Ken Borland

Last weekend’s thrilling Test against the All Blacks showed that the Springboks are genuine contenders for the World Cup, but they have to be able to produce their best play for 80+ minutes and they also have to be clinical in taking points from whatever opportunities are presented to them.

A team has seldom dominated the All Blacks in almost every facet of play as much as the Springboks did at Ellis Park last weekend, but the Kiwis showed why they are the undisputed number one side and the favourites for the World Cup by somehow still engineering a victory. They did this by being ruthlessly clinical – the few chances they had to score, they took.

You know a coach is feeling the pressure when he makes 25 excuses in a dozen minutes at his post-match press conference, but there’s no doubt the last fortnight has been hugely frustrating for Heyneke Meyer as his Springbok team have shown such potential before faltering at the final hurdle in successive Tests against Australia and New Zealand.

The Springboks are injury-hit and they are not getting the crucial 50/50 decisions at the moment, but the bottom line is that they have shown a disappointing lack of composure when matches reach the critical final quarter.

In fact, the abiding feature of the Heyneke Meyer era has been the infuriating tendency of his team to play both sublime and mediocre rugby in the same match.

Solving this problem before the World Cup is obviously critical and I hope Meyer will be looking at a very interesting book which was launched this week – Creative Rugby by Dr Kobus Neethling and former Springbok captain Naas Botha.

Neethling is very well qualified in the field of brain skills and creativity and he says the book may answer the question why South Africa does not win the Rugby Championship way more often than three times in 20 years given that we have more players than New Zealand and Australia put together and wonderful talent to choose from.

As Botha pointed out at the launch, it’s very clear in this professional age that what makes the All Blacks better than the rest is what they have between their ears given that the science is there to make all international players as strong and as fast as each other.

The great flyhalf’s main gripe about South African rugby in general is that we go very overboard on game plans. He told horror stories of players who have come to him and said their coach, even at franchise level, came and told them that if they don’t put the ball under their arm and drive at the first channel then they will find someone else who will. Botha blamed the devolution of Morne Steyn from a creative, all-round flyhalf into someone considered now to just be a kicker on the strictures of game plans.

The authors added that teams need to have game plans, but that these are just a springboard because matches are fluid and sides that are stuck in their plan and can’t think on their feet don’t win.

Neethling said the work he did with Paul Treu when he was the Springboks Sevens coach proved very quickly how effective using creative thinking and knowing the brain profiles of your players can be.

The fear of losing is a very strong force in South African rugby, mostly caused by impatient fans and administrators, and it causes coaches to stick to what they know best.

When the Springboks were very close to the All Blacks’ line last weekend, against 14 men, why did they keep trying to bash through with the forwards and not try Damian de Allende, who had been bumping off defenders all game, charging through on an angled run?

The difference between the New Zealand and South African mindsets becomes very clear when you consider the local reaction to Richie McCaw’s match-winning try: instead of applauding the creativity and skill behind a clever piece of rugby, excuses were quickly sought in the law-book, trying to label the move as illegal.

I am happy, however, that Meyer is trying to innovate and is desperately trying to get his players to play what is in front of them. He drums in the importance of decision-making at every opportunity, but at times he must wonder if he has inherited from the pipeline the rugby equivalent of the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman from the Wizard of Oz …

A dangerous Toyota Cheetahs side are standing in the way of the Cell C Sharks starting their new era on a winning note when the two neighbouring franchises start their Vodacom SuperRugby campaigns at Kings Park on Saturday.

New Sharks coach Gary Gold has been preaching pragmatism ahead of the match, particularly since the Cheetahs are highly adept at punishing mistakes and he doesn’t want his players getting ahead of themselves in their efforts to play more entertaining rugby.

“The danger comes with those expectations and I don’t want the players believing that it will be easy, especially since the Cheetahs have been a bit of a nemesis for the Sharks. The way they play – they’re not conservative – means they are hard to manage.

“If we’re not on top of our game then we’ll get beaten. We need to give them respect and play properly. They’re a good team, with mobile forwards, experienced halfbacks and plenty of danger at the back. They are very capable of punishing mistakes so we need to play with some pragmatism, it’s going to be a really tough game,” Gold warned.

It seems all the talk of playing running rugby and scoring tries will have to be put aside for the time being, the intense humidity at this time of year in Durban making the ball difficult to handle, with the Sharks looking to use their obvious strength in the tight five to lay the platform.

“We need the tight five to step up and get us ascendancy in the set-pieces. That’s critical for us when conditions are going to make it hard to move the ball around,” Gold confirmed to The Citizen on Friday.

The draining effects of the sapping humidity also counts against a free-flowing game, but the Cheetahs are the sort of side that will be waiting to pounce on the slightest of chances to counter-attack.

There is the ball-stealing threat of Coenie Oosthuizen, the sniping runs of Sarel Pretorius and the trickery of Willie le Roux for the Sharks to worry about, while the Cheetahs have made up for the loss of Johan Goosen at flyhalf by selecting the experienced former Stormers fullback Joe Pietersen.

Teams

Sharks: 15-SP Marais, 14-S’bura Sithole, 13-Waylon Murray, 12-Heimar Williams, 11-Lwazi Mvovo, 10-Pat Lambie, 9-Cobus Reinach, 8-Tera Mtembu, 7-Renaldo Bothma, 6-Marcell Coetzee, 5-Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4-Mouritz Botha, 3-Jannie du Plessis, 2-Bismarck du Plessis, 1-Tendai Mtawarira. Replacements – 16-Kyle Cooper, 17-Dale Chadwick, 18-Matt Stevens, 19-Marco Wentzel, 20-Jean Deysel, 21-Conrad Hoffmann, 22-Fred Zeilinga, 23-Odwa Ndungane.

Cheetahs: 15-Willie le Roux, 14-Clayton Blommetjies, 13-Francois Venter, 12-Michael van der Spuy, 11-Raymond Rhule, 10-Joe Pietersen, 9-Sarel Pretorius, 8-Willie Britz, 7-Teboho Mohoje, 6-Jean Cook, 5-Francois Uys, 4-Lood de Jager, 3-Coenie Oosthuizen, 2-Torsten van Jaarsveld, 1-Danie Minnie. Replacements – 16-Stephan Coetzee, 17- BG Uys, 18-Maks van Dyk, 19-Carl Wegner, 20-Boom Prinsloo, 21-Tian Meyer, 22-Willie du Plessis, 23-Cornal Hendricks.

It was the four successive defeats that the Bulls suffered against the Stormers and Western Province last year that were one of the major reasons for the change in approach of the Loftus Versfeld side and the Bulls will get an early indication of how well they have reinvented themselves when they take on the Cape side on Saturday in their Vodacom SuperRugby opener in Pretoria.

The pattern of those four defeats was similar: the Bulls forwards would dominate, they would bash away against the solid Stormers/WP defence or the ball would be kicked into the opposition 22, only for the ball to be lost and Allister Coetzee’s men would roar away for a turnover try.

Bulls captain Victor Matfield said the focus during their preparations was on raising the intensity and pace of their play, making try-scoring the goal after Bulls coach Frans Ludeke has previously admitted getting penalties was the desired outcome. The Stormers almost bring Sevens skills to their attacking play and the Bulls want to follow suit.

“We’ve put in a huge effort in the pre-season and the big difference has been in our conditioning because we have to reload quicker in defence and organise our attack. We want to go out and score tries because that’s almost always how you win and most times, the team that scores the most tries wins the competition,” Matfield said.

The veteran lock acknowledged that their opponents on Saturday have given them a torrid time recently on the counter-attack, but he hoped the tables would be turned on Saturday.

“They usually have a very quick back three and Juan de Jongh is a good stepper, so they’re dangerous off turnover ball. We mustn’t give them any of that, but we hope to turn over some free ball ourselves, because that’s where the tries lie,” Matfield said.

Publicly, Coetzee has acknowledged that his inexperienced team are the underdogs at Loftus Versfeld, but there is enough class and firepower in the Stormers side for the Bulls to be wary.

They won’t lack for inspiration with Duane Vermeulen leading from the front at eighthman, a comforting presence for the five players getting their first taste of SuperRugby – wings Johnny Kotze and Dillyn Leyds, replacement back Huw Jones and front-rowers Vincent Koch and Wilco Louw.

The scrums will be the main area of concern for the Bulls on Saturday, as Ludeke admitted.

“The scrums on Saturday are going to be a test, but the game against Saracens was a blessing in disguise because it alerted us to where we need to improve. It will be a huge battle because the scrums give you field position from penalties. We get rhythm and confidence from the scrum, but every one is a new contest,” Ludeke said.

The words “field position” are a hint that the Bulls are perhaps not quite ready to go all the way down the same road as the Stormers and the danger of being caught in between game-plans certainly exists for the home side.

Teams

Bulls: 15-Jurgen Visser, 14-Bjorn Basson, 13-JJ Engelbrecht, 12-Jan Serfontein, 11-Francois Hougaard, 10-Handre Pollard, 9-Piet van Zyl, 8-Arno Botha, 7-Lappies Labuschagne, 6-Deon Stegmann, 5-Victor Matfield, 4-Jacques du Plessis, 3-Werner Kruger, 2-Adriaan Strauss, 1-Trevor Nyakane. Reserves – 16-Callie Visagie, 17-Morne Mellet, 18-Grant Hattingh, 19-Pierre Spies, 20-Rudy Paige, 21-Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 22-Jesse Kriel, 23-Dayan van der Westhuizen/Neethling Fouche.

Stormers: 15-Cheslin Kolbe, 14-Johnny Kotze, 13-Juan de Jongh, 12-Damian de Allende, 11-Dillyn Leyds, 10-Demetri Catrakilis, 9-Nic Groom, 8-Duane Vermeulen, 7-Michael Rhodes, 6-Rynhardt Elstadt, 5-Ruan Botha, 4-Jean Kleyn, 3-Vincent Koch, 2-Scarra Ntubeni, 1-Steven Kitshoff. Reserves – 16-Bongi Mbonambi, 17-Oli Kebble, 18-Wilco Louw, 19-Jurie van Vuuren, 20-Nizaam Carr, 21-Louis Schreuder, 22-Kurt Coleman, 23-Huw Jones.

Legendary Springbok flyhalf Naas Botha says he is concerned that he is not seeing Handre Pollard empowered with more decision-making responsibility in the Springbok team ahead of the World Cup.

While Botha said he was encouraged by the style of play produced by the Springboks in the last two weeks against Australia and New Zealand, both games were ultimately lost and he said better decision-making would have avoided the final-quarter fade-outs.

At the start of the final quarter against the All Blacks, South Africa laid siege to the try-line against 14 men and yet couldn’t score, with Damian de Allende, who had spent the whole match bumping tacklers off, standing unused in the backline.

“We saw that we have enough talent last weekend, but we couldn’t get over the final hurdle in the last two games. The performance against the All Blacks was totally different to what we’ve seen over the last few years, but it should have happened two years ago. Under pressure, we just need to calm down, especially in the last 10 minutes.

“But I feel strongly that the flyhalf should be empowered more. In that crucial period when we just couldn’t cross their tryline, he should make the call to change the game plan because just going to the forwards wasn’t working. But too often the ball is not going to a decision-maker, in that zone you just need to relax and allow someone to take the lead and 99% of the time that should be the flyhalf,” Botha said on Wednesday at the launch of Creative Rugby, a book he has collaborated on with Dr Kobus Neethling, an expert in the field of creative behaviour.

“Handre is a fantastic player, the Bulls’ season hurt him in terms of his confidence, but we saw last weekend that he’s getting that back, his play was good. We’re fortunate to have him, but I’d like to see him take more control. Instead of the scrumhalves kicking up-and-unders from our 22, the ball should go to him to kick long because you don’t want to play in your own half,” Botha added.

The undisputed king of flyhalf play in the 1980s said if South African rugby in general could start thinking creatively rather than going “overboard on game plans”, then the Springboks would once again be world-beaters.

“The All Blacks scored a creative try to win the Test, that 74^th-minute lineout has to be called creative, and the first thing we do is question the legality with Law such-and-such. All international players are equally strong and fast these days, what makes you better then is what you have between the ears. Our players just need to play what is in front of them more.

“We need to think differently. In South Africa, if a team wins they say it’s because they stuck to the game plan, then if they lose it’s because they didn’t stick to the game plan. But great players become bad players because of game plans. You can’t just rock up without a plan, but that should just be a guide, we tend to go overboard on game plans.

“Five years later we’re still doing what worked before, we’re stuck while everybody else has moved on. We have to start thinking differently and think outside the box,” Botha said.