Boks suffer from 'tunnel vision'
NOVEMBER SPOTLIGHT: The Springboks will have to be a lot smarter on the field when they face Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday.
The Boks were too predictable for large periods of their 29-26 win against France in Paris last weekend. Their attack was devoid of any creativity and they seemed intent on employing the box kick with varying degrees of success.
The Boks got the balance between kicking and attacking wrong in Paris and they were fortunate to leave Stade de France with a victory.
“We weren’t good with our decision making and that includes me,” Bok coach Rassie Erasmus told reporters in Edinburgh. “It’s not just them [players] on their own, we have been practising whole week together.
“I thought the balance between running and when we are doing the box kick or any kick was [poor] maybe because of pressure and the weather and losing the previous two matches.
“We got a little bit of tunnel vision and we played a little bit within ourselves, so I have got no doubt that it wasn’t spot on.”
Although the Boks showed some grit to snatch victory in the dying moments in Paris, it’s not the situation Erasmus wants his team to be in too often going forward.
“Results sometimes blurs your improvement and I think there was a lot of Test matches this year when we were down and out.
“In this team we do have the belief that we can come back. Even in the England game when we were down, we almost managed to get it back at the end.
“That’s not always the case, sometimes you can lead from the beginning and win, you don’t always have to fight back. It’s encouraging that we can do that, but we shouldn’t always play ourselves into a position like that and then it becomes a trend.
“It’s good to have it, but it shouldn’t be a trend in your team,” Erasmus added.
By Warren Fortune
@FortuneWarren
@rugby365com
The Springboks have released @fafdeklerk to play for his club @SaleSharksRugby this weekend. He will not be considered for the Test against Scotland at Murrayfield.#boksontour #SCOvRSA pic.twitter.com/koao6rMWjU
— South African Rugby (@Springboks) November 12, 2018
