By Jacques van der Westhuyzen
Dublin - How ironic that a man who knows the Springboks inside out played such a huge role in John Smit's men losing to Ireland 15-10 here at Croke Park on Saturday.
Before the match, Smit, Victor Matfield and coach Peter de Villiers all spoke of how Gert Smal's knowledge of the Boks would assist the Irish. They couldn't have known, though, just how much that information would set the Boks back.
Ireland dominated the lineouts, an area of the game the South Africans pride themselves on and which has been so successful for them over the years, but on Saturday it was the hosts who stood tall at the set-piece, leaving the Boks with one of their key attacking platforms in tatters.
Continues Below ↓
'They were counting with us before the ball was thrown in' Smal, who coached Matfield and Smit for four years until the World Cup triumph in 2007, is now the forwards boss of Ireland.
Matfield on Sunday singled out Smal as playing a crucial role in Ireland getting the better of the Boks as the visitors here ended their November tour of Europe with a fourth defeat from five matches.
"After the first two line-outs, I realised Gert must have taught the Irish guys some Afrikaans," said Matfield. "They were counting with us before the ball was thrown in. He knows our calls so well. We changed things at half-time and while it improved a bit in the second half, it wasn't a good day for us. In fact, it's the worst line-out display I've ever experienced. We contested well enough, but our own ball was a shocker."
With Paul O'Connell and Donncha O'Callaghan leading the way, Ireland got the better of the Boks in the one department where they've reigned supreme for so long. So disrupted were the Boks that rarely did they win line-out ball on Saturday and drive with the forwards.
But there were other areas, too, where the Boks failed to make an impression.
'There was not much in that game'
Continues...
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
