How the Springboks changed their Rugby Championship plans as ‘a clear theme emerges’
The dynamic changed with Handre Pollard at 10 for the Springboks.
One of the features of Round Two of the Rugby Championship was how both Argentina and South Africa adapted their game-plans to turn over losses of the previous week.
The Boks were humbled by a free running Wallaby team at Ellis Park in the first encounter, losing 22-38, whilst Los Pumas were slow and sluggish out of the blocks, with the All Blacks winning 41-24 in Cordoba.
Move forward a week and both results were turned over, with South Africa grabbing a 30-22 victory in Cape Town and Argentina humbling New Zealand 29-23 in Buenos Aires.
With a focus on the fortunes of South Africa, let’s discuss how Rassie Erasmus reacted to the loss in Round One and zone in on the changes the world champions implemented.
Kicking strategy v width strategy
Under Tony Brown’s tutelage, South Africa are said to be looking for more ambition and greater width in their game. In Johannesburg we saw Manie Libbok running the show at 10, with a back-row picked for support with Siya Kolisi at eight, and the introduction of Andre Esterhuizen at 12.
South Africa ran 139 carries for 580 metres in that match, making 18 kicks from hand for some 433 metres, retaining five of those kicks in the challenge.
In the return fixture, we see a quantum shift of focus. Handre Pollard and Damian de Allende return at 10 and 12 – the dynamic is changed and we see only 372 metres run from 95 carries, with 35 kicks from hand and a retention of 19 kicks, with Cheslin Kolbe starring with five kick reclaims, a remarkable feat for a man of his stature.
However, the ‘activity numbers’ in isolation are one thing, but when read in conjunction with where those actions took place, a clear theme emerges.
In Test One, 53% of South Africa’s carries took place between their own halfway line and the opposition 22m line, and they spent 42% of the match in the Aussie 22. Australia spent only 16% of the match in the Bok 22m area, yet scored six tries. How on earth could this be the case?
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Put simply, it was down to turnover profile; South Africa’s possession was turned over 18 times, 14 of them in the Australian half and four in their own half, from which Australia scored five of their six tries.
The Australian defensive system held strong, and their turnovers took place either in second wave scramble, or crucially, in the period between ruck three and ruck six, moments where numbers on feet are diminishing and defence becomes stressed. The Wallaby superpower is free running transition rugby, and South Africa’s eagerness to run with width in the Aussie half cost them dearly.
Exit key
In Test Two, the Boks were happy to adopt a much more conservative exit strategy and to spend as little time with ball in hand where Australia could turn them over and create transition. The stats show that South Africa spent only 20% of the match between the halfway and the Aussie 22m line, the area of danger where they lost so much ball and were punished in Test One. They used the area between their own 22 and the halfway 45% of the time, and launched some 28 kicks from that zone – compare that to nine kicks from 28% of time in that zone and you can see a quantum tactical thinking shift.
They also set up far less rucks – 69 in Test Two to 97 in Test One, meaning that the wonderful Aussie back-row, led by Fraser McReight, were either defending in the line or turning to cover kicks, thus removing crucial turnover opportunity from the Wallaby poachers.
There were only 19 attacking rucks between the halfway and 22, compared to 32 in the first Test, again showing the intellectual and tactical reactions made by Erasmus and his backroom team. However, they were still turned over a concerning 16 times – but the difference was that those turnovers took place in areas where the Wallabies had less opportunity to exploit and, due to less rucks, more defenders in front of them to close them down.
The last piece of the Springbok jigsaw was their lineout improvement. Bok sides pride themselves in set-piece excellence and their Test One return of 69% of their own ball was lamentable. Nick Frost had a field day in steal and disruption, and Malcolm Marx’s throwing once again deserted him as he had a dismal outing. Wind forward a week, and the set-piece picture changes as South Africa record 100% in their lineout work.
Defensive system changes
However, there’s still a lot of work to do. South Africa are changing to a new defensive system – where the moderated push is in implementation over and above the pure blitz.
The simple difference between the two systems is that the push sees the defender focusing on defending and watching the ball, whereas the blitz sees them defending the man and trying to break the seam around the 13 channel.
The work of the scrum-half in the push is absolutely vital to make the extra defender around the ‘fold’ area and we saw nine tackles coming from the Bok nine in Test Two over and above five in Test One, clearly demonstrating that the system is improving and bedding in. However, one huge concern will be South Africa have been operating at 80% completion and 20% failure in their defence so far – light years away from the 91% and 9% stats they achieved at the World Cup.
Summary:
– South Africa’s kicking game combined with territorial accuracy improves
– Huge reclaim effort from chasers – Kolbe shines
– Fewer mid-pitch rucks sees less chances to turn over
– Better lineout focus
But:
– Defensive woes continue
– Turnover concerns – 34 times turned over thus far
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