Boks can’t afford to just ‘build an innings’ at the Adelaide Oval

THE Springboks actually have a great record when facing the Wallabies at cricket grounds in Australia over the years.

Earlier this week, Rugby Australia announced that the Boks will play at the Adelaide Oval on 27 August against Dave Rennie’s team, as well as at an unnamed venue in New South Wales a week later in the Rugby Championship. Of course, the Adelaide Oval was the place where former Proteas captain Faf du Plessis made a name for himself as a Test batsman with an heroic 110 not out against the Australians in November 2012.

Du Plessis was on debut, and while he made 78 in the first innings, he had to save the Test with the Proteas on 45/4 in the second – and he did it with a marathon effort of 14 minutes shy of eight hours at the crease and having faced 376 balls.

But that “blockathon” won’t do it for the Boks in August. They have won five out of seven Tests at traditional cricket venues in Australia – all at the famous Sydney Cricket Ground, while they have lost one there and at The Gabba.

Bok coach Jacques Nienaber, though, will hope that a new venue will bring a change in fortune Down Under, as South Africa last won there in 2013 – a 38-12 victory at Lang Park.

Last year’s two back-toback defeats in the Gold Coast and Brisbane were particularly disappointing, as the world champions opted for a highlyconservative approach that was based around their kicking game. Mind you, they didn’t exactly win the forwards battle either ...

One of the cricket phrases that has crept into rugby dialogue in recent years has been “build an innings”, which supposedly means that teams should take their time before playing attacking rugby and rather opt to kick penalties at the posts instead of set up lineouts inside the opposition’s half.

For me, that phrase is absolute nonsense in rugby, and I hope that the Boks don’t utilise the same style at the Adelaide Oval on 27 August.

Rennie is a wily old coach, and he will have been working hard on turning things around this year after seven defeats out of 14 Test matches in 2021.

So, the Boks can’t repeat the mistakes made in the 28-26 and 3017 losses in Australia last year.

Siya Kolisi’s team need to be creative and hit the Wallabies hard on attack and defence, and they won’t have the mitigating circumstances of a hard 14-day Covid-19 quarantine this time around.

Nienaber needs to be bold and reward in-form players from the United Rugby Championship and overseas, and not just stick to the old guard just on reputation.

The current alignment camp in Cape Town this week will hopefully have been used to expand the players’ horizons in terms of their mindsets with ball-in-hand, as they need to continue growing if they hope to keep up with the likes of France and the All Blacks ahead of the 2023 World Cup.

And they have a score to settle with the Wallabies, so it’s no use trying to “block” at the Adelaide Oval when they should be hitting fours and sixes …