Boks will have to dig deeper against talented French
Du Toit admits SA’s driving maul no longer a winner
Ahead of their clash with France in Marseille, Springboks forward Pieter-Steph du Toit has admitted that other teams have figured out how to deal with their driving maul.
The Boks driving maul was a devastating weapon in their run to winning the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.
The then Rassie Erasmus team were innovative in terms of how they formed and executed mauls.
They could construct one during play or push it for 50m. It almost certainly guaranteed a try-scoring opportunity.
However, at the moment, it looks like a shadow of itself. Whenever captain Siya Kolisi instructs his team to go for the maul, the play ends up with limited success.
The Boks maul has been outthought, and the evidence is there to see in recent Tests. Du Toit, who will form a loose trio alongside Kolisi and Jasper Wiese at the Stade Vélodrome (10pm) on Saturday, was asked how the maul can be fixed during a virtual press conference yesterday.
“It’s something we have focused a lot on,” said Du Toit.
“Teams in the past have figured out how to stop us, they have come up with some new tricks. The more new tricks and stuff we experience from teams trying to stop the maul, the more we’ll be able to adapt from that as well,” he said.
The Covid-19 period slowed down the progress and development of the Boks, however, the French on the other hand have built one of the strongest teams in world rugby. Under Fabien Galthié, they play enterprising rugby and have immense squad depth.
The Six Nations champions have won 11 games in a row and the Boks will be the latest team to attempt to stop them.
“France is on an extremely good record at the moment, they have won 11 games in a row, so for us, it will be extremely difficult to match them.
“Upfront as well, you can see their forward pack is the heaviest forward pack in rugby at the moment, we have got to make some good plans, we normally rely on brutal strength and our physicality and I think they are going to match us as well.
“We’ll make some other plans that will work for us as well,” Du Toit, the 2019 World Rugby Player of the Year, said.