Boks defence picking up Irish pointers

 

The Springboks may have only conceded two tries and only faced one true line break against the Irish but it was clear that there were aspects of the game that put the visitors under huge defensive pressure. 

 

The Springboks were overwhelmed at the breakdown on many occasions and Irelands own rush defence disrupted the Bok backline, but most of all it was the tactical kicking of Johnny Sexton that showed up the South Africans.

 

"Their rush defence was enacted quite well," McFarland said.

 

"The reason they were able to use the rush is that they were quiet disruptive at the breakdown

 

"They had numbers on their feet at the breakdown so they were able to do it [rush forward in defence].

 

"There certainly are things that we can take from what they did defensively over here in those conditions."

 

McFarland has said it is important to take the lessons learnt against Ireland forward when they face England, who came very close to toppling the All Blacks.

 

"They kicked, they made sure our ball was slow and they pushed the laws to the limit," the coach added.

 

"We must take some of those lessons and implement them into our defence.

 

"The real thing we need to improve was our positional play when dealing with kicks.

 

"Sexton exposed us a few times in the back field. We need to be more disciplined in certain situations, the kickers here, from Farrell to Sexton all kick at 100 percent so you have to be right on the money in terms of your discipline."

 

McFarland admits that the Springboks can definitely do better but did have some small praise for one or two players.

 

"I think Schalk Burger had a real impact when he came on and I thought Jan Serfontein was pretty solid as well as Handre [Pollard] who was up against a very experienced No.10," he concluded.