Ken Borland

South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer said on Saturday that the Springboks will have to put up an impenetrable defensive wall against Australia when they meet in their Rugby Championship match in Perth next week.

“Australia are a dangerous side when they get quick ball, especially their backs, who are unbelievable. If our defence is not 100%, they will punish us,” Meyer told reporters in Johannesburg on Saturday.

While the Australian public are tearing into their team after two straight losses to New Zealand, including a 22-0 defeat in Auckland last weekend – the first time in 50 years that the Wallabies have not scored a point against the All Blacks – Meyer said Robbie Deans’s charges still had the ability to hurt the Springboks.

“Australia are a very good team and we don’t have a good record against them. New Zealand are just a way ahead of everyone at the moment and nobody’s giving us a chance in Perth next weekend.

“Australia have a very good pack which you cannot underestimate and it should be a very good contest at the breakdowns. We need to be very direct and if we kick aimlessly, they are very good at counter-attacking.

“They will definitely test us on defence because they run different lines and they have a more backline-orientated team. I’m very realistic and I know how tough it’s going to be against the Wallabies,” Meyer said.

South Africa’s new coach is not expected to make radical changes to either the Springbok game plan or personnel, despite the disapppointing 16-16 draw against Argentina in Mendoza last weekend.

“You change the game plan week-by-week depending on the opposition, but they’re just small tweaks and you still play to your strengths. This whole thing about game plans is totally romanticised and unrealistic. Eighty percent of the game plan is the same for every team in the world and there’s no such things as Plans B, C or D, and you can’t get to Point E on the field if you still haven’t covered Point A.

“The game plan is the same one that wins World Cups and it’s a game plan that suits the Springboks. But the base is not even in place yet and the only time a team really learns is when they’re playing away.

“I’m a guy who backs the players, will give them continuity and once we’ve played away from home then I’ll look at the combinations and be ruthless. We need to get our depth sorted first,” Meyer said.

While Australians are bemoaning their run of 14 defeats in 17 matches against the All Blacks, the current Wallabies can make history against the Springboks in Perth. If Australia win, it will be their fifth successive triumph against South Africa, improving on the four straight victories achieved by the world champion 1999/2000 side.

Meyer said he was expecting a much more fluid game in Perth after the forward-dominated arm-wrestle in Mendoza, which saw the Springboks struggle to obtain any front-foot ball.

“Ja, I think we’ll get much quicker ball against Australia and the game will be more like we’re used to in the southern hemisphere. Against Argentina we didn’t get any quick ball, but we must adapt to the referee. We weren’t accurate enough on our cleaning out and we’ve worked very hard on that this week,” Meyer said.

Australia have scored just one try in their two matches against the All Blacks this year, while South Africa managed four in their games against Argentina, but Meyer said New Zealand and the Wallabies have greater vision than his side.

“Most tries come from broken field possession or turnovers and it’s not about the game plan, it’s about reading the situation. The more experienced players read the situation better and Australia and New Zealand are better at it than us because of the way they are brought up as rugby players,” Meyer said.

South Africa’s players believe in the game plan employed by coach Heyneke Meyer and the environment around the team allows them the latitude to disagree, Springbok captain Jean de Villiers said on Thursday.

Meyer has been criticised in South Africa for a rigid game plan that revolves around the forwards bashing the ball up to get over the gain line, with the backline generally being used to implement the kicking and territory games the Springboks have used in recent years.

South Africa won the first two tests of their series against England in June before drawing the third, and they won their opening Rugby Championship match against Argentina in Cape Town, without a four-try bonus point, before being held to a shock draw last weekend in Mendoza by the debutants in the southern hemisphere competition that was formerly known as the Tri-Nations.

“When you don’t live up to expectations then you will be criticised. But the important thing is that we believe in what we are doing, we are set on a game plan that we believe can produce winning rugby,” centre De Villiers told a news conference at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto on Thursday.

“We definitely don’t feel like it’s a dictatorship. Heyneke is a new coach trying to get his message across as to how he wants us to play. But we’re all grown-ups, if we disagree then we’ll stand up and say so. We believe in what the coach is trying to do, if that changes, then I believe our environment, the system the team operates in, allows us to have the space to express our views.”

While the Springboks were panned for playing one-dimensional, forward-dominated rugby against Argentina, De Villiers said he felt the backline had been more effective than they were given credit for.

“I’ve looked at the game again and I felt a bit better about it after that. A lot of positives can come out of that game, although there’s obviously lots to work on.

“I thought we attacked really nicely at times, we created space and now the goal is to get the ball into that space. We’re not always using the forwards to get momentum, sometimes we use them to take the ball up and then the next phase we’ll go wide.

“But we have to make sure we protect the ball out wide and not let the opposition spoil it at the ends of the field,” De Villiers said.

The 31-year-old veteran of 77 tests said discipline, the set-phases and adapting to the referee’s ruck interpretations were some of the areas that needed improvement ahead of the Australasian leg of their Rugby Championship campaign that features matches against Australia in Perth on September 8 and versus New Zealand in Dunedin on September 15.

“If we were a mediocre team, then everyone would be happy with our performances, but we believe that we’re a better team than we showed in Mendoza. So these games are an opportunity to step up as a team and show what we can produce.

“We need to learn from our experiences, we can’t make the same mistakes, and we are doing that – we improved from our game in Cape Town.

“But we’re at 50-60% of where we want to be, so obviously we have to improve. The margins are very small in test rugby and it’s the small things that make the difference,” De Villiers said.

South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer on Wednesday recalled openside flank Francois Louw and chose the uncapped duo of eighthman Duane Vermeulen and flyhalf Johan Goosen to open the possibility of a significant change in approach for the Springboks’ two Rugby Championship matches in Australia and New Zealand.

South Africa opened their Rugby Championship campaign against debutants Argentina, beating them 27-6 in Cape Town but without a try-scoring bonus point, before being held to a shock 16-16 draw in Mendoza last weekend.

Amidst massive criticism of the game plan the Springboks have employed so far this year, Meyer suggested some willingness to change on Wednesday when he gave first call-ups to Vermeulen and Goosen.

The 26-year-old Vermeulen has been a star for the Stormers with his powerhouse displays from the back of the scrum, but several injuries have prevented him from being chosen earlier for the Springboks.

The 20-year-old Goosen sprung to prominence in last year’s IRB Junior World Championship before making a prolific SuperRugby debut for the Cheetahs this year, until a serious shoulder injury ruled him out of action from the beginning of May until last weekend.

“Injuries meant we could not use Duane and Johan earlier in the season, but both have played Currie Cup rugby since their return and, after consultation with their respective provincial medical teams, we’re confident that they are ready to travel with us. While Duane and Johan are medically fit, their provincial coaches felt it necessary that they get more game time in the Currie Cup this weekend, but as we don’t have a lot of time to prepare and we need as much time with them as possible to get them used to our structures and game plans, the decision was taken to select them for the tour,” Meyer said in a statement released by the South African Rugby Union on Wednesday.

“I regard both of them as world-class rugby players. If it wasn’t for injuries, Duane would have been a Springbok long ago. I also believe Johan has a long career ahead of him at test match level and we will expose him when and how we feel it will benefit the player and the team best.”

The lack of a specialist fetcher in the Springbok squad had also been criticised, with Louw getting a summons from Meyer despite the fact that he now plays his rugby in England for Bath. A raft of injuries in South Africa’s loose forward stocks have also complicated matters, with veterans Schalk Burger and Juan Smith, Heinrich Brussow and new Stormers sensation Siya Kolisi all ruled out at the moment, while Ryan Kankowski is currently playing rugby in Japan.

“We were very keen to give Siya Kolisi an opportunity on this tour, but he is also out injured. Francois played at the Rugby World Cup last year and is an experienced player.  We opted for Francois because he is a specialist openside flanker, in the absence of Schalk, Heinrich and Siya, that can cover blindside and number eight as well, while he is also a very useful option in the lineout,” Meyer said.

South Africa’s young squad – 20 of the 28 are under 28 years old – will have to learn quickly from their mistakes in Argentina, where their dependence on physical dominance failed as the Pumas matched them in the collisions.

The inclusion of Goosen, who has a prodigious boot but can also spark a backline, and recalled World Cup centre Juan de Jongh suggests Meyer has heard the call for more creative play from his team.

Loose forward Keegan Daniel, who Meyer had suggested would see action against Australia, and utility back JJ Engelbrecht are the players omitted from the squad that went to Argentina.

Squad – Zane Kirchner, Pat Lambie, Bryan Habana, Lwazi Mvovo, Jean de Villiers, Francois Steyn, Juan de Jongh, Morne Steyn, Johan Goosen, Ruan Pienaar, Francois Hougaard, Jano Vermaak, Duane Vermeulen, Willem Alberts, Marcell Coetzee, Francois Louw, Jacques Potgieter, Juandre Kruger, Eben Etzebeth, Flip van der Merwe, Andries Bekker, Pat Cilliers, Tendai Mtawarira, Jannie du Plessis, Dean Greyling, Adriaan Strauss, Tiaan Liebenberg, Craig Burden.

South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer on Monday blamed the lack of experience in the Springbok side for their shock 16-16 Rugby Championship draw with Argentina in Mendoza at the weekend.

South Africa trailed Argentina, playing in the southern hemisphere tournament which was previously known as the Tri-Nations for the first time this year, for three-quarters of the test before a charge-down try by centre Francois Steyn allowed them to draw level.

“It was not good enough, it was unacceptable and I was very disappointed. But I always knew it would be very tough in the first year because of the inexperience of the side, a lot of them were playing their first test away from home.

“If we’re realistic, then there were only a couple of members of the pack who played in the World Cup. People underestimate Argentina, but their whole starting line-up plays in Europe and they are very experienced,” Meyer told reporters at Johannesburg International Airport on his arrival back from Argentina on Monday.

Meyer is missing a quartet of players who would have been in the starting line-up in veteran flank Schalk Burger, explosive hooker Bismarck du Plessis, loose forward Pierre Spies and experienced wing JP Pietersen, while stalwarts such as John Smit, Victor Matfield and Jaque Fourie have retired and Fourie du Preez, Bakkies Botha, Danie Rossouw and Gurtho Steenkamp are not playing rugby in South Africa.

The Springbok coach will announce his squad for their Australasian leg of the Rugby Championship on Tuesday, but Meyer said there would not be a raft of changes.

“It’s easy to say throw people out and pick new ones, but that’s not coaching, that’s picking. I’ve been in this position a few times as a coach and the easiest thing is just to cut players, but that won’t move you forward. We’ve already lost a lot of leadership and then you’d be throwing out what little experience you’ve got.”

Meyer admitted that taking on Australia in Perth and New Zealand in Dunedin in their next two Rugby Championship fixtures would be a more daunting prospect requiring a much improved performance from the Springboks.

“The next two games will be even tougher and we have to improve. I know we can do it, but the only way the side will improve is by coaching them, improving their technique and mental strength,” Meyer said.

South Africa suffered from a distinct lack of continuity against the Pumas, who dominated the breakdowns, but Meyer said the make-up of the loose-trio – three big, physical players in Willem Alberts, Jacques Potgieter and Marcell Coetzee – was not the problem. The Springboks have a top-class fetcher flank in Heinrich Brussow, but he has not been selected by Meyer and is currently out injured.

“Argentina are also very physical and it’s not just about the loose trio. It’s the whole pack and also the backs who have to contest the ball, and the Pumas flooded the breakdown. It’s more about numbers and technique,” Meyer said.

The Springbok coach suggested some of Argentina’s ball-stealing was illegal.

“I coached a few of their players while I was at Leicester, so I knew how tough it would be. Argentina have finished third in the World Cup and New Zealand could only score two tries against them in Auckland last year. They’re especially hard to play against if they slow down your ball and they don’t play like teams in SuperRugby.

“It was a different interpretation and Argentina competed a lot, threw numbers at the breakdown and got their hands on the ball to slow it down. Our guys were used to SuperRugby for 16 weeks and now players were flying into the rucks from all areas. But we should have done better with our clearing.”

Meyer admitted that it had been a case of the Springboks’ discipline also letting them down.

“Argentina had a lot of PR and emotion behind them, but I was very disappointed with our discipline because we knew they would come hard at us and get the crowd behind them early on. Because of our discipline, we’d concede a penalty and they would start mauling, which makes life very difficult. Away from home, your discipline needs to be impeccable, but we got very frustrated, which is part of the inexperience. It was a very hostile environment and there was off-the-ball stuff, especially at the breakdown. But there’s no excuse, this team needs to grow up,” Meyer said.