Cape Town – When the Springboks lose, they tend to retreat into their shell and come out with a safety-first, conservative approach.
But loose forward Warren Whiteley has urged his teammates to continue to “believe” in the more attacking style of play that Bok coach Allister Coetzee is trying to implement following the 26-20 first Test defeat to Ireland at Newlands on Saturday night.
The Boks created a number of try-scoring chances, but seemed to run out of ideas when they got into the Irish half and even the 22, with Coetzee bemoaning the way his backs were too lateral with ball-in-hand.
In addition, most of the ball-carriers sought contact instead of trying to utilise the space the Irish had offered out wide after CJ Stander was sent off in the 23rd minute. But Whiteley said at the team hotel in Cape Town on Sunday that the players can turn things around in Saturday’s second Test at Ellis Park.
“You need to believe in what you do and you need to stick to it. Coach Allister spoke about that last night, and we believe in his vision and his plan. And we are 100 percent in it. We are going to work extremely hard. We know that we let him down as a coach in his first Test match at Newlands. We let ourselves down and we let the country down, so we need to rectify it as players,” the Lions captain said.
“We definitely created opportunities to score. We probably just ran across the field too much and we didn’t straighten well enough. It’s difficult to say if that (cause) is (a lack of) time together, but I know that we will get that right and are definitely going to work on that this week. There was space and we just didn’t exploit it properly.
“They implemented a drift defence and we didn’t straighten enough, so once we can get that right, we can exploit the space out wide. But we first need to keep them honest by running straight.”
Coetzee said that the Boks were tactically naïve at times and didn’t utilise the chip kick into space often enough, and said that he was going to look into why that didn’t happen and said that Jantjies had felt that the Irish had covered that space.
But Whiteley said his franchise pivot had the ability to vary his play. “Elton can play both games. I’ve played so many games with him and he’s tactically an intelligent player. He’s someone that attacks the line flat, and you could see that last night,” he said.
“He was asking questions of the defence, but he can also put the ball in behind them – we’ve seen that in Super Rugby numerous times, with his cross-kicks and little kicks in behind. Tactically he is a very smart player and I believe he can play both games.
“The main thing is to stay tight as a team and keep believing. We know there is a lot of disappointment, but you need to get back on that bus on Monday and need to keep working hard.”
Whiteley replaced Francois Louw after 56 minutes and had to play at blindside flank instead of his usual No 8 position, and made a few inroads into the Irish defence with good footwork.
Coetzee wants the skilful Lions star to come on when the game opens up a bit, and it might result in him getting more game time on his ground next Saturday.
“There was definitely a lot of space and opportunities when I came on, and we didn’t just quite finish our opportunities. We are doing the hard work and creating the opportunities, and it’s definitely going to get better with time and we are going to find each other,” Whiteley said.
“At times there were quite a lot of stoppages in the game, a lot of scrum resets and time taken to set the scrums. I would think that’s to their advantage, being a northern-hemisphere side and us playing a more fast-paced Super Rugby.
“So for us to play at a high intensity is absolutely crucial, and also for our game plan to work effectively, we need to play at a high intensity. It is nice to be at Ellis Park – there’s so much history and we always have fantastic support there. But it doesn’t matter where we play or the opposition, we need to bring the performance.”
Meanwhile, Bok team doctor Konrad von Hagen confirmed on Sunday that Pat Lambie had not suffered any serious injury after his clash with Stander led to him being taken off on a stretcher, but that he would miss the second Test with concussion.
Lambie will be monitored and could be available for the final Test in Port Elizabeth. The Bok management are set to call up a flyhalf replacement, with Morné Steyn and Johan Goosen the strong contenders, with Steyn the probable choice due to his experience and goal-kicking prowess.
Garth April is the other flyhalf in the squad, but Coetzee is unlikely to hand him his Test debut with the series on the line in Johannesburg.
@IndyCapeSport