Ken Borland

Close to 60 000 people will be mesmerised at Ellis Park this afternoon when the Springboks take on the All Blacks, with a five-game losing streak against the New Zealanders suggesting that the home side have some catching up to do.

One of the problems the Springboks face is that there seems to be an over-reliance on the skills of Willie le Roux on attack. At times it seems that everybody else is expecting him to spark something and the pressure is causing the poor fullback to continually come into the flyhalf channel and try more and more outlandish things, leading to more and more mistakes. He is also being tightly marked by opposition defences which are well aware of the danger he poses.

It is never a wise strategy to put so much of a burden on one player, rather spread the load around by up-skilling others, and our national cricket team is facing the same issue when it comes to the limited-overs game.

The lack of bowling skill in South African cricket has been exposed by the dismal performances of the Cape Cobras and the Dolphins in the Champions League T20, where both teams’ attacks were put to the sword by opposition batsmen on flat pitches.

While Dale Steyn is still able to lay down the law in the powerplay up front and in the death overs due to his mastery of reverse-swing and the intelligent variations of slower-balls, yorkers and different-speed bouncers he uses, you have to wonder who else the South Africans will be able to rely on come the World Cup and a situation where they might be defending 50 off the last five overs in the final.

Just like the Springboks are relying too heavily on Le Roux, the Proteas are too dependent on Steyn and you can only be dismayed by the poor bowling performances of the two best T20 sides in the country in India.

You need only to look at the averages of the tournament to notice the problem: Sybrand Engelbrecht (what an impressive time he had) was the only Cobras bowler to concede less than eight runs an over, while not one Dolphins bowler managed that economy rate.

Batsmen were able to have a go with impunity, especially in the death overs. The Cobras conceded 60 in the last five overs against Northern Districts, 61 in four versus Hobart Hurricanes, and 63 in six against Barbados.

The Dolphins were belted for 63 in the last six by the Perth Scorchers, 68 in five by Chennai Super Kings, 109 in nine by Lahore and 80 off the last seven by the Kolkata Knight Riders.

A major part of the problem is that bowlers have little incentive to learn skills playing in domestic cricket because the pitches generally allow them to just bang the ball in and allow the surface to give them bounce and movement.

According to Cricket South Africa high performance manager Vincent Barnes, it is an area of great concern they have identified, especially since most ICC tournaments are held in sub-continental conditions these days. Who would bet against the BCCI instructing their new ruling triumvirate partners Australia to make sure World Cup pitches next year are flat and don’t assist pace bowlers?

In order for our bowlers to develop the skills of consistently bowling yorkers or being able to produce an array of deliveries like Ben Loughlin of the Hobart Hurricanes possesses, they need to be practising those skills regularly at home. Our pitches for domestic cricket need to force bowlers to improve their standards.

As Graeme Smith pointed out last week, it’s not just all about bowling yorkers; death bowling is a mindset issue and bowlers need to develop strategies, they need to have a definite plan.

Leaving it all up to Dale Steyn is not a good plan.

It’s been three long years since the All Blacks lost to the Springboks – and 22 Tests since their previous defeat against anyone (v England at Twickenham on 1 December 2012) – but their coach Steve Hansen is not as concerned with maintaining the winning streak as he is with delivering a quality performance on Saturday at Ellis Park.

Of course, he is in the lovely position of not having to worry if they lose on Saturday, while Bok coach Heyneke Meyer will bear the full brunt of the public’s obsession with beating the number one side in the world for the first time in six attempts.

“For us, it’s not about the winning streak but about the quality of performance, that’s hugely important. Our heads need to be in the right place, our preparation is about getting that right, and then Saturday is fun time.

“But it’s no fun if you don’t play well. But we have a quite a bit of talent in this group and if we play as well as we can, then it will take a good team to beat us,” Hansen said on Thursday.

With some people, including former coach Graham Henry, warning that the All Blacks are setting themselves up for a fall at the World Cup, there have even been suggestions that defeat might be good for New Zealand. Hansen dismissed such notions.

“I’ve never concurred with people saying you need to lose to learn. It hurts to lose, so why do you want to go through that to learn? We learn when we review games that maybe we should have lost, but we won.

“People say sometimes you have to get burnt to learn, but you can tell a flame is hot, you don’t need to put your hand in it,” Hansen said.

The All Blacks coach said Saturday’s Test would be decided by the tight fives and injury has forced the visitors to go with relative rookies at loosehead prop and tighthead lock.

Wyatt Crockett withdrew from selection with bad cuts to the face and has been replaced by Crusaders prop Joe Moody, who comes to his first Test start with a junior commonwealth games bronze medal in wrestling to his name.

Jeremy Thrush will partner with Sam Whitelock in the second row after Brodie Retallick failed to recover from concussion.

The 26-year-old Moody seemed pretty relaxed and was even able to make a subtle dig at his opposite number, the vastly-experienced Jannie du Plessis.

“Jannie is a bit different to what we normally get in New Zealand, he attacks the hooker much more, while our tightheads normally scrum straighter. But we’ve done our homework and I’m sure the scrums will go well,” Moody said.

The All Blacks’ winning streak is about thorough preparation and supreme conditioning, but it’s also about the character of the players under pressure, as Hansen stressed.

“We’ve been able to keep our composure in really tight situations, but we’ve had a bit of luck as well. We practise the moment without pressure so we can do it under pressure. As a group, this team has shown it is mentally strong and has great composure,” Hansen said.

All Blacks team: 15-Israel Dagg, 14-Ben Smith, 13-Conrad Smith, 12-Malakai Fekitoa, 11-Julian Savea, 10-Beauden Barrett, 9-Aaron Smith, 8-Kieran Read, 7-Richie McCaw, 6-Jerome Kaino, 5-Samuel Whitelock, 4-Jeremy Thrush, 3-Owen Franks, 2-Keven Mealamu, 1-Joe Moody. Reserves – 16-Dane Coles, 17-Ben Franks, 18-Charlie Faumuina, 19-Steven Luatua, 20-Liam Messam, 21-Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 22-Colin Slade, 23-Ryan Crotty.

Bismarck du Plessis, widely regarded as the world’s best hooker, is back in the starting line-up for the Springboks’ crunch Test against the All Blacks in Johannesburg on Saturday.

The South Africans are fortunate, of course, to be able to call on Adriaan Strauss of the Free State Cheetahs as the back-up on the bench, while Saracens star Schalk Brits is also in the wider squad but cannot break into the match-day 23.

The Springboks struggled in the tight phases during the first half of the Rugby Championship and the younger brother of tighthead prop Jannie has never been known as the strongest scrummager, while the inconsistency of his lineout throwing was also exploited by the Argentineans and especially by the Wallabies in Perth.

The most noticeable sign that something was amiss with Bismarck, however, came in the absence of the massive hits, storming ball-carries and steals on the ground that he was famous for last year.

The elevation of Strauss to the starting line-up saw an improvement in the Springboks’ set-pieces but it has also allowed Du Plessis to make more of an impact coming off the bench.

So is Du Plessis’ star on the wane or is this just a temporary loss of form for the Sharks powerhouse?

At the age of 30, it is more likely to be the latter and the Sharks’ insistence on playing Du Plessis in all 17 of their SuperRugby games this year seemed to have diluted the energy of one of the most explosive rugby players in the world.

“Bismarck has played a lot of rugby this year and we always planned to rest him. He’s had a good break now after Adriaan started three in a row, and the selection is purely a rotation, to keep both players fresh,” Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer confirmed.

“Adriaan is playing some of the best rugby of his whole career, but last week against Australia took a lot out of the players, the ball was in play more than ever before and there were more tackles as well. It doesn’t matter who starts, they both have very strong points and they’re both in-form.”

The Springbok game plan has advanced over the last year, according to the All Blacks players and coaches, despite the negative perceptions that persist among sectors of the uninformed.

“They’ve certainly taken a step forward in the way they play, they still use their traditional strengths so you always expect a big tough battle, but they’ve added creativity and a bit of flair. There’ll be massive pressure on the game, no matter what, because it’s number one on the rankings versus number two, and whoever wins can say that they’re playing the best footy in the world at the moment,” Kieran Read, the All Blacks’ outstanding eighthman said yesterday.

New Zealand assistant coach Ian Foster, who looks after back play and attack for the All Blacks, said the selection of Handre Pollard as the starting flyhalf for the Springboks had added a new dimension to their play.

“It’s been quite a significant change at 10, we thought Handre Pollard was really strong in Wellington, he’s quite attacking and composed, he did a lot of good things and he’s very much a player of the future. He gives them a bit more width.

“The Springboks also seem to have a strong squad of 23 now, they’ve developed a strategy to use all 23 players more. It’s been one of our key strengths to use all 23 players and keep the tempo going upwards. They also still have their key strengths of kicking and the lineout drive,” Foster said.

The Waikato legend also said the All Blacks and Springboks had a special relationship, which was borne out by the wonderful gestures made in Wellington towards Jean de Villiers and Bryan Habana to celebrate their 100 games for South Africa.

“The All Blacks versus the Springboks is special, it always has been and it always will be. There’s a great feeling between the teams, a mutual respect. We have a lot of time for how they go about things and the biggest compliment we can pay them is how we always lift our game against them. We know we have to be at 100% to beat them, if we’re at 99% we’ll lose,” Foster said.

2013 IRB Player of the Year Read, who had a tremendous tussle with Duane Vermeulen in Wellington, admitted that he would be disappointed if the injured eighthman was not in the picture at Ellis Park on Saturday.

“I’m sure the Springboks will still be good whoever steps out at eight, but Duane certainly leads the charge for them with his hit-ups, his carries really give them go-forward. He loves the physicality and he’s just a typical brute of an African beast.

“I’ll be a little bit disappointed if he’s not playing because he’s a good man and a great rugby player, and you always like to pit yourself against the very best. But it’s not really an individual battle out there, you rarely come up one-on-one against your opposite number, it’s a team game,” Read said.