Ken Borland

Heyneke Meyer is ending his first year in charge of the Springboks the way it began – with a Test against England.

Back in June, Meyer’s tenure started with a 22-17 win over England at King’s Park, but on Saturday the match will be at the more daunting venue of Twickenham, London.

And the danger is that progression from that first Test in Durban to the last of 12 fixtures in 2012 may not be evident.

The Springboks’ play is still characterised by halves of hugely differing quality – they were held to 6-6 in the first half in Durban – and the backline is still miles behind the pack in terms of match-winning contribution.

South Africa scored two tries against England in their first meeting this year, but such was their forward dominance in the second half that most people felt they should have scored more.

And England, as they showed in snatching a draw against the Springboks in the final match of that series, are also a team that is developing and their coach, Stuart Lancaster, is certain they can end a 10-game winless streak against South Africa.

Twickenham is something of a fortress for them as well and Springbok fans can expect the toughest challenge of their three tour matches this weekend.

In terms of personnel, there are also areas where the team is no more settled than they were back in June.

The debate is still open over who should be flyhalf going forward. Morne Steyn played in Durban, scored a try but missed both conversions and a penalty, and has now disappeared entirely from the match-day 23.

Johan Goosen has started but then suffered a season-ending injury, while Pat Lambie has not yet set the world alight during his two starts against Ireland and Scotland.

Meyer has been making encouraging noises about wanting Lambie to open up more this weekend, and hopefully another great young talent, Elton Jantjies, will get a chance later in the game.

Francois Hougaard was the starting scrumhalf against England in Durban, but is now on the wing. He was shifted there in the second half as he failed to convert the forward dominance into territorial advantage or really spark his backline, and since then Meyer has relied on Ruan Pienaar in the number nine jersey.

Pienaar has been competent on the heavier fields of the United Kingdom, but whether he has the pace or snappy delivery that is required against teams like New Zealand and Australia remains in doubt.

Hougaard, for his part, showed amazing maturity this week by saying he did not want to be considered on the wing next year, but instead wanted to become a specialist scrumhalf and would be putting in the work required to achieve that.

“My preferred position is definitely scrumhalf and I do think that playing wing as much as I have been has hurt my play as a scrumhalf. I have made it known to the coaches at the Bulls that scrumhalf is where I want to specialise from now on. I will only develop as a scrumhalf if I play there regularly. What I need is a full pre-season where I work only as a scrumhalf, and then to play only as a scrumhalf when the season starts. That will get me thinking like a scrumhalf.

“There are a lot of technical aspects of scrumhalf that require a heck of a lot of hard work and preparation, and I just haven’t been able to put in the time that is needed as I have been playing so much on the wing. Playing 10 minutes or so as a scrumhalf later in the game after playing the first part as a wing is not going to help me develop into the player I want to be,” Hougaard said this week.

Other questions that still need resolving as the Springboks head into their last match of the year are:

• Where is Jaco Taute’s best position?
• Will the game plan allow the likes of JP Pietersen and Juan de Jongh to showcase their brilliant attacking skills?
• Is there a viable, trustworthy alternative for the admirable Jannie du Plessis at tighthead prop?
• Who is going to grab the number five jersey and make it his own with consistent performances?

As for how Saturday’s Test will probably unfold, up-and-unders and kicking for territory are probably the pet hate of many Springbok fans right now, but there is an even slimmer chance of the boot not dominating this weekend because Lancaster has already stressed the importance of the tactic to his team.

The changes he has made to the side that lost last weekend against Australia indicate he wants half-backs Ben Youngs and Toby Flood working in tandem with the outside backs, having recalled Mike Brown, who lacks pace but is good in the air and has a strong left boot, on the left wing.

While Lancaster has also tried to beef up his pack, the Springboks go into the Test knowing that their forward unit has seldom been outplayed this year. Much as they did against Scotland last weekend, it will be up to them to lay a solid foundation, from where the tourists can kick England back into their territory and then capitalise.

The kicking will only be as effective as the chasing, however, and this time it can only be hoped that the backs are able to seize the moment and score tries when the opportunity arises.

Until now, the Springboks’ backline has been largely sterile, but perhaps the impending festive season and Meyer’s encouraging words to Lambie will prompt a spirit of adventure if not largesse.

It may be five-to-midnight in terms of the Springboks’ year, but an 80-minute performance in which both forwards and backs contribute equally is better arriving now than never. Hopefully Santa Meyer and his Springbok elves will make the wait as worthwhile as the Night Before Christmas usually is.

* Cyprus successfully maintained their winning streak as they beat Austria 54-20 in their Second Division Fira Championship match in Vienna last weekend. The strong Austrian side put up a stiffer challenge than the scoreline might suggest, but another brilliant performance by the Moufflons netted them their 16^th successive win, just two off equalling Lithuania’s world record of 18.

http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-11-23-santa-and-siege-of-fortress-twickenham

It was a win and it may have been an improvement on the last two visits to Edinburgh, but the Springboks’ 21-10 victory over Scotland left more feelings of disappointment than elation.

The sad truth is that South Africa’s attacking play seems to have regressed even more. Having done what was required in the first half in terms of building a foundation, the Springboks scored early in the second half to open up a 21-3 lead.

The Scots looked ready to be put to the sword. With the admirable forwards having done their job, bashing the hosts into submission, the time was surely right to open up and allow the backline to ram home the advantage, score some tries and give the Springboks a handsome victory befitting the team ranked second in the world.

But the backs fluffed their lines. All confidence with ball in hand has drained away from them and, when the chance to open up did arrive, they seemed over-anxious, snatched at opportunities and a rush of basic errors allowed Scotland back into the game.

Coach Heyneke Meyer has constantly stressed how tight Test rugby is, how narrow the margins are, how one mistake can lead to defeat. Which is mostly true, but in emphasising the negative, in ensuring his transitional side understand how easy it is to lose, he has drummed the positive out of them and they seem to have no idea how to win a game, how to well and truly put the opposition away. They are scared to try anything in case it leads to a mistake, heaven forbid.

There has seldom been an international side that has looked so imbalanced in terms of where their strengths lie.

While Meyer has followed conventional wisdom in terms of where South African rugby’s strengths are and is building a formidable pack that is growing more impressive with every outing, backline play seems to be totally neglected.

It is hard to remember even one backline move, wings JP Pietersen and Francois Hougaard barely had the ball in their hands, and, even after the final hooter had gone and the Springboks could not lose, they decided to kick a penalty out and end the game rather than have a go!

The dreadful second half undid all the good work of the first 40 minutes, much as the second half against Ireland made up for the awful first half.

Pat Lambie would have convinced few that he has the kicking game to control a Test from flyhalf and many of the Springboks’ problems in the second half were due to his inability to blast clearing kicks back out of their own half.

That being said, the decision-making was largely left to Ruan Pienaar at scrumhalf, who was solid without setting the world alight. Pienaar had the ball in his hands 56 times, but Lambie only handled on 25 occasions, running just twice and kicking 12 times.

The Springbok ball-carriers, especially Willem Alberts, were effective and there were promising signs in the first half as even the backline took the ball flat and the Scots were struggling to plug the gaps created by front-foot ball.

The rolling maul was also a potent weapon for the Springboks, the first of hooker Adriaan Strauss’s two tries coming from one. The visitors should really have had two tries from the maul, though, as the first one was identical to the second one but was inexplicably denied by the referee, George Clancy.

Strauss did not have any family in the opposition this weekend, but it did not affect Sunday’s birthday boy’s determination. He contributed to a strong scrummaging performance, South Africa’s lineout touched perfection with a 12/12 success rate and Strauss was all over the field to harry and block the opposition. He did superbly in the 46^th minute to intercept Scotland scrumhalf Mike Blair’s pass and scoot away from 40 metres to score his second try and give the Springboks a commanding lead they failed to add to.

The loose trio of Alberts, Francois Louw and Duane Vermeulen continues to impress. Alberts was everywhere, tackling strongly, softening the Scottish defence with his bullocking runs, but also showing a lovely sidestep and a good turn of pace to spark the counter-attack that led to Strauss’s second try.

Louw made an astonishing 17 tackles and won two crucial turnovers, as well as carrying the ball well to deservedly win the man of the match award, while Vermeulen and lock Eben Etzebeth were also strong on defence.

Of the backs, Zane Kirchner continues to provide a solid last line of defence, while wing JP Pietersen also spent the whole match tackling his heart out. There was precious little opportunity for him to shine on attack, while Juan de Jongh could also only show glimpses of his abilities with a couple of darts through the half-gap.

To progress as a team, the Springboks are really going to have to use their backs more.

*Stats courtesy of espnscrum.com

http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-11-19-boks-running-more-scared-than-ever

While the Springboks’ second-half comeback against Ireland last weekend was rightly lauded, no-one enjoys seeing them play as poorly as they did in the first half and it is imperative that they hit their straps from the outset on Saturday against Scotland to avoid the feel-good factor of Dublin being totally diminished.

While there is no question the team has enormous character and are growing mentally with every outing, there are still nagging doubts eating away at many analysts that the Springboks might not be on the right path.

While the fickle public throw their rotten tomatoes over the way the Springboks play, the lack of tries they’ve scored and who is selected, there are valid concerns about South Africa’s greatest rivals, New Zealand, disappearing over the horizon in terms of how far ahead they are in terms of quality.

Many comparisons with the All Blacks have not been between apples and apples, simply because they have a far more experienced, injury-free side at the moment, but the way they dismantled a brave Scottish team last weekend with a second-string side gives the Springboks a pointer as to what they should be aiming for.

Heyneke Meyer’s team may have risen to number two in the world rankings, but there has not been much to choose between them, Australia, France, England and even Argentina this year.

Ruthless and efficient is what most fans would want to see from them this weekend in Edinburgh.

Scotland is currently ranked ninth and in danger of slipping further into the third tier of nations ahead of the 2015 World Cup draw on 3 December. Running through their team list, only a handful of players are recognisable internationals. The Springboks really should dominate them and, for a change, make sure the scoreboard reflects that as well.

Even when the admirable young Springbok pack has dominated its opposition this year – even doing it against the All Blacks in Dunedin – the team has turned that advantage into points just once, beating Australia 31-8 at Loftus Versfeld at the end of September.

There is a bright young thing at flyhalf now in Pat Lambie, but one feels he still needs to sell himself to coach Meyer and there was more than a hint of him playing within himself last weekend against Ireland.

Lambie’s strength is not the aerial route and, given that Zane Kirchner and Ruan Pienaar are still in the team and kicking for territory is still a vital part of Test rugby, he would perhaps be well-advised to leave those duties to them, while focusing on his more magical skills while the Springboks are on attack.

The Springboks have come to Murrayfield before with expectations running high that they would emulate the All Blacks, but lost their last outing there 21-17 in 2010 and struggled to a 14-10 victory in the previous match in 2008.

The major advantage South Africans have over northern hemisphere teams is the pace at which they play the game in Sanzar events, and the Scots will surely not be able to match the intensity if the Springboks up the pace, as they did in the first half of the Test against England at Ellis Park in June.

The pack obviously has a key role to play in laying the foundation and securing quick ball, but the Springboks should learn from the mistakes of the past and not only rely on forward dominance for victory.

After choosing centres that provided a steady diet of crash ball in midfield for the whole year, it is pleasing that Meyer has given Juan de Jongh a chance in the number 13 jersey. One of the heroes of the Currie Cup final has the footwork to splinter the best of defences and the possibility exists of actually seeing a few linebreaks and offloads on Saturday.

The defence, which was outstanding against Ireland, may lose a bit in physicality, but De Jongh is a tenacious tackler and the Western Province and Stormers teams he starred in had the best defensive records in their competitions.

The Springboks are overdue a complete performance that proves they are indeed the nearest challengers to the All Blacks.

 http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-11-16-great-scots-the-boks-have-their-work-cut-out