The Boks are back!
FIELD Marshal Siya Kolisi threw himself about with total commitment and led his team to a really memorable win in Johannesburg.
The excitement brought by the new members of the starting group, among them S’bu Nkosi, RG Snyman and Aphiwe Dyantyi, made this Test one of the more dashing of the modern era.
England played their part to the hilt – from Johnny May’s tears during God Save the Queen, to the three tries up within 16 minutes, playing a tempo-based, wide game that had the Springboks flustered and back-pedalling.
Both Bok wings appeared exposed, with England using flat skip-passes to get to the edge of the field. Willie le Roux or Handré Pollard, when in the last man position in defence, did not push up hard and early enough to close down the England wingers, thus forcing Nkosi and Dyantyi to commit early.
This temporary blight was more about the inside defence not releasing quickly enough and this could be put down to simple communication.
It was fixed by a calmness which bodes well for future stresses – the evidence of the correction clear for the rest of the game.
On-field leadership is a critical pillar of any title-winning team. Whatever was said by the senior group and driven by Kolisi, resulted in South Africa clawing their way back by matching England and playing a similar up-tempo game.
Inspired
There were subtle touches, probably Swys de Bruin-inspired, such as really flat firstphase attack and multiphase play.
Faf de Klerk stretched the inside defence of the English by running from set pieces and all the Boks received the ball while in motion.
This simple focus on a fundamental of the attack game forces the opposition to make defensive decisions that can then be exploited by the attacking strike runners.
Kudos to the Springbok set piece, which also initially stuttered, especially Wilco Louw who was placed under massive pressure at the engagement by Mako Vunipola.
His teammate at Saracens, our own recently retired Schalk Britz, called Vunipola the best loosehead prop in the world this past week.
This initial attack at the scrum was an obvious tactic by the English: take on the Boks at one of their strengths, the set piece, up the tempo, get into their headspace and cause panic as a result.
There was consistent, blatant aggression on the part of Maro Itoje – very unlike him as he is normally quite a measured panther on the field.
He strayed off side numerous times, seemly targeting De Klerk, was at fault for the Bok scrum-half’s try and added to the overall release of pressure by conceding penalties at critical times. I am sure this will earn him a tough time at today’s review of the game by the coaching group.
The second Test in Bloemfontein should be an absolute cracker.
England desperately need to look at certain individuals’ discipline, with their forwards conceding all their penalties on the day.
Itoje and the two props, Vunipola and Sinckler, were guilty of the bulk of these, a clear indication of the amount of defensive work the Boks forced these behemoths into, simply by playing with ball in hand.
The moral of the story: tired forwards make mistakes.
The Springboks need to tighten up on starting well and being clinical at the set pieces, while maintaining width and clear communication on defence.
They should combine this with more of the same uptempo, back-yourself-and-your mate, ball-in-motion tactics, while aiming to clearly dominate territory for the bulk of the game. This will force England to try to run the ball from deep, a tactic that will produce errors.
They will be loath to kick as they will have to deal with the dangerous Bok back three running the ball back at them, something that Eddie Jones admitted after the game. The tourists have their backs against the wall, with jobs inevitably on the line. Someone has to take the blame for where they currently are, with the prospect of six losses on the trot.
This is the nature of professional sport and it all leads to the makings of a Test match that will have us all enthralled from kick-off to the final whistle. Saturday cannot come too soon – a new era has indeed dawned.