Ken Borland

The daunting All Blacks are South Africa’s next opponents in the Rugby Championship and they need to get down to business this week and fix the many aspects of their game that have not been functioning over the last two weekends and the back-to-back losses to Australia.

The only problem is coach Jacques Nienaber said at the weekend that he doesn’t really know where to start, which is as much of an admission of the numerous problems the Springboks have as anything else.

Captain Siya Kolisi did put his hand up and say the players are to blame because they have been given a plan – which we know has worked in the past – by the coaching staff. But any plan is only as good as its implementation … and the Springboks’ execution has been terrible.

Over the last two weeks they have produced sloppy rugby that is not worthy of either the world champions tag or the number one ranking.

What is certain is that the senior players, the World Cup winners, need to step up now and be willing to get their hands dirty on the gainline and at the breakdown, and make their tackles. The Wallabies have thoroughly dominated those crucial departments of the game, where the usually famously physical Springboks have been strangely timid. Their ball-carries have been faltering and tactically they seem to have ignored the enormous pressure the Wallabies put on the breakdown.

In terms of personnel changes, including Cheslin Kolbe on the wing will provide some x-factor, but South Africa’s many efforts to get the ball wide at the weekend were fruitless because a lack of direct running in the build-up meant Sbu Nkosi and Makazole Mapimpi received the ball with not enough space to work with. Centres Lukhanyo Am and Damian de Allende quickly need to regain the form they showed in the British and Irish Lions series.

Likewise Duane Vermeulen has been a pale shadow of his usual self at eighthman, but more game time will hopefully work, while Eben Etzebeth’s lack of dominance is perhaps due to too much rugby.

Franco Mostert was one of the more industrious forwards on the field at the weekend, but would he not be better employed at lock, especially if Lood de Jager is still not over his concussion? That would allow a powerful ball-carrier like Dan or Jean-Luc du Preez to be included on the blindside flank.

The much-vaunted Stormers front row of Frans Malherbe, Bongi Mbonambi and Steven Kitshoff have also not had their usual impact, although South Africa’s set-pieces have been solid.

Coach Jacques Nienaber said it was the worst Springbok performance in three years as they succumbed to a 30-17 defeat at the hands of the Wallabies in Brisbane on Saturday, which would seem to be a fair call based on how thoroughly dismal South Africa were in so many departments.

It started at the breakdowns, where the Springboks conceded a dozen turnovers on attack, the defence was astonishingly ineffective as South Africa missed 20 of their 88 tackles, and they were too lateral with ball-in-hand and poor in the basic skills of handling and passing.

“I was disappointed with every department of our play today, we were beaten hands down. We have to figure out quickly why because I can’t put my finger on a reason at the moment and we have a massive challenge coming up next weekend against the All Blacks. We get tested differently by our Sanzaar partners and it has been a big eye-opener for us.

“It definitely wasn’t just our worst performance this year but our worst since 2018 when we lost to Argentina in Mendoza. We weren’t great at everything. The defence was not up to standard, it’s the first time we’ve conceded four tries since against New Zealand in 2018. We did have a bit of attacking opportunity, but there were lots of errors, too many with ball-in-hand,” Nienaber said after the match.

Skipper Siya Kolisi said he was shocked by how poorly his team had played, describing their preparation as being good.

“We’ve been training very well but then every single guy made mistakes today. You make a mistake at one maul and then it carries through to the next maul. We were losing things which we are normally good at, like physicality. Oh we need to look at ourselves alright and pull tighter together. We were well-prepared for this game but we just couldn’t enforce what we had planned.

“Especially at the breakdowns, we spoke about it on the field but just did not deliver. Losing breakdowns, especially the wide ones, was one of the big things we chatted about at halftime, but then it happened again in the second half. As players we have to take the responsibility for that. I wouldn’t go as far as to say our plan is not working, it’s just we did not implement it properly and we missed 20 tackles,” Kolisi said.

The way things are going in South African cricket, CSA are soon going to have to appoint a lawyer to sit on the national selection panel just to make sure nobody’s rights have been unfairly prejudiced by not being chosen.

In the good old days, all that mattered was runs and wickets and the balance of the team – referring to having gritty batsmen capable of looking after the new ball, some strokeplayers in the middle-order, an all-rounder or two, and a bowling attack suited to the conditions.

But nowadays, being deserving of a place seems to mean you are entitled to be chosen. Never mind that the selectors can only field 11 players at a time and there are, of course, no substitutions in cricket, unless someone gets concussed.

Selection is a thankless task because you can never please everybody. And even 15 years after the fact, your selections can still be dissected and slammed, as we have seen in the SJN Hearings.

The squad selected to play in next month’s T20 World Cup caused uproar over two main areas – the sudden dropping of George Linde and the continued absence of Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir and Chris Morris.

I do believe Linde’s omission was the wrong call, but Victor Mpitsang and his panel are spot-on when it comes to Du Plessis, Tahir and Morris.

Morris is the easiest to deal with because the selectors have been told by the all-rounder’s people that he is not available for international cricket. Despite his tendency to tell the media all about the lack of contact he has had from Cricket South Africa. And, in case you were wondering, AB de Villiers has also officially made his retirement from the Proteas final.

Du Plessis and Tahir are trickier because they are still very much available for the Proteas, provided the finances around a short-term deal for free agents are to their liking. And both have been performing well, Du Plessis playing a couple of standout innings in the recently-completed Caribbean Premier League and Tahir had a successful campaign in the same competition.

The former Proteas captain struggled at the start of that tournament though after a long layoff caused by a serious concussion and then missed the last few games with a groin injury.

It is true that the current South African batting line-up is lacking experience, but they have been together now for this year and are ever-improving. Having Du Plessis in the XI would almost certainly mean leaving out Rassie van der Dussen, who averages 36 in T20 Internationals at a strike-rate of 134, figures which are remarkably similar to Faf’s – average 35, strike-rate 134.

Both he and Tahir have been true heroes for the Proteas, but we need to accept that the time to move on has come. The 42-year-old Tahir has a ready-made replacement in fellow wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi, who for some time now has been the number one ranked bowler in T20 Internationals. And playing them both is not a realistic option because it would make an already long tail even longer.

I also find it infuriating when people rave about performances in T20 leagues and give them the same status as international cricket. These ‘mercenary’ leagues are domestic competitions and are not of international standard, simply because all of them have rules forcing the selection of a majority of local players. Even the IPL, which comes closest to bridging the gap, is still a franchise tournament.

But there is so much anger aimed at the Proteas these days that I have no doubt that if the trio of veterans had been selected, then there would have been an outcry over choosing old cricketers who have not been part of the team for the whole year.

Of course, the controversy has also been used by those whose rage is always directed at Graeme Smith and Mark Boucher to rant about their supposed shortcomings and unfair treatment of players.

At some stage we have to move on from the past and the Proteas are heading into this T20 World Cup in far better shape than I think most people expected.

The Proteas have enjoyed a superb record-equalling run in T20 cricket of late and will go into next month’s T20 World Cup with their confidence at a high. While Sri Lanka were disappointingly hapless during the 3-0 series whitewash, perhaps more credit should be given to the South Africans for being so clinical in dispatching the home side.

Most critics would probably have backed Sri Lanka to win the series on their home pitches, which were typically sub-continental and designed to favour their strengths and expose the supposed Proteas weaknesses.

Playing in the subcontinent means dealing with spin and South Africa were brilliant in both the progress their batsmen have made on turning pitches and also the sheer quality of their own spin attack, which was relied upon to an extent never seen before in a Proteas team.

The T20 World Cup will be played in what is expected to be similar conditions in the United Arab Emirates.

“It was very pleasing to win the series in the manner we did. We trusted in our process: Sri Lanka have some world-class spinners but our batsmen found a way to handle them and our spinners showed what they can do when they are backed. It’s good that the hierarchy is backing spin more.

“I obviously have my game-plans before the match, but you need to adapt on the field and read the conditions as soon as possible. I try to identify periods when we can go for the kill, and I must give credit to my bowlers for the number of times they came on and took wickets, or even an economical couple of overs. We wanted to really make an impact after the bitter pill of losing the ODI series,” stand-in captain Keshav Maharaj said.

Quinton de Kock may no longer have alpha-male status as the captain, but the wicketkeeper/batsman continued to mark himself out as the Proteas’ key batsman, a real matchwinner in T2 cricket. He was the leading run-scorer in the series with 153 runs, being dismissed just once as he claimed the man of the series award and a career-high eighth place in the ICC T20 rankings.

“Quinny has been in great form after obviously having a tough time in Pakistan. He’s been fantastic in the team environment and you can’t keep a player like that down for too long. He’s obviously in a happy space after a bit of rest, the break was good for him and it rewarded us too.

“He’s going to be a really big player for us at the World Cup and it was good to see him carry his bat through a couple of times, when it would be easy to just score thirty and get out. He’s showing a lot of responsibility and he will be a big name for as at the World Cup,” coach Mark Boucher said.