Kolisi: The most frustrating thing was the discipline
DESPITE THE Springboks racking up the desired five points at Kings Park on Saturday in their opening game against Argentina in this year’s Rugby Championship, captain Siya Kolisi was not ready to call it a polished performance.
The flank said at the post-match interview that the Boks felt frustrated by their mistakes in key areas, and they know that their discipline let them down at times too. The Boks took a while to get into the game, trailing 14-10 at halftime, but turned things around early in the second half.
“We didn’t start the way we wanted to, the biggest thing for us players – and we spoke about it before – is our discipline, that took us back a bit,” Kolisi explained. “Our execution as well – we had a couple opportunities in the 22 and we couldn’t finish there. So, for us now, the most important thing is recovery, we are going to make sure we recover well and prepare ourselves for next week.”
The result is ideal, as are the points in the bag, but what is vital now is that the Boks work on the areas they have identified in Saturday’s match as things only get harder from here on out. They travel to Argentina before heading to Australasia to take on New Zealand and Australia away from home. “The most frustrating thing was the discipline,” Kolisi added. “And the mistakes we were making, as well as not taking the opportunities... but the positive thing was the intensity. Still, it was frustrating at times to get to the 22, put the pressure on, and then lose the ball. It is something we have been working on, but we need to work on it some more.”
Meanwhile, at the beginning of Test week in Durban, Bok coach Rassie Erasmus said his job is one of balancing winning and building a squad that can take them to World Cup glory next year in Japan. At the weekend, he got the winning right, but admits he is still tinkering with his team.
What it means, heading to Argentina, is that the coach can make a few changes for the Test match in Mendoza. However, while some will label it experimenting, the coach is not calling it that at all.
Erasmus was frank at the post-match presentation, stating that he felt that although the Boks fronted up physically, they were far from perfect.
“They know what we’re about now and we’ll make a few changes to the team,” Erasmus said in preparation for what will be a tougher match away from home – adding that there would be about “four or five changes”. “We’re expecting a massive physical onslaught; they are fuming.They have always been tough there, but we got five points out of that game. It was not the most beautiful and perfect game, but we’re well in it. Going there I don’t think we have the luxury of experimenting.”
Erasmus did spell out some of the reasons for the less than “fluent” showing on Saturday, explaining that his players have all come into the squad from different places.
“Francois Louw only had a pre-season, while Faf de Klerk also only had a pre-season and has not played for a while,” Erasmus said. “Damian Willemse came back from a six-week knee injury and the same with Eben Etzebeth.
“I was not expecting a fluent display, but it was worse than I thought in the first half. We lost a few lineouts that were crucial and there were some technical errors, but for all of that, it was a dominant performance. It wasn’t the crispest performance. Technically and tactically we weren’t on par.”
Some of the changes Erasmus could be mulling over is giving his newly-capped duo off the bench more starring roles in Mendoza.
Both Marco van Staden and Willemse made their appearance on the world stage, but need more time to be truly judged on their ability to take this step up. Willemse also came on at flyhalf despite Erasmus wanting him to get a taste of No 15.
“I wanted to get Damian on at 15, but the game was too tight. I also felt that Willie le Roux was the senior guy in the back three and that he was doing well there.
“It may have been too risky to take him off at that stage,” Erasmus explained.
The touring squad to travel to Argentina has been trimmed to 28 with three forwards, namely Jean-Luc du Preez, Sikhumbuzo Notshe and Marvin Orie dropping away. Uncapped flank Brink underwent surgery earlier in the week to repair damage suffered to his injured knee.
Additionally, Ross Cronje, Jesse Kriel and Lwazi Mvovo are the three backs not travelling to Argentina. THE three-time champions in the last six years as well as the winners in 2015 get their Currie Cup challenges underway this weekend.
After a rather low-key start to the 2018 edition of the competition – which is now in its 80th season – Western Province and the Golden Lions play their first games this weekend, as do the Sharks, winners in 2013.
Province won the title last year, in 2014 and in 2012 of the last six campaigns, while the Lions won it in 2015.
WP are at home to the Free State Cheetahs, who struggled in Bloemfontein last Friday and eventually went down 34-12 to the Blue Bulls, while the Robert du Preez’s Sharks host the men from Pretoria. The Lions get going against Griquas, who disappointed in their opening tie against the Pumas in Nelspruit.
Much is expected of the Lions this year with a number of Super Rugby stars available for selection.
Andries Coetzee, Courtnall Skosan, Madosh Tambwe and Dillon Smit will all be in action over the coming weeks, and maybe a number of Junior Bok stars as well, like Wandisile Simelane, Tyrone Green, Manny Rass and Gianni Lombard.
The Lions are under a new head coach, in Cash van Rooyen, who takes over from Swys de Bruin, who is acting as an attack consultant with the Springboks.
He’ll be supported by Super Rugby assistants Philip Lemmer, Neil de Bruin and Joey Mongalo.
The good news for the Lions is that they will also be able to call on Warren Whiteley, Lionel Mapoe and Elton Jantjies through the course of the season, if they are not involved with the Boks, as all three of them have ended their associations with their Japanese clubs.
Unavailable though because of Japanese club commitments are Kwagga Smith, Lourens Erasmus, Ruan Combrinck and Harold Vorster.
The most impressive performance of round one was delivered by the Pumas, winners of this year’s Rugby Challenge.
Jimmy Stonehouse’s team produced an excellent performance in getting the better of Griquas last Friday, with flyhalf Chris Smith coming out as the star of the show, scoring 22 of the Pumas’ opening match points on the day.
Another flyhalf who delivered a knockout performance was Bulls No 10 Manie Libbok, who contributed 17 points to his team’s total.
The Pumas have a bye this coming weekend. Results Pumas 42 Griques 19; Cheetahs 12 Blue Bulls 34 Fixtures Friday: Lions v Griquas 7pm Saturday: Sharks v Bulls 3pm; WP v Free State 5.15pm