Ken Borland

The Springboks were so structured and controlled in the first half of the first Test against the British and Irish Lions in Cape Town, but their coach Jacques Nienaber admitted that they lost all their shapes in the second half as they succumbed to a 22-17 defeat.

South Africa looked in control in the first half as they racked up a 12-3 lead, but then ironically, the Lions turned the tables and overwhelmed the Springboks by using the same tactics they are famous for against them. With the Lions going back to the basics and using the rolling maul and a precise kicking game, they transformed the match.

Hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie opened the second half with a try from a maul and although the Springboks managed to scramble their way over the tryline twice thereafter, only one of them was legitimate.

From then on the Lions dictated the terms as they dominated the kicking battle and mauled with great effectiveness.

“It was the kicking game and they dominated there and that gave them territory and broken play. Our cohesion was good in the first half but we just did not have parity in the air in the second half. If Damian de Allende had scored then the result is in the balance, but we know any team coached by Warren Gatland has a massive kicking game, we just weren’t as good in the second half.

“We tried to keep on doing what we had been doing, being on the right side of the field, doing what you do to create penalties. But then we started giving stupid penalties away in the mauls. It was not a great second half and we have to be sharper and make sure we work on our communication.  We need to work on what was not good in the second half,” Nienaber said.

The aerial battle and the discipline of the Springboks are the two major areas they need to improve on, Nienaber and captain Siya Kolisi both said.

“We know teams coached by Warren Gatland always have a massive kicking game, but our execution was not as good in the second half. The two big areas we need to sort out for the second Test are our discipline, which was not good in the second half and gave them opportunities to get into our half.

“We were also not so good in the air and they got a big advantage from those loose balls. We will have to have a look at why that happened,” Nienaber said.

Springbok captain Siya Kolisi on Friday pronounced himself 100% ready to give everything and inspire his team to do the same in the first Test against the British and Irish Lions in Cape Town on Saturday.

Kolisi played in the Test against Georgia but then missed the two SA A games due to a brush with Covid, and questions have been asked in some, largely foreign, quarters over his readiness for what will certainly be an all-out game of Test rugby.

“I’ve had a good build-up. Obviously it was tough testing positive and going through isolation and everything, but I was involved in every meeting and looking at the team’s preparation. And then I felt really good when I went back to training because fortunately I did not have any Covid symptoms. I was fine by the second day and after that it was all just mental being isolated in my room.

“The coaches know if I get tired, they are very good at noticing that and making substitutions a the right time, and they will definitely take me off. But I know what our bench can do, we have depth and they will turn it up even more, so I won’t be holding back, I am going to give it my absolute all on the field. My focus is just on the stuff I can control and I have a very big job on the field,” Kolisi said on Friday.

Particularly in the northern hemisphere, there have been whispers that the Springboks’ World Cup triumph was somehow a fluke and they should not be considered the best team in the world anymore. The 2007 World Cup champion Springboks were extremely motivated to beat the Lions in 2009 just to counter any such suggestions themselves and Kolisi hinted that his outfit are using similar fuel to fire them up.

“I spoke to John Smit last night and we have the same mindset as the 2007 side. We have come through many challenges, guys have been out for a long time with injuries and we have worked hard to get here. It’s rare to get this opportunity to play against the Lions again, most of us won’t. So we really want to win and we will give everything for that result.

“It’s going to be all about whose plan comes out on top and our plan hasn’t changed at all. It’s going to be about who is able to adapt and enforce their game-plan for 80 minutes. Our fitness levels and plans are there. We are also in a place of privilege to put smiles on peoples’ faces when unfortunately the country is not doing well, and that drives us even more,” Kolisi said.

Utility forward Rynhardt Elstadt says he is greatly honoured to be part of the Springbok ‘Bomb Squad’ and when he comes off the bench in the first Test against the British and Irish Lions in Cape Town on Saturday he and his fellow replacements will be chasing even greater intensity and physicality.

South Africa used their eight substitutes – generally choosing an extra forward reserve and just two backs – to great effect in winning the World Cup in 2019. But with several backline players having question marks over their fitness, coach Jacques Nienaber has gone with a standard five-three split on this occasion. Their instructions will be the same though, according to Elstadt, who narrowly missed out on the squad that triumphed in Japan two years ago.

“It’s an honour for me, it’s called the ‘Bomb Squad’ for a reason and us guys coming off the bench have an important role. We need to raise the intensity of whoever we are replacing left it off and we need to bring more physicality. I hope I live up to the standard and do even more, and I just don’t want to drop my team-mates.

“I like the physicality side of the game, and it’s not just myself in the team who likes that. My role when I come on is to climb in. I’m not a particularly big ball-carrier, but my job is to do the donkey work to make sure we get good ball and also to stop the opposition’s momentum,” Elstadt said.

The 31-year-old Elstadt, who will earn his third cap on Saturday, has the responsibility of covering both loose forward and lock, especially with specialist lock replacement Lood de Jager having not played any rugby since April and having tested positive for Covid at the start of the month.

Other rookies in the Springbok squad who have key roles are Ox Nche and Kwagga Smith.

Nche, who has also just played in two Tests previously, will start at loosehead prop against Tadhg Furlong, the Irishman who many rate as the best tighthead prop in the world. While Nche’s greatest assets are probably in open play, and mobility is also going to be very important against this Lions team, his first job is to ensure a steady scrum for the Springboks.

Smith replaces the injured Duane Vermeulen at eighthman and, as much as Nienaber said the mobile 25-year-old could do the same job in terms of getting and stopping momentum as the World Cup final man of the match, there is little doubt the former Springbok Sevens star has been picked to use his pace and ball-hunting skills to counter the Lions in the wide channels.

It’s been a tough time of late for Springbok centre Damian de Allende, who has revealed for the first time just how bad the burn injuries were that threatened to keep him out of the Test series against the British and Irish Lions which begins on Saturday.

While with his club Munster last month, De Allende suffered burn injuries in a firepit accident involving petrol, that also injured fellow Springbok RG Snyman, Mike Haley and CJ Stander. Snyman seems to have suffered the worst from the mishap as he is still receiving treatment and is not part of the South African camp yet.

”I’m really grateful it wasn’t worse than it was. RG got the worst of it and I still feel really sorry for him, he has gone through a lot. It was bit of a shock, lying in hospital, on morphine and then when that wore off, the pain struck. And that’s when you realise how bad it was.

“Then it’s been tough playing two games in a week, but it was good to get some game time. It was tough emotionally to lose the second game against the Bulls, but at least our bodies and minds have now been through two tough battles in one week. I’m grateful too for this whole week to prepare for the first Test,” De Allende said.

And as much as Lions coach Warren Gatland was raving about all the different selection options his team had for the first Test in Cape Town, De Allende said the home side were delighted to have almost a full deck of World Cup winners to choose from.

“It’s nice to play again with all the guys, we haven’t done that since the World Cup two years ago, and it makes a massive difference. If we had had to make a lot of changes, then it would have been quite tough for us,” the 29-year-old said.

The same sense of unity and sacrifice for each other that was evident in Japan in 2019 was once again to the fore in the 10 minutes either side of halftime in the SA A game against the Lions, when De Allende and company repelled wave-after-wave of attack with just 13 men on the field. It was all hands on deck in terms of defence and they conceded just the one try.

“If you play at international level then that’s the work ethic and physicality that’s required. At the highest level, the pressure is always on, and when you’re on the back foot, you need to stick up your hands, work as hard as you can and put your bodies on the line. A lot of other teams show the same desire, but it was exceptional defence.

“It doesn’t just come naturally, it shows that we really want to work for each other and leave everything out on the field,” De Allende said.