Ken Borland

Springbok centre Lukhanyo Am smashing opposite number Elliot Daly to the deck was one of the highlights of the first Test against the British and Irish Lions and the Sharks captain said it was a deliberate statement to lay the platform for the physicality the home side were going to bring.

It worked a charm in the first half as the dominant Springboks controlled the game and racked up a 12-3 halftime lead. The Springboks’ intensity dropped off markedly in the second half, however, as the Lions took a firm grip on the match through a precise kicking game and their rolling maul.

“That tackle was quite intentional, I wanted to set the standards, to show the step-up in physicality we were going to bring. I wanted to show that as a team we have a great defensive mindset. This weekend we have another physical battle to take on. But we know there will also be a lot of contestable kicks, it’s always an aerial battle in Test rugby and it’s an area we’ve worked really hard on.

“We know how important preparation is and unfortunately we were disrupted before the first Test and we had a feeling that it might bite us at the back end. Unfortunately we could not get the result we wanted, but I think we still played with a lot of energy. We managed to play until the last minute and it was just unfortunate that we weren’t able to convert our chances,” Am said.

The Lions were certainly not expected to use the Springboks’ own preferred tactics against them in the second half, with most pundits predicting they would try and scuttle the ball into the wide channels. Am acknowledged that the Springboks are going to have to adapt better on the field because the tourists have surprisingly made three changes to their starting line-up, which may or may not indicate a change in plan by the Lions.

“The Lions had different styles of players on in the first and second halves and it’s up to us to just try and counter whatever they bring to us. We don’t know their game-plans, but we have to be good at adapting on the field.

“Our system means we always try and cover the whole field and from 2018 we’ve been working on using the aerial battle as a great opportunity to get possession. We expect changes to their plan due to the changes in personnel, we have prepared for that and I’m sure we can adapt on the field,” Am said.

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.

The way Springboks director of rugby Rassie Erasmus described his waterboy duties on Tuesday one would almost expect Jacques Nienaber to be paying him pocket money, but with the head coach sitting next to him and smiling broadly at the time, there is clearly no issue when it comes to division of labour.

This week former England and British and Irish Lions coach Sir Clive Woodward, in his column for the Daily Mail – of course – said Erasmus should “butt out” because he is “taking over again” and the “confusion at the top and a lack of demarcation between the roles of director of rugby … and … national team coach … is killing the Springboks”.

“I’m not sure Clive Woodward is so important in South Africa, but Jacques and I are great mates, we’ve worked a lot together since our days in the military back in 1990. I’m the water-carrier now, so he’s got a higher rank than me now, that makes him my boss at the moment. If we had scored that try in the 71^st minute then people would say the relationship is working perfectly.

“Jacques’ job is the coaching, my job is to get the structure right, make sure we are given a fair chance, get through the Covid protocols and make sure players are available. I also need to inform people what is going on. And I help with the coaching plan and I carry water. The important thing is that all the players are now back on the park and training every day this week,” Erasmus said.

Speaking of ‘a fair chance’, Erasmus said he was deeply concerned by the pressure Lions coach Warren Gatland put on TMO Marius Jonker last week, somehow implying that because he is South African he would favour the Springboks. Predictably, the opposite was true, with flank Hamish Watson escaping a yellow card for a tip-tackle and the hosts having a second try disallowed on what many considered a 50/50 call.

“We were very focused last week and just trying to bring back the positive vibe from the World Cup, so we didn’t say too much. The Lions were a bit the opposite. Warren Gatland, who is a great guy, spoke a lot about Marius Jonker and him being South African. Which is weird because we would never say anything this week about the referee [Ben O’Keeffe] coming from New Zealand and Warren also being a New Zealander.

“It’s a difficult one because Marius and I are close friends and when he was appointed, I made a point of not phoning him before the match because it was such a tough time for him. To point out that he is South African does not sit well with me. When New Zealand and Australia played each other in the Rugby Championship last year, they had referees from the host country, that’s the way it is with Covid,” Erasmus pointed out.

The move to Cape Town Stadium from one of the most famous homes of rugby in Newlands has come under fresh scrutiny after the turf broke up often during scrum time, not helping the Springboks according to prop Steven Kitshoff, in the first Test against the British and Irish Lions.

Cape Town Stadium was originally built for soccer and the turf did not stand up to the rigours of international scrummaging at the weekend. The Springboks, using two quality front rows, were expecting to gain some dominance in the scrums, providing them with an important attacking platform, but they struggled to get the purchase required.

The second and third Tests are both being played at the same venue, having been moved from Johannesburg due to Covid, and it seems highly unlikely that any more changes to the schedule will be made.

“The field cut up a lot and it was difficult to plant and use your feet. The grass just gives way and it becomes very slippery. There are things we can work on to prevent that – everyone having all eight studs in the ground helps a lot. The referee also called ‘Use it!’ at the scrums quite quickly, probably because he doesn’t want re-sets.

“Our scrum was rock-solid and we were starting to feel the cracks coming in the opposition, so we have to try and get our momentum a bit quicker. We have to find solutions to these problems quickly so we can take control as a group of forwards. In the second half we struggled to get our scrum going and that allowed the Lions to use their kicking game to put us under pressure,” loosehead prop Kitshoff said on Monday.

While there have been some bombastic predictions that the Springboks are now heading for a series whitewash, Kitshoff spoke of the quiet determination within the team to repeat what they did at the World Cup: Having been beaten by the All Blacks in the opening game, South Africa did not lose again as they went on to win the title.

“It’s a similar feeling to after that World Cup loss. We only lost by five points, some things just did not go our way and we struggled very badly in certain areas. But there is still a good vibe in the camp and we are very positive, although very disappointed in the result. We know how to fight back and get off the ground for the second game. We’re excited for a big game of rugby.

“The Lions did really well to take away some of our strong points, but as country we always fight back and come back stronger. We are putting a lot of work into our set-piece, we want to get that go-forward and our team on the front foot. Everybody put their bodies on the line, we all tried really hard to get over the gainline and give the team momentum. But there are some tactical and technical things for us to master,” Kitshoff said.