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During the course of Springbok rugby history there has been a constant recurring blemish called inconsistency. Going hand in hand with inconsistency is our good old friend, progress, or rather lack thereof.
Always accompanying these two familiar faces is an angry Springbok fan. My fellow South Africans will know what I’m talking about.
It has been our curse to watch our beloved Springbok team fall into the bowels of mediocrity for years on end, refusing to follow the path of evolution. Entrusted with the imponderable conundrum of Springbok rugby and its intricate design is Heyneke Meyer, a good coach, a good leader and a great man.
Unfortunately, he is a man of the past. He believes in his game plan, he believes in his tried and tested players and he believes in his philosophy. By all means that is good for him, you can never trust a coach who doesn’t believe in what he’s doing. Meyer has his standards and his vision for the Boks and that is his right.
But when Meyer can’t see that this team needs progress then I start to doubt his abilities as a coach.
Forget the dubious calls from the officials in Perth, that’s just the way these things go. Rather ask yourself, did we really deserve to win? Some will say yes we some will say no. I believe we did but not convincingly so. We did dominate the scoreboard for most of the match, we did dominate the set phases and we did possess Duane Vermeulen.
It took a yellow card to down us in the end and it did take a very silly penalty to decrease our points differential to less than a converted try, but really we should have secured the game easily with the ascendancy we had.
Playing the blame game would be duplicitous to our cause, we have to start playing rugby. We expected more from the Springboks and they did not deliver. I don’t particularly enjoy putting the heat on referees but I do acknowledge a stupid decision when I see one.
But honesty must prevail here, the Wallabies came out to play ball and the Springboks came out to play a punting contest.
There was one particular sequence of play that told the whole story for me. It was a few minutes after the Vermeulen penalty. The Boks worked their way up to inside the Wallaby half. They received a penalty advantage for a Wallaby player being offside and their ball was completely secure.
Now, with that in mind I thought to myself, well we have the penalty advantage and we are inside their danger zone. Now we just grind out all the little metres we have left until we eventually crash over their line. That must be what they’re thinking, right?
Wrong.
The stage was set. As I mentioned we were so close. A monsterous Eben Etzebeth carry ate up a couple more metres and we had them on the ropes. The Wallaby line was retreating back toward the offside line and suddenly we had good, front foot ball from which we could attack, sending it down the backline.
And that’s what the Springboks did, but there was a twist to the tale.
Etzebeth went to ground, Ruan Pienaar (I know, right?) got there quickly and distributed the ball to Springbok scout master general Morne Steyn. Steyn looked to his left and saw a flying Jan Serfontein to his right. Don’t ask me how he could do that.
Jan Serfontein saw a blitzing centurion to his right and as an added bonus a lonely Adam Ashley-Cooper was the only one (who was still onside) standing between them with about 20 metres to the line. I say to myself, Serfontein can put Habana in space. Serfontein can grant Habana a masterful try in his big game. Serfontein will do what I think he will do.
Jan Serfontein does the unthinkable.
At full tilt he receives the ball and fires a massive up and under. Israel Folau makes it back on time, he catches, he marks, the referee remarks there was no advantage, he blows, we kick, the scoreboard is plus three for the Springboks.
Now everyone who has been reading my articles from the start will know that this is only my third year of watching the greatest sport on Earth, but I have never in my life heard, read or even seen an outside centre standing flat, taking the ball up at speed only to boot it up into the air while inside the opponent’s 22 with a penalty advantage as backup.
I dunno, it just seems wrong to me.
Anyhow, that just summed up the game and it got me thinking, is that really the game plan Meyer believes in? Make no mistake I have seen this type of thing before, just not from an outside centre.
Last year in the Ellis Park game the Boks were also under a penalty advantage inside the All Blacks’ 22 metre line and lo and behold, Fourie du Preez takes a box kick with the try line barely 15 metres away.
Eben Etzebeth is 205 centimetres tall, he could practically just stretch his arm out and score the try. Are the Springboks just so afraid of the ball that they believe that they look much better without it than with it?
The only real explanation I have is this, the team is called “The Springboks”. Maybe Meyer just takes it literally.
A Springbok is a cute little antelope that likes jumping very high, higher than Andries Bekker in Japan. Spring means jump so basically my Australasian friends you could call them the “Jumpbucks”.
Meyer wants his Jumpbuck team to act like they are Jumpbucks. They should jump. Come hell or high water whether if it’s in a lineout or when chasing an up and under, Heyneke wants Jannie du Plessis, Duane Vermeulen and Willie le Roux to jump like they have never jumped before.
But Heyneke, can you defeat the All Blacks by jumping them into submission? I firmly agree that Richie McCaw does not have the legs for jumping but, my Lord, Julian Savea sure does!
You cannot beat them this way. You cannot answer the phone if it isn’t ringing.
On a serious note though, Nick Mallett did mention something very worrying. The Springboks haven’t changed anything since the last World Cup based on their past few performances.
Former Springbok flyer Ashwin Willemse added another thing. Meyer keeps playing an inside centre at outside centre. Look back at when Jean de Villiers played at 13 in 2012, look at Damian de Allende’s showings the first few games and then look at Serfontein last weekend. Or even go one further, look at JP Pietersen’s time at 13.
In all those games the defence out wide was completely non existent.
As hard a pill as it might be to swallow for the majority of the country, the only real hope at 13 rests on the shoulders of Jaque Fourie. Only he has the ability to shape up defensively at 13 and as an added bonus he can jump.
The Springboks are in trouble and it is up to Meyer, his management and his team to rise above their current standards. Failure to do so this weekend will be catastrophic.
Failure to do so might end up making the Wallaby performance in New Zealand look like a masterpiece.
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.