How the Boks have regressed
The use of Pat Lambie as a substitute shows exactly why South Africa doesn’t produce many flyhalves, rugby365.com columnist Grant Ball writes.
The manner of the Bok defeat was even more worrying than the loss itself, to a lowly Scotland side.
Despite all their claims that they wouldn’t be, the Boks looked complacent, and it was only until the final quarter when panic set in that any urgency was seen. But without the structure to break down the Scottish defence, they couldn’t use their third get out of jail card in as many weeks.
A concern was the floundering line-out. We had our first-choice hooker, best locks, line-out loose forwards in Juan Smith and Ryan Kankowski, but still lost three set-pieces at vital times. Even the only Bok try of the day through Willem Alberts came via a Bok mistake at the line-out and wasn’t constructed.
That shows just how little imagination the Boks have showed on attack, which has been a lingering problem under this regime. On appointment, Peter de Villiers talked up the way the Boks would play under him, but they’ve regressed in many aspects, especially offensively.
The number of one-off runners such as Victor Matfield and Deon Stegmann in between the scrumhalf and flyhalf showed just how uncreative they are. On occasions, even No.9 François Hougaard was used as a one-off runner from the back off a line-out maul, with a forward feeding him first. The halfbacks should be the ones making the decisions, not forwards.
Pat Lambie was thrown on to win the game for the Boks, but again it was a move made more in hope rather one with any conviction or plan (and one that shouldn’t have been made as the Boks required a goal-kicker in Steyn). Even when Lambie came on, he didn’t receive much ball, and still had forwards in his way between himself and the reserve scrumhalf, Ruan Pienaar.
It’s perplexing why the Boks use so many one-off runners, when every international side in the world tries to attack off their 9 and 10. But we don’t do it. The South African provincial sides do the same and attack off their halfbacks, but when it comes to playing under the current Bok coaching staff, there isn’t enough structure and planning for the side to play that way.
The way Lambie was used as a substitute shows exactly why South Africa doesn’t produce many flyhalves. Some will say the Boks couldn’t use the ball in that weather, but in those conditions, you want the flyhalf to get the ball as often as possible to take control and make decisions.
The Boks’ one-dimensional game is also a reason why they get such slow ball from the breakdowns. Without dummy runners and options for the halfbacks, the Boks’ predictable approach is easy to defend, which allows the opposition to make the tackle and slow down ball, then re-align their defence.
Again the Boks’ defence was worrying. Scotland are a poor attacking unit, but just like Wales and Ireland in the past fortnight, they looked dangerous and forced line-breaks. Even reserve loose forward Richie Vernon broke the line on one occasion and ran 50 metres.
If the Boks produce a similar display against England, they’ll get smashed back in contact and will again be exposed in defence.
De Villiers’s after-match comment that the Boks lost to a better side on the day is also frightening. Not one individual from the Scottish side would come close to the Bok XV, but they looked a better coached unit. The manner in which the All Blacks beat Scotland and a week later the Boks couldn’t deal with the Scots highlights just how far the world champions have regressed under De Villiers.
Grant Ball writes for RugbyXV
