'You'll never, ever, see that again': Ex-Bok coach vows 'primary school' errors won't return
Former Springboks assistant coach Swys de Bruin has offered a passionate but honest review of South Africa’s performance at Mt Smart against the All Blacks.
De Bruin gave a detailed critique of the parts of the Springboks’ DNA that were ‘never there’ in Auckland as ‘primary school errors’ resulted in a disappointing start which allowed the home side to go up 17-0.
He explained that critical parts of the game plan were ‘not typically us’ as he reviewed the opening 20 minute passage.
“We can say 50-50 calls, we can say all these things,” de Bruin said on SuperSport TV‘s Final Whistle show.
“I want to come back to my earlier point, there are a few things that happened that is not typically us.
“We pride ourselves when we kick a ball, we put on the best chase line that you can have. They plan that in the system.”
Will Jordan’s first return came off a quick lineout following the Boks’ first exit kick from Willie le Roux.
The All Black No 14 found just one defender in the chase line, Faf de Klerk, and cut back towards the blind side to rip off a huge gain.
“Here there is a single rabbit chasing, that’s Faf, that’s good. Normally behind him there is a full on line, they shout ‘lines’ and the call is up.
“You space yourselves and don’t let anyone come under attack against you. For the kickers, it is vital that it has to be a pressure kick.
“You don’t just rush like a mad donkey, you make sure your spacing is perfect. Now for me, you’ll never, ever, see that again from a Springbok side, a chase like that.
“You’ll never ever, it’s a scattered line, it’s really primary school stuff.”
Following Jordan’s electric return the All Blacks returned to a shape to play to the openside, running a pod off Beauden Barrett at first reciever.
The typical line speed came from South Africa to pressure the pod and Barrett, but there were mistakes made leading to Shannon Frizell bursting up the middle.
“Now we rush up, that’s typically our defence but there is a dog leg [staggered rush line], normally the middle guy leads it and he’s the head of that spear defence.”
The middle defender, Lood de Jager, was caught behind his outside men, allowing Frizell the space and time to use some footwork to beat him.
“One thing after the other, it’s not us,” de Bruin explained.
“The scrums, the mauls, the pressure on the kick, that’s our DNA. That’s what we stand for and that was never there.”
On the phase before the All Blacks’ second try to Frizell, Beauden Barrett utilised a chip kick in behind which he regathered after an awkward bounce.
De Bruin broke down the sweeper defence system which left ‘way too much’ space due to perhaps a communication issue.
“You will not find the space to chip into, what happened? Let’s have a look,” he said.
“Faf, in that situation there, if he is on the blind, they’ve got a planned sweeper with one of the wingers to cover the chip kick.
“If you look at this one, Faf is stuck on the blind, here comes the kick and that vacuum is way too wide for a typical Springbok side. Way, way, too wide.”
De Bruin went as far to question whether the Boks were intentionally offering the All Blacks the invitation.
“I don’t know if they wanted to show that space, but that’s just not good enough. How can you lose seven field kicks Robbie?
“Every time it went to the rub of the green it went to the All Blacks.
Having neutralised the Springboks line speed by regathering the chip kick, Jordan attacked two props by the ruck to make a half-break before flinging the ball wide where Frizell was stationed on the touchline.
“Again there, terrible defence line, no system, they are chasing shadows. Suddenly the All Blacks look brilliant, and they were,” he said.
“I’m not saying they were not brilliant, but in any fight, I can’t fight with my hands behind my back.”
Comments on RugbyPass
The Harlequins team must be in minus figures. Did the reporter actually watch the game?
2 Go to commentsHow on earth did Walker escape a red card? Not dangerous? Dupont has his face in a mask earlier this season. Shocking decision. What is the point of TMOs? We had the Fassi ‘non-penalty try’ yesterday and now this.
2 Go to commentsCould have been a different result but yet again French tv able to affect the result by not showing the very clear high shot on harlequin centre if this would have been on a French player would have been on screen at least five times
2 Go to commentsAmazing. The losing team’s ratings are higher than the winning team’s. Mallia definitely didn’t deserve a y. What game were you watching? Should have got a w or an x. ADP hardly featured in that second half. At one point I wondered when he’d been subbed. Seems to me as if he gets an automatic 9 just for getting onto the team sheet.
2 Go to commentsI’m sorry. That second half was far from enthralling. It was painful to watch.
2 Go to commentsVery generous! If you’d missed the game, reading this you’d conclude that it was the Quins front row that cost them the game. Marler getting a blanket 6 for his demented contribution to the game. Puzzling.
2 Go to commentsCan’t see Toulouse beating Leinster at this rate.
7 Go to commentsADP was having a very average game until winning that penalty for Toulouse, sticking his big head in the way. “The head of God”?
7 Go to commentsHarlequins doing their best to do as little damage as possible with all the possession. Looks like they skipped catch and pass drills this week.
7 Go to commentsSeeing pictures of Jacques high-fiving it with Irish players breaks my heart. Too soon. I need more time.
1 Go to commentsquins is all over the place. The minute they get the ball they panic. Quins can still win tho just need to win all rucks otherwise just don't bother.
7 Go to commentsGreat wins for the male & female kiwi sides. Ireland not far away..
1 Go to commentsWhy is this dude getting so much coverage? Usually knobs like this get cancelled.
2 Go to commentsWow. What was that? A 3 million word meandering article about what exactly?
2 Go to commentsNice piece of writing. And yes the Sharks pulled a rabbit from the hat and were a little lucky with that penalty try that wasn’t given… however the Sharks (with their resources) should be way more consistent and should be putting teams like Claremont away for breakfast. I expect more from them and hope they kick on now.
8 Go to commentsJust what the Sharks needed to get things going in the right direction Defence on the outside really creates havoc for the whole team and needs to be addressed.
8 Go to commentsWell done guys both teams will be ready to play knockout rugby.
1 Go to commentsSurprised that Ramos isn't starting at 15. But what a squad of galacticos!
2 Go to commentsWhy is it a snub? What journalistic garbage is that? Sure the guy is a great player, but there are plenty of loose forwards and not all of them can be Springboks. Also, I know of no-one who doubts Rassie’s judgment. South Africa has a conveyor belt of loose forwards that just keeps producing, so the competition is intense. I certainly wish him well, but there is no entitlement and there is no snub.
17 Go to commentsSkelton may be brought back for the Wallabies so that would be the only reason that may hinder Wilson. Easily the form, most skilful and game IQ of any Oz 8. Valentini’s best and favourite position is 6, but lineouts may be an issue with Skelton, Valentini and Wilson. Will be interesting what Schmidt goes for but for me Wilson should be picked on form. Schmidt rewards work rate, skill and consistency. All that glitters every so often won’t be in contention. Greely is one of those players that has a knack of making the right decision. A coach is going to love him because he knows week in week out he’s going to get the job done. The second try Greely wasn’t the guy who made the initial break it was Flook, Greely was at the bottom of the ruck when Flook was off along the sideline. Greely got up and made the effort to catch up with play but also read the play nicely and hit the pass from Campbell at pace and then held the pass beautifully to Ryan.
6 Go to comments