Ken Borland

First-half frustrations

The Springboks put on a wretched first-half display as they returned to playing in front of a capacity crowd at home. And they only grew more frustrated as the Wales pack, splendidly cohesive and determined, stymied their rolling mauls and stood up in the collisions. The home side barely fired a shot despite enjoying enough territory and possession. The maul – largely nullified by Wales – and speculative kicks seemed to be their only attacking weapons.

Elton Jantjies had a particularly poor time. His kicks out of hand were often miscued, including one penalty that went touch-in-goal. He also missed a couple of shots at goal and spilled the ball that led to Rees-Zammit’s second try.

Wales, on the other hand, were clinical in punishing whatever mistakes the Springboks made in their own half, with rampant wing Louis Rees-Zammit scoring twice.

Back from the dead, impetus from the bench

Trailing 3-18 at halftime and wondering where their next points would come from, the Springboks certainly came out with fire in their bellies, no doubt after a roasting from coach Jacques Nienaber.

Their maul was revitalised thanks to greater purpose, but especially because they introduced some variation with peels off the side to split the Welsh defence.

Willie le Roux had replaced Elton Jantjies from the start of the second half and brought some direction to the backline. But the real difference came up front where the bomb squad forwards came on and smashed. The lift in intensity was palpable and debutant Elrigh Louw made a storming run into the shadow of the poles to help set up Cheslin Kolbe’s crucial try.

Dependable Damian, desperate Dan

With Jantjies off, South Africa did not really have an ace goalkicker on the field for the second half, but Damian Willemse stepped up admirably. Solid in general play at fullback and then rotating well with Le Roux at flyhalf, as well as providing some slick attacking touches, Willemse kicked two conversions, including one from the touchline, which was crucial in a tight game.

Never mind his moment of glory, stepping up to take the angled penalty after the final hooter that won the game and spared the Springboks’ blushes after they conceded a maul try to a pack that had two forwards in the sin-bin.

This year has seen the talented Willemse blossom as a highly dependable performer.

Wales captain Dan Biggar, by comparison, had an evening that rivalled Jantjies’ for awfulness. He seemed to be having a running battle through the match with the Springboks and the referee, was yellow-carded in the second half, and then it was his deliberate knock-on which gave South Africa their matchwinning penalty.

Wiese: Prim and powerful

Eighthman Jasper Wiese was a deserved man of the match. One of the few Springboks to shine in their disjointed first half, he was a phenomenal ball-carrier, averaging four metres per carry, and made some crunching tackles. It was also most pleasing that all his ferocity did not come at the cost of his discipline. Wiese has conceded several penalties in the past, but on Saturday night he was prim and proper and kept his nose clean.

Veteran Springbok fullback Willie le Roux may have ceded the No.15 jersey to Damian Willemse for the first Test against Wales in Pretoria on Saturday, but he will still be on the bench, with coach Jacques Nienaber saying he is “crucial to our attacking game-plan”.

The 32-year-old Le Roux, who gets more than his fair share of criticism, could earn his 73^rd cap on Saturday at Loftus Versfeld and statistics prove the value he adds in often being the spark for the South African attack.

Acoording to a tweet released by Opta statistics on Tuesday, Le Roux has made the most offloads (40) and try-assists (35) of any Springbok since making his Test debut in 2013.

“Willie has lots of experience and he brings a lot to the team through the week,” Nienaber said on Tuesday. “He has knowledge to impart for the youngsters.

“I know people have lots to say about Willie, but look at how many times he makes the last pass to allow us to score a try. You must be able to see space and create to do that.

“What Willie does for our attack is outstanding. Sometimes he looks average in other areas and he always gets criticism, but the reality is he does lots and is crucial to our attacking game-plan,” Nienaber said.

While South African fans have been loving the exciting new talent that has exploded on the scene through the United Rugby Championship, Nienaber said youth will have to wait to be given its head.

“It was a tough selection to get to the final 23, but we have a plan in terms of what we want to achieve. We could have selected other players who would not have dropped the team,” Nienaber admitted.

“Hopefully we will see those guys operating in the near future for the Springboks. To get youngsters into the team is always a balancing act. You want to do it when you have momentum, because that makes it easier for them.

“And the only way to get momentum is by winning. It’s not easy to bring new guys into the team when the confidence is low.

“Sure, new faces will bring a bit of energy and renewal to the team, maybe some creativity, but you also want to be able to build that momentum,” Nienaber said.

When Willie le Roux hared off to Wasps in 2017 he knew that he was putting his Springbok career at risk such were the stricter rules surrounding the use of overseas players at the time. But he was still in the Green and Gold two years later and his experience at fullback was important in winning the 2019 World Cup.

And now, with almost another two years having passed, Le Roux is still the first-choice fullback at an evergreen 31-years-old. This is both a blessing and a concern because should the Toyota Verblitz star get injured, it is probably the position in the squad for the series against the British and Irish Lions where coach Jacques Nienaber has the least back-up, especially with Warrick Gelant unlikely to recover in time from his ACL surgery.

Damian Willemse was a late call-up to the World Cup squad as a replacement for Jesse Kriel and has only accumulated six caps. His recent form for the Stormers has been promising rather than spectacular and there are many who believe Sharks fullback Aphelele Fassi should now be considered the back-up to Le Roux.

Fassi himself is uncapped though and the development of his undoubted talent was put back a bit by the serious shoulder injury he suffered last year.

So fullback looks a little thin for Nienaber’s liking, and he could be looking at utility players like Francois Steyn, Johan Goosen or Raymond Rhule to provide cover there or maybe even Kriel, Handre Pollard or Sbu Nkosi in an emergency.

In terms of the all-important tight five, while there is pleasing depth in the front row and lots of in-form Black stars like Bongi Mbonambi, Lizo Gqoboka, Ox Nche, Scarra Ntubeni, Joseph Dweba and Trevor Nyakane to choose from, injuries have marred Nienaber’s options at lock.

World Cup winners RG Snyman and Lood de Jager are both racing against time to be fit and are unlikely to make the 45-man squad that will be announced on Saturday.

While the Springboks’ starting pair of Eben Etzebeth and Franco Mostert are absolutely world-class, there is a lack of experience thereafter.

Marvin Orie has been capped only three times and Jason Jenkins has played just a solitary Test. The other two main contenders for a place – Ruan Nortje and JD Schickerling – would both be making their international debuts.

Toulouse hardman Rynhardt Elstadt has helped his French club to European glory and top of the log domestically, and can cover lock as well, but has played just two Tests. The Springbok management will be loathe to move Pieter-Steph du Toit to the second row given what a tremendous impact he has had playing on the flank.

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.