Hard tackling Springboks’ supply line said to be intact
● The Springboks’ heroic defensive effort against the All Blacks reaffirmed their well trodden path to success over their old foe.
The fact that they scored five tries and recorded their highest points tally against the All Blacks in New Zealand also suggests that the renewed emphasis on attack in SA rugby is starting to bear fruit.
For the Boks, however, unremitting defence has been a constant whenever they’ve knocked the Kiwis out of their stride.
The question, however, is whether they can do that routinely, or whether putting their bodies through that kind of purgatory was a testosterone-fuelled once-off act.
It also begs the question whether Super Rugby, the Currie Cup and the Pro14 are equipping SA players to meet Test standards in defence.
In Super Rugby 7.2 tries were scored per match this season and if you thought that was high, defensive doors are off their hinges in the Currie Cup. Before this weekend’s action 130 tries were scored in 14 matches at a rate of 9.2 tries per match.
That figure is up on last year’s 8.7 tries per match including the knockout stages.
Best prep for a Test
In the Pro14 too defences are being stretched with the ball in play longer than it has ever been. Is it, however, serving the Springbok agenda to unrelentingly make tackle after tackle, phase after phase in those competitions? It perhaps is, when you consider that the Wellington Test was the near-perfect case study in how a team can get the job done without the ball.
“When Rassie (Erasmus, Bok coach) was at Munster he told us the Pro14 was the best preparation for Test rugby. The Pro14 is the closest thing to Test rugby,” said Cheetahs defence coach Charl Strydom.
“It has the intensity and it tests all the key disciplines and facets of the game. Unlike Super Rugby your tight phases are tested every week in the Pro14,” said Strydom. He contends that teams have to accept that they are going to defend for sustained periods.
“I think the laws favour the ball carriers. Also, you can’t collapse a maul. If teams score maul tries, other teams see it and they try the same against you.”
At SA Rugby’s last indaba, more attackminded rugby was advocated, the results of which can now be seen in the Currie Cup.
“I think attacking play is generally being
The Pro14 is the closest thing to Test rugby
Charl Strydom
Cheetahs defence coach
encouraged. It has become an emphasis. I think SA is moving in the right direction with it. More tries are great. It is good for the game’s survival. Five years ago it was not the case. Think of the Boks under Peter de Villiers and Heyneke Meyer who were preoccupied with the high ball,” said Strydom.
“There is a lot more emphasis in SA rugby on attack and a lot of teams give the ball a bit more air,” said Lions captain Marvin Orie, whose team conceded 21 tries in four matches before this weekend.
Hooker Corne Fourie concurs. “All the teams are attack-orientated. You have to look at the tries, they are all beautiful tries. People are more prepared to give the ball air and to play from their own 22,” said Fourie.
“We have brain lapses and make individual errors. The coach can’t teach you to make a tackle. You have to do that yourself. Oneon-one you have to do it. The system is in place. In defence players have to take personal responsibility.
“There has to be emphasis on defence and the Boks showed that last weekend. Defence wins matches.”