Rugby World Cup 2015: Boks upbeat

Published Jul 30, 2015

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The Rugby World Cup kicks off in 50 days time in England. The Springboks will enter the tournament as one of the favourites, but they’ll face some tough opposition in their quest to collect a third Webb Ellis Trophy. Rugby writer Jacques van der Westhuyzen looks at the state the Boks find themselves in.

Five reasons to feel upbeat :

A winning goodbye

While some will wonder what motivation the likes of Victor Matfield, Fourie du Preez, Bryan Habana, JP Pietersen, Jean de Villiers, Schalk Burger and Jannie du Plessis will have in England, considering they’ve all already won the World Cup (in 2007), the reality is they’re hungry to do so again. Many of the Boks feel they were done an injustice against Australia in the quarter-finals four years ago and want to set the record straight. Also, it’s doubtful we’ll see any of these men in the green and gold again, let alone at a World Cup, so they’ll be pumped up to go out on a high. Having a crack in England is the only reason why Matfield came out of retirement, why De Villiers has sacrificed so much to get fit again and why Burger played on after nearly dying because of illness.

Returning stalwarts

The Boks have lacked somewhat in the experience department in recent weeks, with the bench especially a little thin on players who offer something different. Duane Vermeulen’s absence has been massive, but when he returns, together with a fit and hungry De Villiers and Du Preez the matchday squad will be significantly strengthened. Add in Pieter-Steph du Toit, Matfield, possibly Willem Alberts and a versatile front row forward in Coenie Oosthuizen, and it looks as if Heyneke Meyer will be able to field a very strong outfit, with a good balance between youth and experience.

Attacking mindset

With greater emphasis now on the breakdown the Boks have become one of the better counter-attacking teams in the game, with several men standing out as ball-stealers in Test matches.

It’s certainly no longer the job of just the openside flank, with the likes of Vermeulen and Bismarck du Plessis often winning ball on the ground. And with men like Handré Pollard, Damian de Allende, Jesse Kriel and Willie le Roux in the backs the Boks are looking to spread the ball and attack the gain-line far more often than was the case some years ago.

This is one of the reasons why the Boks are up there with the leading try-scoring teams in the game.

Recent performances

Sure the Boks might not have beaten Australia and New Zealand in their most recent outings, but they had both teams under pressure for long periods and with a little more luck and better finishing Meyer’s team could easily have bagged two wins. Most encouragingly the Boks were strong in the set-pieces and also dominated the breakdowns – two areas of critical importance on the heavier fields of England. While some might feel the Boks are “spooked” by New Zealand especially, Meyer’s men will know they have the game and the players to rattle the No1 team in the world.

Injection of youth

It’s amazing how much criticism Meyer’s had to endure for not picking young players, but in Pollard, De Allende and Kriel, he’s selected men under the age of 24 and the 10, 12, 13 combination has shown it can take on and beat the best. Lood de Jager (22) and Eben Etzebeth (23) have been brilliantly at lock in the absence of the wily Matfield, while Le Roux is only 25 and props Frans Malherbe (24), Vincent Koch (25) and Trevor Nyakane (26) are hardly “oldies”. Cobus Reinach is 25 and Oupa Mohoje 24. The younger players have certainly brought a new energy to the team.

Five reasons to feel glum :

The last 12 months

Momentum is crucial going into a big tournament and the Boks have had very little of it over the last year. They’ve also not got into what coaches call a “winning habit”. In the last 12 months the Boks have won just six of their 12 Test matches, so it’s been a

rather up and down build-up to the World Cup. Since the start of the Rugby Championship in 2014 Meyer’s men have squeaked past Argentina (13-6 and 33-31), lost to Australia and New Zealand away from home, lost to Ireland and Wales, also away from home, and lost to Australia and New Zealand this year. They also just edged England (31-28) and battled past Italy (22-6) in November.

Injuries

For whatever reason, several Bok players have seemingly suffered serious and frequent injuries more than players from elsewhere. It is something that has halted the team’s growth and development and prevented Meyer from fielding his strongest team this year. And, it doesn’t matter how many players return from their problems in the next few weeks, the reality is a first choice Bok team won’t be as tight-knit as Meyer would like it to be. Also, just when it seems the situation is improving other players are struck down, most recently Francois Louw and Jannie du Plessis. With two matches to come before the World Cup, there could well be more injuries on the way.

Match fitness

Meyer has lamented the Boks poor conditioning and fitness in recent weeks – mainly because they let slip good leads against Australia and New Zealand – and now a concerted effort is underway to get the players up to speed before they arrive in England.

The problem is many of the players returning from injury lay-offs will start the World Cup having played little or no rugby at all in the weeks leading up to the tournament. One’s got to wonder how sharp and switched on these players will be; because there’s a big difference between running around on a training ground and playing 80 minutes of Test rugby.

B.M.T

It’s interesting how good Meyer’s predictions have been about the closeness of his team’s matches against the game’s big boys. He knows there’s very little between the sides and that the majority of matches against the likes of Australia, New Zealand and England are settled in the final 10 minutes.

But while the Boks have won their fair share of close encounters in recent times and shown they possess an ability to close out games, they still seem to battle to land the knock-out blow, especially when they have the opposition on the ropes. It’s something Meyer will hope comes good in England because the Boks have lost too many games by not taking their chances.

Kicking

If Meyer’s mentioned the word “conditioning” a hundred times in the last three years, he’s talked about tactical kicking a thousand times. He’s often stated the Boks are simply not up to scratch in this area; that New Zealand are streets ahead of his team, and he’d be right. It’s something the Boks have failed to get right, with players far too often kicking the ball away simply because they’ve no other option. It’s played into the opposition’s hands, who’ve counter-attacked and transferred the pressure onto the Boks. If there’s one thing the likes of Pollard, Du Preez, Le Roux, Pat Lambie and Ruan Pienaar must work on it’s kicking. - The Star

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