The Springboks have been criticised for their conservative game plan but the All Blacks are more concerned with stoppages, which prevent the game flowing.
All Blacks captain Ardie Savea says he may have to “put pressure” on the referee in Saturday’s Rugby Championship clash with South Africa to prevent the world champions from slowing the game with stoppages.
Jordie Barrett’s late penalty earned the All Blacks a 19-17 win over the Springboks last weekend that ensured they reclaimed the trophy with a fifth victory in a row.
The Springboks have been widely criticised for their conservative, tactical-kicking game plan, but former Wallabies coach Robbie Deans says the “elephant in the room” is stoppages.
All Blacks prop Joe Moody said earlier this week he hoped the officials would do more to stop South Africa interrupting the flow of the game after the Springboks’ forwards frequently sought medical attention during the contest in Townsville.
“I have just got to put pressure on the referee in, I guess, a better way and demand a little bit more,” said Savea, who is serving as stand-in captain in the absence of Sam Whitelock.
(Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
“It’s out of our hands when the medical team is on the field and they’re saying they need to check up on him.
“There’s not much myself or the referee could do in those situations. All we can do as a team is not get frustrated. We just have to adapt and adjust like we did last week.”
English referee Matthew Carley is in charge of Saturday’s game.
Deans told New Zealand news service Stuff there was nothing wrong with the Springboks’ kick first and often approach.
“The elephant in the room in this discussion, to be honest, is not so much the method,” Deans said.
“Last week was a great contest. The issue was the ball out of play.
“That is the issue that needs to be addressed by the powers that be. You can blame the adjudicators, or the people assessing them, but the flow in the game is gone. There are too many stoppages, and you spend too long looking at the screen.”
“There is no provision for that… If there’s blood (on a player), you go off. And you call their bluff when they are just taking a breather. If it happens again, ‘sorry, you are off, and we carry on’.
“It is all manageable.”
Ruckit
Roar Rookie
Instructions ? They have shown so little diversity in game play it must be in their DNA (Or is that did not play )
GoldenEye
Roar Rookie
It's a bit late to be releasing a video...
ebop
Guest
I’m looking forward to Faf box-kicking the ball 5 m from the try line on attack. Reckon last week was a trial run of the tactic and they’ll push the strategy to the nth degree this week. $10 says he does it.
thebleedingobvious
Roar Rookie
It’s a negative tactic in bad spirit cause it’s not in the rules. Was it 6 Bok injury breaks to our zero and they supposed to be the huge physical tough guys! Their pack was just 3kgs heavier in total than ours in fact. You’d think the Bok’s reviewed their kick away in our 22 and might keep it more in hand in the attacking zone because penalties alone won’t cut it. As much as they get themselves in with a chance, we almost always win the close games because their goal kicks usually don’t quite add up to being enough points, albeit they atypically matched us in tries last week but Pollard kicking at test career 74% isn’t a super boot. Bok’s felt they didn’t execute on their opportunities, not sure how many of those they created? However, AB’s squandered many, their own lack of continuity also slowing the game, the greater improvement lies with them, so it’s hard to see how Bok’s can win but if they do, it’ll be a real justification for their DNA kick it away game. So I think it’s a really important marker for AB’s to quite convincingly overcome the negative game through our own style prevailing, otherwise we havn’t grown our game. IMO Fosters done a great job with selection right through this campaign, the players like him and the coaching team has gelled.
Doctordbx
Roar Rookie
Taking the 3? That sounds like boring Bok Rugby.
Contego
Guest
Can’t argue with Robbie Deans, for a match that was decided after the siren and was close throughout the first test between South Africa and Australia at Robina was that long and boring most of the crowd fell asleep. From memory there was one 5 minute interval that took about 20 minutes, I though I was watching NFL
Lara
Guest
Get to the lineout, take a seat on the paddock , especially the props and wait for the Boks….that should get the message through.
Paul D
Roar Rookie
But without medical stoppages, how will they get their instructions from Coach Naylor?
Buk
Roar Rookie
They also turned down a number of penalty shots, to go for the lineout. Take the three points, especially when it is relatively close to the points. Great goal by Barrett, but had they taken the points earlier that might never have needed that.
Jacko
Roar Rookie
Just do everything straight away if possible. Quick throw-ins, Quick taps if given free kicks or non kickable penalties outside own 22. You dont have to up the tempo of the game itself to keep the game going just take every opportunity to do so.
smoothy
Roar Rookie
The All Blacks will also know one thing that IS in their hands, is whether they can reduce the sheer number of handling errors/infringements this week! Goes a long way to avoiding stoppages in the first place :thumbup: