On Friday, rugby writer Wynona Louw listed three areas from the Springboks’ World Cup opener against the All Blacks that she wanted to see improvement in against Namibia. Here are the three learnings she wanted the Boks to implement against their neighbours.
1. Basic scrumhalf duties
Against Namibia, Herschel Jantjies’ box kicks were really impressive, while his service off the base was as crisp and fine as we have come to expect. And again, seeing as Rassie Erasmus persists with the box-kick tactic, I’d imagine the performance from Jantjies in that regard is the kind of play he has in mind when he instructs his scrummy to put ball to boot.
2. Adapt, and keep adapting
It’s rather difficult to judge the Boks’ performance in this regard as they didn’t have much adapting to do... unsurprisingly, Namibia just didn’t put them under pressure. In Yokohama, the Boks struggled to adapt to New Zealand’s tactics once they got going. The main thing one could probably fault in terms of adapting to the game’s demands is how the Boks struggled with their finishing and all the handling errors they made. They did, however, have almost all the possession.
3. Make those changes
In their opener, a few Bok players should probably have been replaced much sooner, while Frans Steyn could also have contributed to the game, yet he wasn’t used at all. In their 57-3 whipping of Namibia, there were no on-field welcomes overstayed, and when the bench did get into things, Damian de Allende was particularly pleasing, while Siya Kolisi looked much better than he did against the Kiwis, with the quality of his carrying and top support play showing that all he needs to get back to his best are minutes.
@WynonaLouw
Cape Times
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