The Springboks should be the favourites to retain their Tri-Nations crown this year. Their defence begins at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday.
All Blacks captain Richie McCaw believes this South African side is capable of being beaten and he is completely right.
A few years ago, The Australian released an article previewing the 2006 Tri-Nations series, and featured the weaknesses of each of the three teams. At the time the South Africans were given one simple sentence as to their greatest weakness: “Brains beat brawn.”
However, in the last few years it has become clear that this South African side knows how to exploit the rules and gain full advantage from the ELVs; by looking at this we can see how the Springboks can be beaten.
South Africa is arguably the best side in the world at the line-out. Victor Matfield loves the aerial battle and last year was the thorn in the side of the All Blacks in Hamilton.
How to counter this? Retain possession through multiple phases and do not kick the ball out. A quick, expansive game used by the Queensland Reds as well as patience in attack was able to wear down South Africa’s premier Super 14 side the Bulls earlier this year.
The Springboks are also a very efficient kicking side. They love mid-field bombs and they are able to capitalise on this strength through the use of extremely quick outside backs. To stop this, the back three have to be positioned deep.
The 2005 Test between the All Blacks and the Springboks at Carisbrook also showed another interesting tactic. The Springboks appear to be a little frazzled when they are forced to use their back three to kick the ball out defensively; kicking long to their back three should ensure the Springboks are forced to do this as they are not renowned for counter-attacking rugby.
South Africa are also extremely adept at kick-offs. In their recent victories over New Zealand in both Hamilton and Dunedin, the Springboks forced the All Blacks to clear the ball short from the 22 for low gains. Part of this is because of the ELVs not allowing the ball to be passed back inside the 22 for clearances. Again, possession should be retained instead of kicking it away poorly. It must be remembered that the Springboks are now more than ever accustomed to scoring points in anyway possible way with good field position.
Finally, the Springboks are missing a few players in key positions which helped them win last year’s tournament. Two glaring omissions are halfback Fourie du Preez and flanker Heindrich Brussouw. Without du Preez’s direction and leadership behind the scrum the Springboks might wilt a little under pressure. Brussouw also performed strongly at the breakdown last year, without his presence at the ruck South Africa could be in for a hard time.
Go_the_Wannabe's
Guest
Agree with all your points. Defense is an attacking weapon....or hard tackling/gang tackling/pod tackling etc See point 7. Hammer the opposition at any chance. Kick offs, drop outs, wherever. Loser of the hammering can go home.....a loser. Not enough mongrel in the Wannabe pack to scare my old Great Grandma let alone the Saffer's. Someone else said if you win the rucks and mauls against the Saffer's you're in with a good show to win the game. Fair point.
Go_the_Wannabe's
Guest
Nothing wrong with that, as long as it's not over used.
Go_the_Wannabe's
Guest
Of the 3 nations, the Wannabe's scored the greatest % of their points thru tries. Hoorah. Conversions - Saffer's were surprisingly poor. Penalties - The NZers and Saffers both scored more than half their points thru penalties. Boring. Drop goals - Wannabe's on top. NZer's zero. Who would have thought? My perception IS my reality.
johno
Guest
How to beat the Boks. It's easy. Respect! Respect for all the various phases/ facets of the game. For the AB's it will start with the line out. Show enough respect for the phase and you could win one or two line outs for a change. Don't run the ball from anywhere at the Boks, they like tackling, some of them or should I say most of them like it more than they like running with the ball. Show some respect for them in this facet and you may gain good field position which may lead to something. This would bring you back to the line out again. It's Important, just as important as running and passing and doing all those exciting things that the crowd likes. For Aus it will start with the scrums and end with the break down...and actually getting a pack of forwards as opposed to the current bunch that seem to be drifting around the field pretending to be doing something useful during the match.
johno
Guest
...or because the AB's are all brain dead and kept on trying to run the ball from inside their own in goal. how many AB / Aus tries can be attributed to handling errors? six? seven?
ohtani's jacket
Guest
How many South African tries were scored through the hands as opposed to an intercept or an p opposition handling error? Two? Three?
ohtani's jacket
Guest
Wallaby forwards intentionally going to ground.
el gamba
Guest
Yep. Forwards win games, backs define by how much.
Rusty
Roar Guru
I love a statistical challenge. So here you go. First things first the raw data South Africa: Points 158, tries 10, con 6, pen 28, dk 4 New Zealand: Points 141, tries 9, con 9, pen 26, dk 0 Australia: Points 103, tries 7, con 6, pen 14, dk 4 So looking at percentages of scoring type in relation to overall score Tries: Australia 34% New Zealand: 31.9% South Africa 31.6% So despite the Boks scoring more tries the other teams gathered more of their points in this mechanism Conversions: New Zealand: 12.8% Australia 11.7% South Africa 7.6% This is more for information. What is interesting is the the Bok conversion ratio was only 60%, compared to the Wallabies 85.7% and All Blacks 100% record. This is where things get interesting: Penalties: New Zealand 55.3% South Africa 53.2% Australia 40.8% so in fact the team with the greatest return in relation to overall scoring through penalties was would you believe it - New Zealand. Drop goals: Australia 11.7% South Africa 7.6% New Zealand 0% For a country that villifies the droppie in union they seem to be getting a few points out of it! As usual perception is just that...
Ziggy
Guest
"kicking long to their back three should ensure the Springboks are forced to do this as they are not renowned for counter-attacking rugby. " kicking long to their back three should ensure the Springboks are forced to do this as they are not renowned for counter-attacking rugby." Yet they are constantly criticised for only scoring their tries via counter attacks!!!! They will lose because they will really miss du Preez who is, in my opinion, the greatest scrummie since the war. His absence and taking Nicksa's advice will defeat the Boks. '
Go_the_Wannabe's
Guest
What was their ratio of pentaly/drop goal points compared to points from tries? What was the NZers and Wannabe's ratios. That will tell the story, and the Saffer's may still come out on top cos they were the strongest team last year.
Go_the_Wannabe's
Guest
Define phase play.
sixo_clock
Roar Guru
Yawn!
sixo_clock
Roar Guru
Excellent thinking especially point 1, Aussies hate that passionately, make coaching sessions hard work but fun. Only one thing I would add is the 'assisted run' or mini maul where the forwards act as a 'pod' pushing the ball carrier which breaks the gain line whenever they get a head of steam. England used it effectively. No thoughts on attacking defence? How do we get the ball back? Isolate and overrun the ruck again by acting in pods etc. But these require teamwork with energy and urgency. Things like being very aggressive with loiterers, let the opposition know which is their side and which is ours, push 'em hard - toppling back over the ruck whenever possible! First possession must be run back, if we kick it away it sends a negative message about us that good opposition feed off. The dream continues even amongst us old buggers!
Lee
Guest
Who scored the most tries in last years Tri Nations? I'll give you a clue, it wasn't the Wallabies or All Blacks...
Go_the_Wannabe's
Guest
Yeah, that'll bring the fans back. Kick all the ball away, defend and rely on penalties. You're not a Saffer are you? Cos that's how they win their games - by relying on penalties. What would you rather see? A spectacle with tries being scored regularly or a boreathon penalty kick competion? Make the penalty kick and drop goals worth one point and they will only be good for tie breaking games - that's there true spot in the game - as a way to tie break dead locked games. BRING BACK MORE TRIES!
Mr Saunders
Roar Guru
I think that Rod McQ was the last Australian original thinker, GTW. England had Woodward, who for all his faults revolutionised English Test rugby. I also think Henry is a very original thinker, and he's achieved everything bar the WC. I think that there are lots of original thinkers, but without the players.
nicksa
Guest
imo if u wanna beat the boks u have to beat them at the ruck. France and aus did this in their last 2 wins against south africa.
nicksa
Guest
i completly disagree with this. Winning rugby is good rugby.
Red Rooster
Guest
That rules out Quade, Gits, Mitchell , O'Conner and Kurtley from being selected. Stacking the team with defenders not attackers will bring the fans back I seem to remember the Wallabies played this way last season and they won 1 from 6 - good idea lets do the same again???