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I know a lot of South African rugby supporters still blame Bryce Lawrence for the Springboks’ defeat at the hands of the Wallabies in the 2011 Rugby World Cup quarter-final, but I think they’re delusional.
For starters, Lawrence was a world-class referee and he seemed to be a thoroughly decent rugby man whose career was cut short after 2011 when thousands of indignant and tearful Bok-supporting crybabies launched a disgraceful social media smear campaign against him, along with a few death threats.
After Lawrence (understandably) refused to referee again in South Africa the IRB had no choice but to drop him from their elite panel and his career as a top referee was over. A truly shameful chapter in Springboks rugby.
But Lawrence wasn’t the reason the Springboks lost that game. He may have made a few mistakes and he may have allowed David Pocock to… ahem… push the boundaries of the law. But the real reason the Springboks lost that match had very little to do with the ref.
It has everything to do with the fact that their primary ball receivers in nearly every play in that match were Victor Matfield and Schalk Burger, who happened to be two of the weakest ball carriers in that team.
Just to clarify, I have no problem with a big strong forward (think Mamuka Gorgodze) taking the ball up and setting up the next phase, my problem is when that forward takes on the role of distributor and decision-maker and effectively takes over the flyhalf role.
That is what Burger and Matfield did in that match and I wouldn’t have minded but neither is an effective ball carrier. Matfield often gets knocked back in the tackle while Burger invariably goes down on first contact.
I admire Burger for his courage, his energy and his uncompromising attitude, but his amazing workrate and his ability to win ball are negated by the fact that he is slow and he’s not a very good passer. He couldn’t bust through a roll of stretched out single-ply toilet paper if it was lightly drenched with water.
So, where did we see this same thing happen a Springbok game? Yes, that’s right, it was in arguably the second most shameful and embarrassing episode in Springboks rugby history, just a few weeks ago when we lost to Japan.
On second thoughts, it’s a bit unfair to say it was the exact same thing that happened because the ageing Matfield was a few yards off the pace against the Brave Blossoms and took so much longer than Burger to take up his position just to the left or right of the scrumhalf that it was left up to Burger alone to assume the role of backline general.
Burger did so with his usual awkward passes, ungainly running style and his penchant for collapsing in a heap at even the slightest bit of contact. You’d think we might have learnt.
Thankfully, Burger was a lot more focussed on forward play in the games against Samoa and Scotland but in the last quarter against the USA Eagles he started swanning around in the backline again.
Now I’m as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs because Heynecke Meyer seems blissfully unaware of this glaring weakness in the Springboks setup. I’m waiting for us to be beaten in one of the big games because we persist with using our weakest runner as our primary ball carrier.
PLease Burger (and Matfield), stick to what you’re good at. Leave the backline moves for the backs.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.