Will Boks bounce back?

Obvious question has to be whether or not the Boks can bounce back after the recent loss to the All Blacks at Newlands.

It is obviously a big ask after having the stuffing kicked out of you in front of the home ground and even more difficult when you've been whipped in areas you thought you should be strong.

Lets try and make an assessment:

- Both kickers couldn't hit target and the third New Zealand try was a gift and wouldn't normally have been on offer anyway
- Habana skimmed the line when he danced over for the disallowed Bok try
- Passes that went to hand for the All Blacks didn't stick for us...

Shit happens and we were poor at that last pass.

That doesn't mean we were not competitive.

We had a couple of nice line breaks and we had them working hard to defend. But the openness of the game plan played right into their hands.

Devilliers needs to stay cool, calm and collected now. Wholesale changes are going to create uncertainty.

Instead he needs to keep the nucleus of his squad together and he has to impress on Butch James that he needs to dictate the pace of the next game.

If James gets hard and clever and he can get the backline moving then we've got a game on.

I think the PACE of the next game is going to be important. We can't play at the pace the opposition want us to compete at. Instead we need to define when we attack and when we defend - if we keep hurtling around at a mad tempo and playing end to end kind of rugby, we move away from our strengths.

Don't despair Bok fans, I reckon we're bouncing back.

Statistics and Dan Carter

Statistics are an interesting thing to look at when trying to understand how a team played and how a particular individual is doing in a position.

Today an interesting statistic popped up relating to Dan Carter's performance against the Springboks.

Basically the All Blacks were leading South Africa 5-0 about 58 minutes into the game and it could still have gone either way.

Carters statistics at the time read:

Balls Passed - 10
Balls Kicked - 14
Tackles made - 2
Defenders beaten - 0

Statistics tell you 2 things - the Boks weren't prepared to run at the Carter channel and Carter wasn't going to mix it up with the Bok defenders by trying to take them on.

Instead he was quite happy to mix it up by spreading it wide and kicking tactically into the corners. (Which he did like a machine).

The first time Carter beat a defender was when he straightened the line and scored the second All Black try.

Instead of trying to take the defenders on, Carter was quite happy to let the line do the work while he marshalled the troops and controlled the pace. I agree completely that Butch James is a type of flyhalf but the problem is that where Carter seems to be able to decide the game he is planning to play, James seems to be one dimensional in what he is going to work. When it comes off, it looks great, but when it doesn't he can't seem to get his backline going forward.

I don't believe its an issue that James can't play a dynamic game, I just don't think he is being given the responsibility of dictating the pace in the backline.

Its almost like the backline kicking game for the Boks comes from whoever is playing scrum half and the creativity is expected to come from Jean De Villiers as the outside centre.

That means positions 9 and 13 are dictating how the game is going to be played... Doesn't sound right.

Will be interesting to see how the Bok coach responds over the next 2 fixtures against the Australians...

Thugby

Headline story of a major South Africa news site this morning is that a 16 year boy is in a coma after spectators and players in a school rugby game became embroiled in a punch up. I looked to the box that said “Related stories” and the number of such incidences in the last few years is downright stupid.

It really just baffles me that parents are so keen to get into punch ups in front of (or with) their kids, just to support a school rugby match.

But then maybe its not that baffling – I’ve been to a couple of games for kids in the 12 – 16 year old age groups and you listen to how the parents egg their kids on to get physical and tackle or ruck harder and you just wonder what the hell goes through their heads?

What happens when its your kid lying on the wrong side of the ruck through no real fault of his own or when you kid suddenly finds himself playing against a 16 year old whose on muscle enhancers and weighs in at around 100kgs?

If parents can’t control themselves, then maybe they need to be ejected from games BEFORE things get stupid.

I’m all for a little argy bargy, chirp chirp, push shove to give a little bit of an edge to a game. I don’t think there is anything wrong with it in cricket, rugby or hockey and it is part of winning and losing games.

But that’s between players, NOT coaches or parents or supporters.

If parents aren’t going to behave at sports games then they mustn’t be involved. I don’t see how, in any civilized society, parents should be trading punches with kids in rugby games and why 16 year old kids should be losing teeth and being put into comas after going out to play a game of school rugby.

The Captains Table

The Captain's Table was conceptualised to raise funds for club rugby, to bring the legends of the game back to their roots and to remind the rugby world that club rugby still is the very heartbeat of the sport.

There is a firm belief that SA Rugby has suffered immeasurably and taken a few steps backwards because we have overlooked the clubs in the bigger picture of the game.

Certainly, the great traditions of the club game have somehow been lost in the modern game and these stories of the bygone era have to be told to the new generations.

For more information click here.

Snappy service - Scrumhalf

Yesterday when the Springboks took on Argentina, the value of snappy service from Scrumhalf to Flyhalf was proven.

Ricky Januarie started the game at Scrumhalf with Butch James at flyhalf. Now Butch James isn't the smallest guy around and the defence around the fringes / flyhalf for the Argentinians is probably not as intimidating as say they All Blacks or the Australians.

Yet South Africa battled to break this first channel repeatedly and the first try (that came through this gap) was a fluffed pass from Januarie that Jean Devilliers recovered and went through.

The problem was the slow service from Januarie meant that James was taking it static and the flyhalf was then being swamped or play was "crabbing" sideways across the field.

When Fourie Du Preez came on, the game changed. James was getting snappy service before the Argentinians had recovered, he and the centres could then pick their gaps and hit them at speed.
Coach your scrumhalves to understand why they should be snapping the ball out as quickly as possible. Show them the value of hitting the opposition before the backline has fanned out and the half gaps in the first channels are still open while players either commit to the ruck or fall back.

It will make the world of difference to their game play.