Boks aim at forward power
Proudfoot promises return to aggression in Test against Wallabies
YOU would never say Springbok assistant coach Matthew Proudfoot was once a frontrow forward, judging by how he side-stepped the question of the Boks’ lack of physicality in the Rugby Championship.
While his gabbing could rival Christian Cullen’s mean step, Proudfoot and the rest of the Springbok team cannot escape the fact that SA has lost their imposing physical air.
“I’ll tell you on Saturday,” said Proudfoot when asked whether he thought the Boks were combative enough. His look suggested that it is a topic of conversation that has taken place behind closed doors ahead of the clash against Australia at Loftus on Saturday.
In their previous three straight losses to Rugby Championship rivals New Zealand, Australia and Argentina away, the Boks have looked like rickshaws racing Le Mans cars.
But it is said the most dangerous group in world rugby when pushed into a corner are the Springboks and that is because the first place they look for retribution is up front.
Proudfoot said he and co-forwards coach Johann van Graan had worked on getting the forwards to create momentum at Loftus. In Pretoria language, that means they want to cause some bone-crunching pain.
“The big focus for me and Johann is to create momentum in the pack,” Proudfoot said. “Our game plan has always required a dominant pack and we’ve been striving for that. We haven’t tinkered too much with that and we’ve erred on the side of continuity.
“We’ve also looked at opportunities to release players from the bench that can add intensity to the game. Jaco [Kriel] has been doing well just after half time with his carries and is extremely quick. He gets to the linkage points pretty well and does a lot of damage carrying the ball.
“We were hoping to get the ball into Willem Alberts’ hands against the All Blacks so that he could run at their defence late in the game. We let the game slip, so it wasn’t as successful as we wanted it to be.
“Everybody is pushing and seems really motivated for the week … we feel that responsibility of delivering a good performance this week … the guys want to contribute to something big.”
Australia — although without influential loose forward David Pocock — will try to outsmart the Boks instead of out-muscle them.
Rebels back-rower Sean McMahon could take Pocock’s place as the second fetcher alongside Michael Hooper, with Dean Mumm or Scott Fardy operating at blindside flank.
The Boks have persisted with Francois Louw, from whom a lot was expected and little received this season. Louw’s finest game so far in 2016, however, came against Australia in Brisbane and he could get one more chance to keep Kriel on the bench.
“A lot of criticism has been made about the balance of the loose trio but I’m really happy with what they do,” Proudfoot said.
“The first role of an opensider is to control your first breakdown – which is why I’m always baffled by the insinuation that a No 6’s role is purely to fetch ball.
“Michael Hooper is excellent at the first breakdown. Our first job is going to have to be to take care of our ball and get continuity for our attack. That’s where Francois Louw has been really good.
“Flo adds a lot of maturity, which is important. Oupa Mohoje has been doing really well and he had a great start defensively at seven. His attacking breakdown work against New Zealand was probably the best he’s done in all the Tests he’s played. That’s a role spectators don’t really see.
“Warren Whiteley is playing really well, too. They are working well but there are areas that they can improve on. I think the Wallabies will go with two opensiders at seven and eight — in Hooper and (Sean McMahon) — which will enable them to go hard at the breakdown and look to slow our attack down.
“That’s the way Australia defend and I don’t think they’ll change just because one player is out,” Proudfoot said.