First the set-pieces, then play some rugby
BLOEMFONTEIN: Fix the scrums and the line-outs, and only then think about playing some rugby! That will surely be Springbok coach Allister Coetzee’s message to his players ahead of Saturday’s Rugby Championship Test at the Free State Stadium against the Wallabies (5.05pm kickoff).
It’s all well and good to talk about hanging onto the ball and playing some rugby, as Bok attack coach Franco Smith did this week, but he’s also aware that to do so, you first have to look after your first phase plays ... and that’s something the Boks failed to do in their last outing, against New Zealand in Albany.
A look at some of the statistics from that game – lost 57-0 by the Boks – reveals just why Coetzee’s team struggled so much: they simply never had the foundations to play any rugby. After a fairly promising start when they spent a good deal of time in All Black territory, they all of a sudden were put under pressure in the set-pieces by the No 1 team and the Boks’ world crumbled.
After 80 minutes, the Boks had let in eight tries and failed to trouble the scorers themselves, players’ reputations were left in tatters and the so-called “greatest rivalry in rugby” was questioned. The Boks had lost key areas of the contest, like metres gained (564m by the All Blacks to the Boks’ 252m), number of defenders beaten (32 to the Boks’ 19) and number of passes made (196 to the Boks’ 112).
The Boks spent the last 60 minutes of the match on the back foot. They missed 32 tackles but as Coetzee and Smith have said, any team will battle when the set-piece isn’t functioning. In Albany, the Boks lost five lineout throws (out of 14) and also lost three of their own scrum feeds out of six. The Wallabies might not be as skilful or as powerful as the All Blacks in the scrums and lineouts, but they will certainly have noticed what happened to the Boks in Albany and they’re sure to target the set-pieces. It’s key then that the Boks get their set-phases functioning optimally if they’re to play an attacking game.
Coetzee is fully aware that his team needs to step up this week. “I know the players and coach Johan van Graan will have worked hard to correct what went wrong,” admitted the Bok coach. “It’s a lot of little detail in the lineouts that if things go wrong under pressure one error leads to one having to defend for the next 10 to 15 phases. Up to that New Zealand game we were at 90 percent success rate in the lineouts.”
So, whether Coetzee today opts for Pieter-Steph du Toit or Franco Mostert, or even Lood de Jager, to join Eben Etzebeth in the lineouts, it’s essential that whoever does the calling gets it right. And then hooker Malcolm Marx has also got to hit the target.