he said.
“When that opportunity arises, we should take it and we should back ourselves to use it because that’s how we as a group want to play.
“Hopefully we will create a few opportunities on Saturday.”
Jantjies said he is happy to be starting the game this weekend – his first since the first test against Argentina in the Rugby Championship in August – but that he is committed to the team’s cause, instead of staking a claim for himself.
“I know it sounds like a cliche, but I’ve always said it – it’s not about me as an individual, but rather about the team,” he said.
“Yes, there is a responsibility on me to lead the boys in terms of certain aspects of our game and execute and align in what we want to achieve and what we’ve been working on as a group.
“We have to focus on playing against Scotland this week and can’t look at the past, because this week will pose a number of different challenges.”
Meanwhile, Gregor Townsend says his Scotland team face their “biggest” challenge against South Africa as they seek to end another hoodoo following landmark wins against France and England earlier this year.
Scotland, who beat Australia 15-13 last week, take on the world champions in Edinburgh on Saturday as they try to end a miserable run of defeats by the Springboks dating back to 2010.
Michael Hooper reckons that, encircled by 80,000 people, Twickenham’s going to feel a lonely place for him and his Wallabies team – and he wouldn’t have it any other way. #ENGvAUS #Wallabies #AutumnNationsSeries https://t.co/pNY2mBqk4o
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 12, 2021
But they already have some form in upsetting the odds this year, beating England at Twickenham for the first time since 1983 in the Six Nations before snatching their first victory in Paris since 1999.
A bullish Townsend said Thursday those results showed Scotland were “up there with the best teams in the world”.
“When they’ve been given the opportunities in the last 12 months to knock over some teams they’ve not beaten for a while, not every time, but on a number of occasions, they’ve done it,” he said.
The Springboks, who beat Wales 23-18 in Cardiff last week, finished third in the recent Rugby Championship, behind New Zealand and Australia.
But Townsend said they were still a major threat, pointing to a victory over the All Blacks and a test series win against the British and Irish Lions earlier this year.
“This is the biggest challenge we’ve had over the last two years,” said Townsend.
“It obviously makes sense when you’re playing the world champions, when you play a team that is very tough to play against and has still managed to produce a win over the All Blacks and two wins over the Lions. Their form is still right up there.”
Townsend said Scotland would have to dig deep to stand a chance of beating South Africa, needing to be accurate and play with “huge physicality”.
“The performance in Paris and England, another one of them, but probably a little bit extra,” said the former Scotland playmaker.
“Then I believe that will get us over the line, but it will take an enormous effort to replicate those performances.”
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— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 13, 2021
Townsend said Scotland had learned how to play in key periods of matches.
“It’s managing the moments when maybe doubt might have crept in in the past, there’s togetherness and belief that we can go and win this,” he added.
“That could be on the back of a very good performance like in Paris, when we were down and we had to win or last week [against Australia] – not such a good performance but still the drive was there to do enough to win.
“So, it’s more about managing the moments where you’ve got a chance to win and you look at your teammate and he looks confident and you go ‘Right, we’re going to go and win this’.”
Players to watch
For Scotland: Novice wing Rufus McLean will win his second Scotland cap on Saturday and he will be a bit of an unknown factor for the Boks. He scored two tries in the win over Tonga last month. In midfield, Matt Scott was rewarded for his form with Leicester and he will partner Chris Harris. Scott is a big ball carrier, and he will be the go-to man to get the team over the advantage line. Meanwhile, flyhalf Finn Russell is one the best attacking flyhalves in the game and he will pose a big challenge to the Springboks’ defence. Nick Haining has been given the No 6 jersey and his big frame and physicality will come in handy against South Africa’s brutes. Hamish Watson, who was the man of the match in the win over the Wallabies, will be a threat off the bench, especially when there are tired bodies around the breakdown.
For South Africa: The spotlight will be on Elton Jantjies who has been given the No.10 jersey ahead of Handre Pollard. Jantjies has performed well off the bench recently and he could bring an extra attacking edge when the Boks are in Scotland’s half. Fans will also keep a close eye on Herschel Jantjies, who had a shaky performance in the No.9 jersey in the win over Wales. Willie le Roux is back in the No.15 jersey and he will have a specific job to do when it comes to the kicking game. Le Roux has received a lot of criticism for some of his performances this year, but he has plenty of experience on the international stage. In the pack, Albertus Smith is someone that can give the Scots plenty of problems. He was a menace at the breakdowns against Wales and he was tough to bring down when he had ball in hand.
Prediction
@rugby365com: South Africa by five points.
Teams
Scotland: 15 Stuart Hogg (Captain), 14 Rufus McLean, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ali Price, 8 Matt Fagerson, 7 Jamie Ritchie, 6 Nick Haining, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Sam Skinner, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Stuart McInally, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Ewan Ashman, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Oli Kebble, 19 Jamie Hodgson, 20 Hamish Watson, 21 George Horne, 22 Adam Hastings, 23 Blair Kinghorn.
South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Jesse Kriel, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Albertus Smith, 6 Siyamthanda Kolisi (captain), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Mbongeni Mbonambi, 1 Retshegofaditswe Nché.
Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Lodewyk de Jager, 20 Jasper Wiese, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Handré Pollard, 23 Frans Steyn.
– rugby365com & AFP
Comments on RugbyPass
An 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!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 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.
24 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.
24 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 commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to comments