Extra skills drills added to Bok training

THE Springboks will dedicate an extra 20 minutes to improving their defence and kicking skills at every training session from now on. This is in addition to what they woud normally do at a daily training outing.

According to Springbok coach Allister Coetzee, defence and kicking execution are the two areas his team need to improve the most, and immediately, if they are to improve their performance on next month’s tour of Europe.

The Boks open their trip with a match against the Barbarians at Wembley on November 5, and that will be followed by three Tests, against England, Italy and Wales.

The Boks go into the tour with plenty of questions being asked about their game, especially after conceding several tries in the Rugby Championship and also performing poorly with ball in hand. They also were found wanting in the kicking department.

Now Coetzee says it’s time to rectify the problems.

“We have agreed that from now on the coaches responsible for those areas will invest 20 minutes extra at training to get it right,” said Coetzee yesterday after the touring squad got together in Johannesburg.

“These will be aerial skills sessions, individual sessions for (kicking) execution, and they will come after the normal sessions.”

Coetzee made it clear the players would also be asked to step up like never before.

“This is not just about the respective coaches and the plan we have in place; getting a good skills set is also the player’s responsibility, he must want to get better and improve.

“The players have to put in the hard work, and hopefully we’ll see a difference in the next four weeks, but if it’s not a significant difference then there will be a change in Super Rugby next year, because the skills these guys will learn now is not just for now; they will continue with it in Super Rugby.”

The two additional coaches who have joined the Boks for the European tour, JP Ferreira (defence) and Franco Smith (backs play and skills), will be largely responsible for imparting these new skills.

“Right now we must focus on our defence; it wasn’t good in the Championship and it’s something that’s just not at the level it once was. Maybe it’s because we became obsessed with ball-in-hand rugby

SCHEDULE

and being expansive, but we shouldn’t neglect our defence, and that’s what’s happened.

“Also, we need to improve our territorial game, and that means getting better at our kicking; our execution and chase has been poor ... in the Championship we got bogged down in our own half and played there for 70% of the matches; that’s just too much pressure on the defence.

“The fact is we had so little territorial advantage recently we were never really a threat on the attack, and that was due to our poor positioning on the field. It’s something we have to fix immediately.”

Coetzee said the Baabaas game next Saturday at Wembley would be massive for a number of reasons.

“Firstly, it’ll set the tone for the rest of the tour, so we need to start well and play well. The Baabaas go out there to play entertaining rugby; we want to win and set the pattern for the Tests to come; we can’t play one way the one week and then differently the next week.

“Also it’s an opportunity for me to see how many of the young, exciting players who performed in the Currie Cup put their hands up and force me to select them in future. They’ve shown they’re good enough in the Currie Cup and even in Super Rugby, but this is Test rugby.”

The Boks will train in Johannesburg this week before leaving for the UK on Friday.