Whatever happens on Saturday in the final Test, the Irish series has raised more questions than answers for South African Rugby. Even if the Springboks secure a series win in Port Elizabeth, the depth of uncertainty has never been greater, but I believe the Springboks inside centre is the missing link to success.
The incoming tours are usually an opportunity for the coach to get the core team together and then blood a few of the players who have shown exceptional form in Super Rugby.
Dissolution of the Springbok core
This year however, the Springbok core is a barely recognizable from the last time the Boks ran out in a competitive game at the 2015 Rugby World Cup, where they finished third.
The coaching staff suffered a hunger games style purge with only Johann van Graan (forwards coach) and Ian Schwartz (team manager) being ‘spared by the berries’.
The unshakable leadership of Victor Matfield, Fourie du Preez and Jean de Villiers were not be available as the trio had all retired from international rugby.
Handre Pollard, the one glimmering spark of green and gold hope is out with a long term injury. And Jacques Fourie has hung up his Springbok boots after essentially being told by Heyneke Meyer that he’s too fat. Francois Hougaard and Bryan Habana are committed to Olympic duty and weren’t available for a call up.
The Du Plessis brothers, Duane Vermuelen, Francois Steyn, Morne Steyn, Francois Louw and Johan Goosen all took the extended directors cut of the Great Trek North to play in Europe where the blades of grass are dollar bills and it’s all watered with unicorn urine.
So given the aforementioned, it is fair to say the markers for a shaky start were there from day one. This before the now heavily enforced transformation agenda. The transformation goal requires that by 2019, 50% of the match day squad must be black. Rhetoric aside, political interference in sport at any level only serves to complicate.
An Irish eye-opener
A 14 man Irish side, missing 4 first choice players, beat the Springboks at Newlands in the first game of the series. A week later they almost went two up, if not for the altitude and a roaring Lions bench that weren’t up to be humiliated at home.
The Irish are at the end of a long season. Most of these lads are overdue for some downtime before being back action in September for the European Cup. Even if the Springboks manage to put together more than 20 minutes of rugby and secure the series win, there are so many questions that it may seem hard to pick a place to start.
Allister Coetzee’s challenge
Springbok coach Allister Coetzee remarked his challenge is having to focus on transformation, style of play and winning. It isn’t clear from his quote whether those are mutually exclusive goals, or if he is planning on addressing them in that order.
That being said, all three of them are ultimately linked in some manner to selection. I won’t touch on transformation in detail, but South Africa would have no problem producing a highly competitive team that meets the quota objectives. Whether at that specific time it is the best possible Springbok team that could be selected would be another debate. But lets have a look at the one South African rugby issue that just won’t go away.
Style of play
The Springboks have somehow been painted with the ten man rugby brush. Implying that they simply bash it up with the forwards, kick from ten and look to squeeze out penalties and driving mauls at set piece. Yes, it is true that South African rugby has always been very direct and in your face.
But how on earth does a team that is supposedly unimaginative and uniformly direct, manage to release players like Danie Gerber and Carel du Plessis? The same style of play that had pundits scoffing at Jake White and Heyneke Meyer enabled Bryan Habana, a winger, to win an IRB player of the year award. It showcased Jessie Kriel as a rising super star in the midfield just last year and ensured Fourie du Preez would forever be mentioned in any debate around the greatest rugby players of the modern era.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with a robust, physical and blood-thirsty Springbok team that focuses on dominating upfront before anything else. It seems that in the haste to play an ever more expanding and exciting brand of rugby, the Springboks have either forgotten, or been too embarrassed to embrace a strength that has stood for over a century.
Selection to play off nine
The Brumbies and Crusaders crafted the expansive game that the South African public swoons for. Where traditionally teams only played off ten, George Gregan introduced the arcing run that allowed a multi-layered attack, either off Gregan close in or wider out off Larkham.
The ability to play off nine revolutionised the attacking play and subsequently, defensive patterns in rugby. South Africa wasn’t blind to this by any means. Francois Hougaard is a brilliant nine to play off. But listen to the comments from spectators when he doesn’t deliver it directly to the backline. “Why is he running with the ball so much, just pass it”. “We need quick ball, he holds onto it for too long”. You would think they weren’t all experts? Look at Aaron Smith, now rated the best 9 in the world and how often he runs an arc off the back of a ruck.
South Africa had the right person at nine to play a more ‘expansive’ game. However, the execution wasn’t there. At times Hougaard failed to fix the defenders close in, but in most cases the forwards running onto the ball were too direct and failed to ‘leave late’, giving away the running line.
Thankfully Faf De Klerk emerged as one of the better performers in the Irish series and as a true ball playing half-back will be crucial to any ‘expansive’ style of play the Springboks will be looking to implement.
Selection to play off 12
Aaron Mauger, Matt Giteau and Kurtley Beale are exceptional inside centres. What makes them unique is their ball playing ability. All three give their teams the ability to play off 12. Meaning that in an attacking position they have the ability to set up play in three different areas of the pitch (9,10,12).
It opened up the game in terms of splitting defences across multiple channels. Eddie Jones is a vocal advocate of having the ability to play off 12. He showed this in his series win over Australia by moving England’s golden boy flyhalf, Owen Farrell, to inside centre. Jones also resisted the media pressure to dispose of Ben Youngs specifically because of the option he provides by being able to play off nine.
South Africa failed to embrace a ball playing 12
The inside centre position is where South Africa has fallen short in recent years and the trend continued to rear its ugly head in the incoming series against Ireland. In the past South Africa had been hamstrung by its own manufacturing glitch of producing rugby legends in batches. Jean de Villiers and Jacques Fourie are undisputedly two of the modern games greats, and that created a problem.
The problem in having them both in their prime at the same period, is the inability not to play them both. As great as Jean was, he was not a 12 that could easily be played off. He was a textbook rugby 12; immense on defence, a power runner and able to distribute well on both sides.
He was not in the Giteau, Mauger or Beale mold. He wouldn’t be able to stand in at ten if demanded and ultimately, when you want to play off 12, that is what you need.
No one can blame any coach in the world for starting as many games as humanly possible with Jean de Villiers, but with his injury woes and subsequent retirement, instead of moving towards a ball playing 12, the Springboks reverted straight back to the traditional framework in Damien De Allende.
De Allende is just more of the same
Similar to Jean, De Allende is a power runner that has plenty of pace. So he will inevitably break the line and score some pretty slick looking five pointers. But that only serves to halt the progress that South African rugby is looking for. Australia showed in the second test against England that you cannot simply bash it up and wait for the defence to give away.
De Allende has recently drawn a lot of attention at International level for not having a fluid ability to pass on both sides. Immediately this places shackles on a game plan that aspires to a more expansive structure. He has certainly set himself up to be able to fix defenders in the middle of the park, but he hasn’t shown that he has the patience or vision to fix and release into space.
Jan Serfontein, the other contender for the 12 green and gold jumper is no better as an option to play off. Howard Mnisi and Lukhanyo Am who squared off against the English Saxons for South Africa ‘A’ are nowhere near Test match level either.
Perhaps moving Elton Jantjies to 12 when Pollard returns is an option to look at. Tim Sweil would have been an ideal candidate to start working into that role, but that ship may well have sailed. Even taking into account the amount of players lost to European shores, the lack of physical, versatile ball players in South African rugby is alarming.
Springboks inside centre is the missing link
The selection and success of Faf de Klerk is a promising positive to take from the series. The biggest question mark is how long it will take Allister Coetzee to make some ballsy decisions around inside centre and put his job on the line to see the right selections on the field.
The Springboks need to have the personnel to play off nine, ten and 12. And they need runners who can leave late enough to get through the gap that has been opened up for them. Eddie Jones famously stated that there is too much thinking to do on the rugby field for players, so he does it for them.
Coetzee needs to start thinking, because only once South Africa have the right players in the right positions, can they begin to address a more expansive game plan and get to that all important final check point of winning rugby matches.
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