Questions over who should play flyhalf against the Lions
Perhaps the most instructive part of being at the Cape Town Stadium at the weekend was not the events that took place on the field in the final match-day preparation for the British & Irish Lions series, but being able to check on who was watching from the stands.
There will doubtless be many South Africans who would have been concerned that the Bulls beat the SA A side in the curtain-raiser for the Lions’ final preparation game against the Stormers. Some of that concern is justified — the performance of the Springbok second stringers exposed known concerns at the throwing ability of the hookers, the depth at lock and arguably at prop and flyhalf too.
But that was why checking out which Boks were among the group watching the game from the stands was interesting. It wasn’t just Elton Jantjies’s less than commanding performance as the SA A captain that highlighted questions about flyhalf this week. Morné Steyn didn’t exactly encourage confidence in the SA A win over the Lions last Wednesday either.
In that regard, it was encouraging to see Handré Pollard among the spectators. That means the Covid issue that has kept him from training recently must be a thing of the past. It is understood he will join training again when the Boks start their final build-up for Saturday’s first Test.
Having Pollard back in the mix will make a quantum difference to the Boks’ chances of winning the first Test. Clearly the Boks, when playing as the SA A side against the Lions, were reluctant to show their hand. But that Pollard brings so many more options to the Boks than Steyn does is not something that even requires argument.
The series is being described by some pundits as a clash between the Boks’ physicality and strength and the Lions’ tempo and creativity. To a large extent, that billing in the buildup is accurate. But the Boks will need some creativity if they are to win — they can’t just base everything around the forwards and aggressive defence.
Apart from the obvious question about what they’d then do if their pack was fronted, which it was in the scrums in midweek, we must also remember that we have yet to see the Lions’ full-strength forward unit. Remember too the 2019 World Cup final. It was the South Africans’ physicality and the different dynamic injected into their play, with a few creative tweaks to their attacking game, that shocked England that day.
The physicality was
something they would surely have anticipated. But the Boks’ willingness to let the players give expression to their flair, something described by Duane Vermeulen in the docu-series Chasing the Sun as “the little box of tricks”, that earned each player selection to the national team in the first place, wasn’t expected.
With Pollard at flyhalf, the Boks have options to their game that they won’t have with Steyn there. While Jantjies, the other No 10 in the squad, has plenty of attacking flair he just isn’t as physical, influential or commanding as Pollard is. He has also lost form since leaving for his stint in France.
Indeed, far from being a negative for the Boks, the loss to the Bulls was a positive. It didn’t just serve as a wake-up call to the national team ahead of the series, it also provided a positive spin on the depth available in SA rugby. It was two SA teams playing each other after all, and Johan Goosen’s match-winning performance confirmed that there is actually depth at flyhalf if the Bok coaches are prepared to look in his direction.
There are some who champion the cause of Curwin Bosch, but given that Rassie Erasmus always stresses the need for players to have a warrior instinct, it is hard to see how the Sharks flyhalf features given his obvious reluctance to take physical contact.
It wasn’t just flyhalf that provided inconclusive results when examined in the two SA A games. So it will be good news for Bok fans that Lood de Jager was among the spectators at Cape Town Stadium. Frans Malherbe was also spotted. The World Cup-winning tight head has seen his value rise due to the struggles of the players who have played during his absence after a positive Covid test.
Bongi Mbonambi joined the squad on Sunday. That is good news as there appears to be a gap between the World Cup duo of Malcolm Marx-Mbonambi and the rest of the hookers, and it looks as if Makazole Mapimpi and regular captain Siya Kolisi might miss the first Test too.
The Boks might be able to paper over the cracks should those players be absent, but they are less likely to prevail if they go in with anyone other than Pollard in the No 10 jersey. On the evidence of the past week, Goosen is the next best flyhalf in the country but he hasn’t been part of the Boks group.