Springbok backs remain the major worry

sport365 columnist and former Springbok centre Robbie Fleck looks back at the Springboks’ 17-25 loss to the Wallabies, with the under-par Bok backs coming under his microscope – again – ahead of this weekend’s All Blacks clash!

Well, I very nearly got my prediction right, didn’t I? After the first 16 minutes, with the Springboks leading 17-0 they obviously had a real chance – but as soon as the Wallabies started getting their hands on the ball you just sensed that they would do it.

And do it they did – in fact, I think they could easily have won by a few more points in the end…

The Boks started off well, typically passionate and they took their try-scoring chances well; Wikus’s try came from a good build-up and Breyton’s intercept was against the run of play. The Wallabies were obviously still thinking about their win over the All Blacks, but once they settled, they took their time and held onto the ball brilliantly.

To be frank, no side should lose a Test match from 17-0 up – even if the Boks were playing a ‘B-Team’.

For me, the big positive out of the match was Wikus van Heerden’s performance – he was magnicifent. I always knew he was a hard grafter and a good team man, but he booked his place in the World Cup squad and proved that he should be the back-up to Schalk Burger come the World Cup. Not only was his work-rate phenomenal, but he also gives the squad an extra leadership option – both on and off the field.

At hooker, I thought Gary Botha put his hand up, too, recovering well from his disappointing performance at Newlands when John Smit went off injured early on – but all in all, the forwards did well, something we all expected.

The biggest disappointment was Derick Hougaard at fly-half… Here was a guy who had the perfect chance to play himself into the World Cup squad, yet he might just have played his way out in the process.

Hougaard had clearly been instructed to play a 10-man game and use his boot – along with scrum-half Ruan Pienaar – but he did not even do that effectively. Blame the so-called ‘Bulls game’ all you want, but surely he should have been used to playing behind a dominant pack and kicking the corners?

The backline, as a unit, failed to fire. Sure, the gameplan was not an expansive one, but aside from Breyton’s intercept and Waylon Murray’s in-and-out on Matt Giteau early on, there really was not much to discuss in terms of back play.

Again, the question must be asked – what is wrong with South Africa’s backline play? Well, for starters, clearly Allister Coetzee is not up to it as the Bok backline coach and our grass-roots coaching leaves a lot to be desired, too. That, however, is not anything new and something I have touched on before in a previous column.

Individually we have the players in South Africa, but as a unit our backs have been pathetic this year and unable to string together enough phases to test the opposition. Aside from Pienaar, Steyn and Habana’s brilliance against England (boy, how much have they missed Habana?!) – how many tries have actually been created out of a good build-up and flowing backline moves? Not many…

As I mentioned above, the backline was clearly instructed to keep things tight on Saturday, but what a shame that was. With players like Wynand Olivier, Waylon Murray, JP Pietersen and Breyton in the mix, why did they not use them more? When you cramp a player’s normal style and make him keep things tight, it takes away that finesse that a Murray or a Pietersen possesses and it diminishes their quality. If you are going to nullify a player’s strength, why pick him in the first place?

The Boks’ attacking woes aside, an even bigger worry for me last Saturday was the defensive error that led to Mark Gerrard’s try in the 22nd minute – a score that put the Wallabies straight back into it and a try that, believe me, they had been planning during the week. Olivier did not trust his fly-half (Hougaard) enough to make a tackle, he went after Mortlock and that created the space for the inside ball to Gerrard. More worringly, however, is that Hougaard and Olivier spent an entire Super 14 alongside each other; there can be no excuses of combinations not knowing each other.

Whilst still on the topic of backline play; thanks a lot for all your emails over the past few weeks on this topic. I’ve said it before, and I will say it again – sorry if I sound like a broken record this week! – but we just don’t have the coaches in this country. And if we don’t get it right World Cups will continue to elude us; forget quotas or players leaving to play overseas, the lack of backline expertise should be the major concern in our rugby.

Allister Coetzee’s shortcomings aside at the top level, who else is there? I was lucky enough to play under Carel du Plessis at WP, but how much knowledge does he have compared to some of those Aussies and Kiwis out there? I played alongside chaps like Pieter Rossouw and Brendan Venter for WP and the Boks – both have wonderful rugby brains, but, again, can they compare to guys abroad? Can they compare to New Zealanders, Australians or Frenchmen? Heck, even the Irish backs are more constructive than ours.

Watch any New Zealand back – he won’t take the ball up at 100mph, as soon as he is about to take contact he turns on the gas and explodes into a half-gap, either making it through or looking for an off-load to somebody better-placed than him. The Kiwis and Aussies can both see what is happening in front of them, but the Aussies are the most intelligent backline exponents around and very technical. They have about 100 moves they work on, but they use only three in a match and they use those three very well. (The Gerrard try is a case in point.)

What do us South Africans do? Well, we just run and hope – we go wide when we should go short and go short when we should be going wide and when we stand flat we should be deep and stand too deep when we should be flat. The key to attacking is having momentum and how to adapt accordingly when you have it or don’t have it. Physically, South Africans are up there in world rugby, but we rely on that too much, instead of using some guile. When a big centre comes running at you with the ball tucked under his arm, you know he will not pass. No players in SA carry the ball in two hands – except for Peter Grant. That, however, goes back to coaching…

We should not be afraid to get more foreigners involved in our game. We know enough about forward play in this country, there are forward coaches hanging from trees, but no backline coaches. Imagine if we brought an Aussie here, gave him two years and the freedom do whatever he wanted – none of this bull of doing it our way. The difference would be evident immediately – just look at what Todd Louden did in one Super 14 with the Bulls and what Campo achieved at the Sharks, before they, stupidly, let him go. (Somebody at SARU should act quickly and snap him up immediately – imagine what he could achieve at age-group level?!)

I was lucky enough to be coached at schoolboy level by somebody like Basil Bey, who let us play what we saw in front of us from a young age, much like Harry Viljoen, Alan Solomons and Nick Mallett when I played professionally. One or two coaches along the way did try and stifle me, which is hard, as it takes the enjoyment out of the game. If you enjoy yourself out there you tend to back yourself a whole lot more, too.

When Tim Lane first got here in 2001 he opened my eyes even more and I was very lucky to have been coached by him. Unfortunately, not everybody in the team bought into Tim’s visions and theories and he was ushered out of here before he could make a significant difference. Some of my biggest lessons, however, were learnt when I joined Bath – just the simple and most subtle things that made a massive difference and I learnt a lot from Richard Graham, who served under John Connolly as Bath’s ‘skills coach’. Richard wasn’t even a well-known 15s player, in fact, he was a Sevens specialist, but getting a different perspective was huge for somebody like me.

This weekend, against the All Blacks, Jake has missed a trick by not giving Peter Grant a go; he would have got the best out of Olivier (who can attack, if given a proper chance), Murray and his wings and he certainly would not do any worse than Hougaard. For starters, Grant would shore up that 10-12 channel on defence and even if they were to ship 50 points it would be an open game and they would certainly score a few tries and points of their own. Grant made a huge difference when he came on, he took the ball up nicely and spread it, too.

I said last week that it would be tough to bounce back if we didn’t beat the Wallabies and if the All Blacks, who are coming off a loss, are up for it, we could be in for a long night. One thing is for sure, the Boks cannot afford to kick the ball down New Zealand’s throats, like they did against the Wallabies. The Kiwis are masters at running the ball back – Sivivatu and Howlett will punish the Boks if they get ball on a platter like that.

Winning in New Zealand does not happen very often and even though the Boks came close under Jake in 2004 and 2005, the last time SA won there was back in 1998 in Wellington.

I have a distinctly bad feeling about Saturday, but I do hope I am wrong.

Enjoy the Haka – chat next week,
Fleckie

* Fleckie’s ‘Last Word’ will appear weekly on sport365.co.za – and also on rugby365.com and iafrica.com – so log on next week for some more opinions and in-depth analysis from the 31-times capped Springbok centre. Also, feel free to mail Fleckie at sport365@365digital.co.za with any comments or queries you might have.

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