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.

The British media have been gleefully pointing out how little rugby the Springboks have had against top-tier opposition since winning the World Cup in November 2019, but coach Jacques Nienaber has found haven in being able to select so many of the players who won that final for the first Test against the British and Irish Lions in Cape Town on Saturday.

Nienaber announced a Springbok team on Tuesday in which only six of the 23 players were not on the field on that heady evening in Yokohama. Starting loosehead Ox Nche and replacement flank Rynhardt Elstadt are the only players who were not part of the triumphant World Cup squad.

“Without any Test rugby in 2020 and limited preparation games now, obviously selecting players who have been in the system is quite important. That experience, to have over 500 Test caps in the starting team and more than 700 in the squad of 23, is what we’re looking for. These are guys who have been here before, they understand the pressure they will be under.

“And there will be immense pressure, so it’s great to have players who have experienced it before. This is the real thing and we are going to need calm, steady heads. I think we are going to have new pictures thrown our way by the Lions and will be forced to make solutions on the field. One of the big challenges is that the Lions have a very versatile squad that can play in multiple styles,” Nienaber said on Tuesday.

Amongst the backs, there have been fitness question marks over Handre Pollard, Makazole Mapimpi and Damian de Allende, so Nieneaber has decided not to field the Bomb Squad 6-2 split on the bench. He understandably has confidence the forward replacements – Steven Kitshoff, Malcolm Marx, Frans Malherbe, Lood de Jager and Elstadt – will be able to man up to whatever the Lions pack throws at them.

“Handre has not played a lot of rugby and he’s just come back from Covid, Makazole is the same. If we were fully confident about them then we could have gone with a 6-2 split. It’s probably just not the right time to only have two backs on the bench. We are comfortable with a 6-2 split, we will go with it again, but there just wasn’t the opportunity for this specific game.

“We’re not 100% sure everyone will last the whole 80 minutes because, due to Covid, some of them have not been exposed to much rugby for quite some time. The bench might only come on for 20 minutes, but it will happen the moment a player on the field is not producing his required role due to tiredness. We look to the subs when the performance starts to drop off,” Nienaber explained.

As selections go, it is a vote of confidence in the tried and tested, even if that means a gamble on recent returnees like captain Siya Kolisi, De Jager and Mapimpi. Given the opposition and the question marks over their preparation, it would be silly for the Springboks not to look at their World Cup winners.

Springbok team: Willie le Roux, Cheslin Kolbe, Lukhanyo Am, Damian de Allende, Makazole Mapimpi, Handré Pollard (vice-captain), Faf de Klerk, Kwagga Smith, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi (captain), Franco Mostert, Eben Etzebeth, Trevor Nyakane, Bongi Mbonambi, Ox Nché. Replacements – Malcolm Marx, Steven Kitshoff, Frans Malherbe, Lood de Jager, Rynhardt Elstadt, Herschel Jantjies, Elton Jantjies, Damian Willemse.

Bulls coach Jake White says the Lions team they will meet at Ellis Park on Saturday are a dangerous try-scoring force because of a mix of returning to their old way of playing and the open nature of the Currie Cup this year.

The Lions have climbed to fourth on the log and have scored four tries in four of their seven matches, including 12 tries in their last two games. It has been reminiscent of the triumphant era under former coach Johan Ackermann between 2013 and 2017, when they dominated South African rugby with their expansive style and fluent attacking play.

“Looking at where the Lions are on the log, I have no doubt that they will try and score as many tries as they can. They are the one team who has really troubled us before our last game at Loftus three weeks ago and we struggled in our last match at Ellis Park in May. But as long as we are aware of the challenge, we should be okay.

“I think having guys like Warren Whiteley and Julian Redelinghuys involved in the coaching, the Lions will play like they used to. I am sure they are pushing that style of play because they had massive success with that as players. But the competition itself is also going like that with referees being very strict on certain aspects that create more space.

“That allows teams to have more of a go and the conditions we’re playing in – in the afternoon – it’s like school rugby, at the best time of day. So it’s not only the Lions scoring a lot of tries, ball-in-play time is up to 36-38 minutes and that shows the tempo of the games, the pace and the skill levels. It’s nice for everyone,” White said on Friday.

Nevertheless, White has decided to make nine changes to his starting line-up for the match and is confident he can get full value out of swapping his bench players and his starters from the weekend win over Griquas.

“You always want the best players on the park, but I’m comfortable these guys will bring energy. Hopefully we can use the bench wisely, they are there if we need them, or we can even spare them if the starters have played well enough. We have a nice fresh team which is important because we could have 12 consecutive weeks of play later on.

“We don’t want to get caught short in two months time with injuries and having to select players who have not played enough. I rate all the guys coming in very highly, they are very good rugby players, and you don’t only want to give them a chance when the game is already won. The end of the game is different because there’s more fatigue. We want to grow our depth and confidence,” White said.

Bulls team – 15-David Kriel, 14-Madosh Tambwe, 13-Lionel Mapoe, 12-Harold Vorster, 11-Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10-Chris Smith, 9-Keagan Johannes, 8-WJ Steenkamp, 7-Muller Uys, 6-Arno Botha, 5-Janko Swanepoel, 4-Walt Steenkamp, 3-Jacques van Rooyen, 2-Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 1-Simphiwe Matanzima. Replacements: 16-Schalk Erasmus, 17-Gerhard Steenekamp, 18-Mornay Smith, 19-Ruan Nortje, 20-Elrigh Louw, 21-Zak Burger, 22-Johan Goosen, 23-Stedman Gans.

It is going to be a nervous week for Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber ahead of the first Test against the British and Irish Lions in Cape Town because, as the disappointing performance of the SA A pack against the Bulls showed, if anything more goes amiss with his first-choice line-up then the home side are going to be seriously vulnerable.

Nienaber has claimed that not even he knows when the likes of captain Siya Kolisi, ace flyhalf Handre Pollard and wing Makazole Mapimpi will clear their Covid protocols. The availability of those three players will be his foremost concern this week, but there are other departments that are looking a bit thin at the moment too.

While Kolisi’s absence, alongside that of Duane Vermeulen, leaves Pieter-Steph du Toit to marshal an inexperienced loose trio, the situation at lock is even more concerning. Franco Mostert and Eben Etzebeth are the first-choice pairing and both have been outstanding in the warm-ups. But, with Lood de Jager and RG Snyman not yet fit, their back-ups – Marvin Orie, Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg and Jean-Luc du Preez – have been underwhelming.

Frans Malherbe being Covid-positive has raised questions about the depth at tighthead prop and, while Steven Kitshoff is consistently excellent in the No.1 jersey, who the loosehead prop replacement is going to be is an interesting question with Ox Nche reportedly also being infected with the virus.

There is good news at hooker though with the reported returns to training of Bongi Mbonambi and Scarra Ntubeni meaning Nienaber will not have to field the uncapped Joseph Dweba or Fez Mbatha off the bench.

Elton Jantjies looked in solid form against the Bulls and is an experienced campaigner who can step in for Pollard, while Sbu Nkosi or Aphelele Fassi are both capable stand-ins for Mapimpi. Scrumhalf Cobus Reinach and eighthman Kwagga Smith were the other players who were blameless in the weekend loss, but both were not overly impressed with the quality of performance put up by SA A.

“We had a lot of opportunities that were not taken, instead of being simple we tried something that was not on too often. It’s important to not go out of alignment as a squad, we all have to do our job and we need to put our game-plan on them. There were small individual things that were good, but we did not collectively stamp ourselves on the Bulls,” Reinach said.

“It was an opportunity to get some game-time, which we have not had a lot of, and we knew the Bulls would be desperate, but I think we underestimated how much they wanted to prove a point. We didn’t dominate up front and that’s where the trouble started. We lacked that bit of x-factor and there were a lot of mistakes. We need to sharpen up and get the basics right,” Smith said.