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South African head coach Peter de Villiers speaks during a media conference at the Sun Square Hotel, Johannesburg, South Africa, Thursday July 2, 2009 ahead of Saturday's final test against the British Lions. AP Photo
Last week, before the Wallabies set off to play their Test against the Springboks at Cape Town, I talked to Robbie Deans about the prospects of his team, their possible tactics (although he was cagey on this) and how tough it is to beat a very good Springboks side in South Africa.
It was a chat rather than an interview.
At one point in the conversion I said, rather ingratiatingly: “At least you have an advantage in the fact that the Springboks coach, Peter de Villiers, is a pretty flaky fellow.”
Deans looked at me in his characteristic uncompromising, New Zealand farmer’s stare, and replied: “Don’t doubt for a a second that the Springboks are a very well coached team.”
Thinking about this, especially after the report a day or so ago that de Villiers had launched a rant about how the Wallabies ‘cheat’ in trying to milk scrum penalties and protect their own scrum, I realised that Deans had made a valid and interesting point.
We are inclined (and I include myself among the guilty party of rugby writers in this) to dismiss the rants of de Villiers as a template of the sort of preparation invested in the Springboks before their Tests.
Of course, most of what de Villiers has to say, especially the bewildering references to the Bible, makes no sense in the ordinary run of things. But there is, I am beginning to realise, some method in this madness.
Take the example of his rant about the Wallabies scrum.
The Wallaby lineout is probably going to be more effective against the Springboks than the All Blacks lineout was. So de Villiers and the other coaches have identified the Wallaby scrum as the weak link in the team’s systems.
Craig Joubert, the South African referee at Eden Park in the first Tri-Nations Test, hammered the Wallabies with penalties at scrum time.
de Villiers is clearly trying to influence Saturday night’s referee, Alain Rolland.
Rolland officiated at Marseille in the Australia-England quarter-final in the 2007 RWC. In The Australian, the rugby writer Wayne Smith pointed out that while Rolland gave the Wallabies the first two scrum penalties in that match before penalising them repeatedly, he also allowed the early scrums to be reset about eight times.
According to Smith, this tired the Wallaby pack so severely they did not have the energy to hit the rucks and mauls with any authority.
The Springbok fullback Francois Steynhas correctly made the admission about the victory over the All Blacks: “It was a great result, but we didn’t do anything … we just kicked the ball, chased and they made mistakes.”
Steyn suggests that the Springboks will try to play more rugby on Saturday than they did last week.
I don’t believe this.
Whenever the Springboks have tried to play rugby they’ve come unstuck.
Last year, for instance, the Wallabies won 27-15 at Durban, their second victory only in South Africa in the Tri-Nations tournament. The Springboks had tried to play clever rugby and were undone.
The side then took over the coaching itself, apparently, and went back to the smash-and-grab game they play to effectively. Tthey targeted Timana Tahu and the Wallabies were destroyed 53-8.
This is one of the great Springboks sides. But it is beatable, even in South Africa as the All Blacks and Wallabies proved last year and the British and Irish Lions did this year.
The Wallabies have had a long time to plan the undoing of the Springboks.
The coach seems to have a shrewd insight into how smart the Springboks are in preparing for their Tests. It will be intriguing to see on Saturday night if the Wallabies come up with the game plan and the execution to achieve a victory the bookmakers, at least, believe is a virtual impossibility.
The Wallabies need to forget what current rant de Villiers is on and concentrate on the clever, if predictable, tactics his team will employ on Saturday night.