Cape Town - The 41-13 beating the Springboks received from the All Blacks is just what the South Africans needed, and it hopefully will inspire coach Allister Coetzee to act upon the many shortcomings in his set-up.
Yes, there were some good moments in the first half at the AMI Stadium in Christchurch on Saturday, but don’t let that fool you – the real gulf between the Boks and the world champions was laid bare in the second 40 minutes.
It was a typical effort from the Boks as they were all fire and brimstone initially and even got in between the New Zealand backline to force errors.
But that power game only lasts so long and is usually outworked by tactical appreciation, speed and skill, and all those elements were combined by the Kiwis as they romped home by six tries to one.
Here are some of the problems that have been prevalent for the Boks throughout 2016, and cost them dearly on Saturday again – Tendai Mtawarira and Adriaan Strauss hardly contribute in the loose, on attack and defence, through work-rate; loose forwards Francois Louw, Oupa Mohoje and Warren Whiteley operate as individuals and not as a loose trio in unison; Faf de Klerk and Elton Jantjies make too many silly mistakes to be taken seriously as a Test halfback combination; and the centre combination is not gelling either.
While Louw won a few turnovers on the ground, he was missing in action the rest of the time, and Coetzee cannot continue to justify his selection ahead of Jaco Kriel any longer. Compare Louw to the impact that New Zealand’s openside flank Ardie Savea had on Saturday, and you’ll soon realise just how much more the Boks would benefit if they had Kriel on the field.
While De Klerk impressed in his first few games with his quick service and big ball-and-all tackles, both of those aspects have disappeared from his game. He was caught with the ball time and again at the back of the ruck by the All Blacks, which is a “momentum killer” and destroyed any chance the Boks had of finding width on attack.
There were some promising situations in the first half whenever there was a quick clearance from De Klerk, and it played a significant role in Bryan Habana going over for his SA record 66th Test try. Following Johan Goosen’s break up the middle, De Klerk passed almost immediately from every ruck and there was clarity in his decision-making.
But when you gift the All Blacks tries by knocking-on at the kickoff, like Jantjies did, or throwing a wayward pass inside your 22 – as Goosen did – then you don’t stand a chance of winning the game.
Fullback Goosen was effective when he came into the line with ball-in-hand, but he just makes too many handling errors to be a Test No 15.
And there is most definitely a serious problem in the defensive organisation. Bok defence coach Chean Roux went from Varsity Cup rugby straight into the national set-up under Heyneke Meyer as a technical advisor, and has now taken over the defence duties from the departed Jacques Nienaber (who joined Rassie Erasmus at Munster in Ireland).
Why wasn’t a specialist defence coach brought in to replace Nienaber?
There were so many holes in the Bok line that the All Blacks could almost pick and choose where they wanted to go. The Kiwis got a lot of space down the blindside in particular as the South Africans employed a staggered “slide” defence instead of coming up in a straight line.
A small consolation is that it wasn’t a total blow-out for the Boks – as some may have expected after last week’s loss to the Wallabies. There were some positives, such as Malcolm Marx’s ball-carrying (although missing three lineouts is unacceptable), Vincent Koch was a force at tighthead, Pieter-Steph du Toit was dynamic at No 5 and Habana and Francois Hougaard were lively when they got the ball.
There was also some enterprising intent from the backs on attack, but their execution let them down.
The problem areas can be fixed with selection and a rethink of the defence, which was all at sea. But the major factor that has been holding the Boks back in 2016 is Coetzee’s reluctance to act and change things up.
Surely Coetzee’s eyes must have been opened by Saturday’s performance and result? If not, expect more of the same in the return games against the Wallabies and All Blacks on SA soil in October…
POINTS-SCORERS
All Blacks – Tries: Israel Dagg, Julian Savea, Ben Smith, Ardie Savea, Sam Whitelock, TJ Perenara. Conversions: Beauden Barrett (4). Penalty: Barrett (1).
Springboks – Try: Bryan Habana. Conversion: Elton Jantjies (1). Penalties: Jantjies (2).