This Springbok scrum was a pale imitation of itself
The Springboks have tasted defeat before. Despite a widespread perception among many fans and pundits, the indomitability of the men in green is a fallacy. But not all defeats are equal. This 22-17 reverse to the Lions will sting more than most because Warren Gatland beat the Boks at their own game.
Compounding matters will be the realisation that this strategy is a near replica of the one that brought them success in the World Cup two years ago only compounds the challenge now facing Jacques Nienaber.
The Springboks were out muscled at the set-piece, were out-gunned in the aerial battle, were out-fought at the breakdown and ran out of puff in the second half as they shrank in the wake of a Lions onslaught.
Apologists will point to a multitude of mitigating factors. It is a fact that the Springboks have played just one Test together since their World Cup victory in November 2019, and that gimme against Georgia was never going to serve as adequate preparation for the best of four nations.
There had also been covid scares within the camp as captain Siya Kolisi and four other players were forced to isolate last week after a positive test. Then there is the brewing social and political turmoil that has engulfed a country already reeling from a third wave of the pandemic.
All of that must have had some influence on the team. They’re
Springboks, not robots. But to deny the obvious and suggest that the better team lost would be a blatant falsehood.
It was all looking so good at half time. A 12-3 lead built on dominance at the breakdown was pulled from the well-worn Springbok playbook. Pieter-Steph du Toit reprised his role from the World Cup as the destroyer in chief and Faf de Klerk’s boot ensured that his forwards were constantly moving in the right direction. Four penalties from Handre Pollard gave the scoreboard an accurate reflection of the state of play.
One issue had emerged in an otherwise unblemished opening stanza.
The Springbok lineout marshalled by Eben Etzebeth and Franco Mostert seemed content to allow the Lions jumpers the freedom of an uncontested grab.
This would prove costly in the second half as the tourists’ try was procured off the back of a rolling maul and set about a blueprint for a deserving comeback.
The Springboks played like a team confident in its own destiny. They seemed to inhabit a belief that success would materialise if they adhered to what had worked before.
Despite the Lions forwards winning key battles shortly after the interval, the South Africans fastened their blinkers and stayed the course.
A scrappy try opened up a seven
“The South Africans fastened their blinkers and stayed the course”
point lead, but momentum had already shifted.
Player of the match Maro Itoje began to boss the tight five contest while Courtney Lawes silenced all doubters operating as both a ball carrying menace and a loose ball hound.
The Springbok scrum looked a pale imitation of its own selfaggrandising image, struggling to hold strong against an experienced Lions front row.
Something had to give. With Makazole Mapimpie and Cheslin Kolbe out wide aching for more ball, a second method was available. Instead it was more of the same.
More ineffective box kicks, more crash balls around the fringe, more toothless set-pieces that broke against immovable red rocks. The inevitability of the result sharpened into focus long before it was recorded in the history books.
Next week a more dynamic attacking approach is needed. Lukhanyo Am needs more ball. Damien de Allende made 38 metres from 13 carries, but rarely shovelled the ball to the playmaker running delicious lines off his shoulder.
As a result Mapimpi and Kolbe were rendered irrelevant until they were tackled with fielding a bomb off a Lion boot. Neither looked comfortable under the high ball.
Neither did Albertus ‘Kwagga’ Smith. The diminutive No.8 with a foundation in Sevens rugby was a surprise pick at the base of the
Springbok scrum. Without Duane Vermeulen, Nienaber was forced to jam a square peg in a round hole. It didn’t pay off.
The comparatively diminutive loose forward lacked the grunt necessary and was targeted by the Lions who put him under pressure at every opportunity. It will be a surprise if he’s entrusted again next week.
It must be said that this result could have been different were it not for a refereeing decision here or the bounce of the ball there. South Africa deserved to lose, of that there is little doubt, but they could just have easily won.
That will be the hopeful rock from which to cling in the midst of the maelstrom that is sure to follow. South Africans have tasted defeat before but they have not acquired a taste for it.
“Makazole Mapimpie and Cheslin Kolbe out wide were aching for more ball”