Ken Borland

Obviously the weather dictated the way the third Test between the Springboks and England was played at Newlands last weekend and the fact that it was very wet could be seen by the way the Impi warrior slipped at the start of the game.

When conditions are very treacherous like that then it becomes an arm-wrestle and there were a lot of box-kicks from scrumhalf. England’s were far more accurate, with Faf de Klerk kicking the ball further but Ben Youngs’ kicks were more contestable, and the Springboks dropped quite a few of these.

England were also quite clever in naming Mike Brown on the wing but he played fullback on defence, he was interchangeable. He fielded most of the high balls and is a bit heavier and more robust than Elliot Daly. Taking high balls is Brown’s strength and he became more and more comfortable under them as the game went on.

The inaccuracy of the Springbok kicking game was their one big problem, but they also played an adventurous attacking game in the wet . Elton Jantjies did not have his best Test, but you have to credit England for putting him under pressure. Some subtle late hits meant he always felt the heat and it upset his rhythm. All the targets were on him and Nathan Hughes was always directly right on him. And when England carried the ball, the first hit was often on Jantjies and the second runner close which was why they gained momentum through direct simple two-phase attack.

England again defended the rolling maul very well and the Springboks’ drive did not function as well as it did previously. The English were able to separate the supporter from the jumper so the maul could not get set and they could not get any momentum. The Springboks also lost a couple of lineouts through poor calls.

With the scrum not able to function at its best either, there was no real set-piece platform, which made it difficult for Jantjies as Erasmus himself alluded to.

The penalty count against the Springboks was also very high, which is not usual for teams under Rassie Erasmus, they are normally well-disciplined. There were things we’ve never seen before at the breakdown and they were really given a lesson there by England, who won many turnovers because they were able to isolate the carrier and get over the ball. Tom Curry made some good steals and because of the wet it brings the slower guys into the game. On the highveld, England weren’t quick enough and could not get over the ball often enough.

There were a lot of positives from the series in terms of transformation, but the negative is that this was one of our worst periods of June internationals. This year the Springboks won just two of their four midyear Tests, 50% is well below average.

Both defeats came when conditions were not perfect, which speaks to the Springboks failing to adapt to conditions that were outside their comfort zone.

In the whole period from 2012 to 2015, the Springboks only lost two games against the north which was an exceptional record. So the Northern Hemisphere have definitely improved as we can see by England’s results and Ireland winning in Australia. The margins were very tight in both series and all three Tests were on a knife-edge.

In the wet, both defences were more secure than they had been before in the series and both the tries at Newlands came from grubber kicks, a perfectly-executed one by Warrick Gelant and England’s try set up by Danny Cipriani. Because of that, one needs to look at where the fullbacks were?

The other positives for the Springboks were that they showed tremendous character to come back from big deficits in their two wins and Duane Vermeulen’s form was outstanding. Siya Kolisi’s captaincy and the fact that the team was so transformed has laid down a marker, which is why the long-term contract for Erasmus is so important, it gives him the luxury of having time to build something special.
RG Snyman has also added really well to the lock stocks, he’s very explosive at the front of the lineout, making a nuisance of himself, and South Africa’s set-pieces as a whole were good in the first two Tests and the attack has been really good in both highveld Tests when they have shown a real willingness to have a go.
There are a few weaknesses that the Springboks need to fix though.

Their backline defence out wide and the connection between 13 and both the two wings and the fullback needs work, as does their attacking breakdown, where they were badly exposed in this last Test. They also need to handle the high ball better, especially with Tests against Australia and New Zealand coming up. England have a new attack coach, so it would have been a priority to get his ideas in place – scoring tries and keeping ball in hand – which is possibly why the tourists did not use this tactic more, until the weather forced them to in Cape Town.

The Springboks now turn their attention to the Rugby Championship, where they come up first against Argentina. They can possibly try a few combinations because the Pumas have had a really bad run which has seen coach Daniel Hourcade replaced.

One year out from the World Cup and Australian sides have also struggled in SuperRugby and the Wallabies lost to Ireland, so South Africa are actually in a good position going into the tougher championship having given a large number of new caps experience of international rugby 15 months out from the World Cup.

John McFarland won three SuperRugby titles (2007, 09, 10) with the Bulls and five Currie Cup crowns with the Blue Bulls as their defence coach. In all, he won 28 trophies during his 12 years at Loftus Versfeld.

He is currently the assistant coach of the Kubota Spears in Japan and was the Springbok defence coach from 2012 through to the 2015 World Cup, where they conceded the least line-breaks in the tournament and an average of just one try per game.