Four key areas to target to beat best team in the world
⮞england must play to full potential all over the pitch to have any hope of causing shock against South Africa
This is a brilliant litmus test for England because this Springboks side would walk over broken glass for Rassie Erasmus after their success in recent years. Watch Chasing the Sun and you can see the loyalty towards him. I am not defending Erasmus in any way, shape or form, but he has inspired an environment which has gone from being average to the best in the world. South Africa destroyed Scotland.
England and Eddie Jones will learn so much from this Test about their progress and their young players because if there was a World Cup final tomorrow, South Africa would be in it. So what do England need to do?
A collective front-row effort
South Africa’s pack are cohesive, powerful, and frighteningly aware of the damage they can do to opponents. They have six front-row forwards who most international coaches secretly (and sometimes not so secretly) covet. Their line-out options are through the roof.
In the Lions Test series and just last week against Scotland, defensively the Springboks back themselves to go up at the tail, take away the best option, risk the opponents going elsewhere and trust their ability with a man in the air and two lifters helping him to stop the initial maul thrust, before the pod hits the deck and supports the resistance. You could write essays on their line-out dominance and have old front-five players salivating.
If you are Bevan Rodd and Jamie Blamire, put it this way, your Test career has to start somewhere. Mine began with four caps against Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, New Zealand. Surviving that was an education. For Rodd and Blamire, it will feel like that against South Africa, because one worldclass front row comes off the bench to replace another. There will not be a moment to rest and breathe. Kyle Sinckler, with all that emotion after coming off injured in the World Cup final, will be like the Incredible Hulk on the tighthead side. But it needs a collective front-row effort.
As for Eben Etzebeth, he has been simply supreme on this tour. He is carrying more effectively than he has done before. There is more footwork to his game – the moving house can now dodge as well. A massive defensive asset, with great timing.
Whatever your allegiance, Etzebeth is simply a gamechanging player. How he has not been nominated for World Rugby’s Player of the Year I have no idea.
Keep the ball moving in contact
It took South Africa two years to get it right but, boy, have they got it right. Their system allows wingers such as Makazole Mapimpi, when defending on the openside, to be as narrow as the near post. What I mean by that is that Mapimpi in defence is often lined up opposite the post where the ball is coming from. That leaves 40 metres of space to cover.
Not only do the Springboks set up that narrowly, they still fly up as a collective midfield. If they can get to the attacker and shut the ball down, they hit hard – really hard. If they cannot, and the ball gets to the outside, a couple of things happen. The attackers have had to play from so deep to get round the rush defence that the defenders inside Mapimpi fold under him, and shut you off before you have made it past the gain line.
Willie le Roux, the full-back, shuts the door quickly and joins the defensive line, and Mapimpi and other wing Jesse Kriel are so fast that on realising they cannot shut the ball down, they kill their foot
England will learn so much about their progress and young players
speed going forward, turn and hunt you down, tackling you low at ankle height and getting you to the ground.
If you decide not to try to go round the rush defence for fear of the loose pass, you cut back inside and get met by Duane Vermeulen and his big mates. You have to be so accurate if you go wide against South Africa. Yet you also have to be on top of your offloading skills if you go through the traffic. You have to keep the ball moving in contact and not give easy targets. It is the supreme test of your attack.
Disrupt ‘telepathic’ centre pairing
Individually, you might argue Damian de Allende and Lukhanyo Am are not the world’s best – collectively, you would take these two over any combination on the planet right now.
De Allende is more often the recognised ball carrier, used off scrums and line-outs to give his team a gain line. Am is often just the support runner, the breakdown secure. In the wider channels, Am has the “shoes” to test defences, and an offload to match. Both are massively sound in the technique of the tackle but it is their understanding of when to press and when to back off that is most impressive.
When one of them makes a decision, the other follows without hesitation.
They play the long game, they know they do not get every call right but if they back each other up, they know that they will get close to nine out of 10 right, or in the process of total commitment limit the damage of the bad decision.
Brace for opponent who will never relent
You would love to spend time with Siya Kolisi as you would with two previous great Test captains, John Eales and Martin Johnson – fascinating human beings who do not quit.
Kolisi sets the tone, speaks quietly, but has total belief and leads with actions. He knows his team will go through tough waters in every Test match – they will be stress-tested. But he gets up and fixes the next problem. He makes sure his team stay in the fight.
You never really beat Kolisi, you might just have more points on the board when the final whistle goes. If that happens, well done. A huge effort to beat South Africa, but he would be prepared to go again given 30 minutes rest, a kit change, and a quick carbo load. He will be ready.