Ken Borland

Connacht, aided by the wind at their backs, broke free in the second half of their United Rugby Championship match against the Bulls at The SportsGround in Galway to turn a 10-7 halftime lead into a thumping 34-7 win on Friday night.

While the Bulls certainly rattled the home side in the first half, scoring first and causing their defence many anxious moments, their inability to adapt at the breakdowns and their inaccuracy in that key department gave Connacht too much free turnover ball and the Irish side were slick in capitalising. The Bulls were too quick to go off their feet at the rucks and were heavily penalised.

“We had enough chances in the first half and in the second half we were up against it because they understand how to play here with the wind pumping and the rain coming down, we struggled to get up the hill, there’s a significant rise and a slope down there in the corner where we got trapped,” Bulls coach Jake White said after the game.

“But we’ve got to adapt, there were a couple of calls that went against us, they had the rub of the green like winning a vital toss in cricket, but we turned ball over in our own half.

“It’s all about learning how to adapt to another environment, it’s as simple as that. The reality is we were not good in conditions that did not suit us, we weren’t accurate, we lost a lot of ball at the back of rucks.

“We’re away from home and we just have to learn and find a way to win. You could see the spring in Connacht’s step when they were 10-7 up at halftime and they knew we had not done enough in the first half,” White said.

Frustrated by how often they were penalised at the attacking breakdown, the Bulls called into service the box-kick in the second half, but that did not go well as Connacht counter-attacked superbly through elusive wing Mack Hansen and powerhouse inside centre Tom Daly.

A dreadful basic error early in the second half by scrumhalf Zak Burger at the base of a scrum put Connacht immediately on attack and Daly muscled over for a try. But the killer blow came in the 49^th minute when Hansen scored off a kick with a brilliant mazy run. There was a hint of obstruction in the try, but the officials allowed it to stand after watching replays, having ruled out a Connacht try in the first half for a marginal forward pass.

“Marcell Coetzee did ask the referee and some might argue that Lizo Gqoboka was obstructed. But we don’t want to be box-kicking and giving the ball away.

“We’ve got to find other ways to score points and not just rely on that and getting calls at scrums and mauls. But it’s so tough over here and at times we played really well, but our decision-making and accuracy needs to be better, especially on our carries and at the breakdown,” White said.

Scorers

Connacht – Tries: Tiernan O’ Halloran, Tom Daly (2), Mack Hansen, Tom Farrell. Conversions: Jack Carty (3). Penalty: Carty.

Bulls – Try: Lizo Gqoboka. Conversion: Johan Goosen.

Jasper Wiese will now be the man the Springboks turn to to wear the No.8 jersey and try and make up for the much-mourned absence of Duane Vermeulen, while the much-criticised replacement of prop Ox Nche for the second half of the first Test against the British and Irish Lions has now officially been confirmed as being due to injury.

Nche, who held his own against highly-rated Lions tighthead Tadhg Furlong and was typically impactful in open play, will sadly miss the second Test on Saturday due to a neck injury he picked up towards the end of the first half. It has forced a rejigging of the Springboks’ front-row plans, with Steven Kitshoff and Frans Malherbe now the starting props. Trevor Nyakane, who also did well last weekend, will now cover loosehead from the bench, with Vincent Koch brought in as the tighthead reserve.

But scrummaging was not the Springboks’ major issue in the first Test defeat. In the second half they were exposed in the aerial battle and there was little explosive gainline work either. Wiese, who has been a superb offensive ball-carrier for Leicester Tigers, will hopefully be able to bring some improvement in both problem areas.

“Jasper has been part of our plans and he could form a nice combination with Kwagga Smith coming off the bench too and able to play to his strengths. His main role will be the same as Kwagga’s last week – to get and stop momentum and he was Player 24 last weekend. He’ll have another week of preparation now to get used to how we do things.

“He did very well in the Premiership, his carries were so dominant. Tactically I was probably not sharp enough last weekend to protect Kwagga on the high balls, he was hung out to dry a bit. So we have changed things around there and we want to see from Jasper what got him into the squad. We just needed to improve on how we handled the contestable kicks in the second half,” Nienaber said at the team announcement on Monday.

Smith and Marco van Staden both coming off the bench are certainly two high-energy players and the Springboks have returned to the 6/2 split on the replacements bench they used so successfully in winning the World Cup. That makes Damian Willemse the key backline substitute, fulfilling the role of the veteran Francois Steyn in Japan in 2019.

“Damian has participated in all of the warm-up games and has had time at 12, 15 and 10, similar to what Frans Steyn gave us. He’s versatile and we’ve introduced him into the various roles. We’re comfortable that he can slot into all three of centre, fullback and flyhalf. We’re comfortable the backs can now all handle a full 80 minutes, after a couple of guys had been in isolation for 10 days before the first Test.

“We knew it was going to be tough last week, which is why we didn’t go for the 6/2 split, guys had just not been exposed enough to training, someone like Handre Pollard started cramping. Now they have all been exposed to high-intensity rugby, they are topped up and the muscle memory will still be there having dropped off after isolation,” Nienaber said.

Springbok team: Willie le Roux, Cheslin Kolbe, Lukhanyo Am, Damian de Allende, Makazole Mapimpi, Handré Pollard (vice-captain), Faf de Klerk, Jasper Wiese, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi (captain), Franco Mostert, Eben Etzebeth, Frans Malherbe, Bongi Mbonambi, Steven Kitshoff. Bench – Malcolm Marx, Trevor Nyakane, Vincent Koch, Lood de Jager, Marco van Staden, Kwagga Smith, Herschel Jantjies, Damian Willemse.

On the night of the first Test against the British and Irish Lions, there was already an acknowledgement from the Springboks that the tourists’ brilliant kicking game had been the key factor in their 17-22 defeat, but on Monday the lack of dominance up front in the second half by the pack, which teed up the Lions kickers, was addressed by forwards coach Deon Davids.

“You’ve got to have a solid base in the lineouts and scrums, your forwards need to put you on the front foot, in order for you to play to your plan. If one thing goes wrong, that will influence the kick, it has a ripple effect. It’s so important that your set-pieces give you a solid base and the Lions were streetwise in what they did, we will have to handle that better.

“It’s one thing to win the ball in the lineout, but it’s also important to have quality possession and be able to set the platform to kick. Not all our roles were totally fulfilled and there was not always proper support after we had won the ball. We let ourselves down in the second half and some individual standards need to be raised, although everyone definitely tried very hard,” Davids said on Monday.

Apart from the obvious slackening off in intensity in the second half, which is partly a conditioning issue that might not be able to be fixed in one week, Davids acknowledged that the Lions had also played much smarter rugby than the Springboks. Not giving the home team many lineouts was one such clever strategy, which prevented the Boks from launching from their fearsome rolling maul.

“I’m not sure but only having four lineouts might be a world record for a Test match. The Lions were very smart and they did not give us lineouts, instead we were fielding high balls all the time and that put us under pressure. But we also have to ensure that our kicking game is exceptionally accurate to ensure you get the advantage of territory. We can be better in execution and be smarter.

“In terms of our exit plays, you also need to ensure a solid platform there so you get good delivery of the ball. That can also improve because we did not have a lot of attacking options. We want to play from set-pieces in the opposition half, but if you don’t get those opportunities then you are just left with unstructured attack off turnovers. We need to get into better places on the field,” Davids said.

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.