Jean de Villiers ‘concerned’ as Springboks legend ‘puts a question mark’ alongside new defensive system
Argentina breaking the Springboks' defensive line in the Rugby Championship, and ex-centre Jean de Villiers.
Jean de Villiers insists that the Springboks defence requires a vast improvement and has raised concerns about the defence under their new coach.
South Africa’s rearguard has been regarded as the best in the world over the past few years, helping them to success Rugby World Cup titles in 2019 and 2023.
That was marshalled by Jacques Nienaber for those two tournaments, but the 51-year-old departed to Leinster following the conclusion of the World Cup last year.
Ex-Harlequins defence guru Jerry Flannery has since taken over, but the Boks shipped four tries against Argentina in the 29-28 defeat.
De Villiers also used the Ireland series and the game against the All Blacks in Johannesburg as examples of the Springboks’ deficiencies.
‘Exposed drastically’
“The bigger concern is that there was loads of missed tackles which we’re not used to from the Boks. The system as well I’m putting a question mark around,” De Villiers said on the Boks Office podcast.
“We saw against New Zealand, and maybe even going back to the Ireland games, how we got beaten in the outside channels at times, and we saw it again last weekend.
“Second to that, again going back to the Ireland games, around the ruck – the second pillar kind of area. Those are the two areas of the field where we got exposed last weekend drastically.
“Adding to that, the individual missed tackles; that leads to four tries being conceded in 20 minutes. I do think it’s fixable, certainly from an individual tackling point of view.
“With the system thing, at times you could very much see it was not as in sync as we’re used to in terms of our line speed defensively.”
Although that wall was unbreachable during the 18-12 triumph over New Zealand in Cape Town, they have evidently not always got it right under Flannery.
Former Boks back-row Schalk Burger believes that the new coach has altered their structure slightly, despite keeping the key aspects of their rush defence.
“I think it’s there but we’re not completely linked up. You’ll see the line speed going but we’re not as in sync. In the past, I think we had one speed and that’s just flat out go and get them. It doesn’t matter how far back the ball is, it doesn’t matter how narrow we are,” Burger said.
“We’re still quite narrow at times but now it’s almost like we go up and somewhere there’s a call where we press and use the touchline as our safety net.”
Jesse Kriel’s role
De Villiers spotted a pattern in last weekend’s defeat to Argentina, which hinted at a slight change in the Springboks’ defensive system.
“I think a lot of the calls would come from the outside, especially the 13 channel. You actually saw Jesse a couple of times where he had his hands out and the communication probably being to hold more until you’re numbered up and then you can press again,” he added.
“I think once you get it right and you have got the ability to adapt to the situation then you can be really effective. The fact that we’re changing the team and personnel so much, it does make it more difficult.
“You cast your mind back to the World Cup final, I can remember that one time when Pieter-Steph du Toit was caught on the left wing, they had numbers, he made the decision [to fly up], smashed Jordie Barrett and the opportunity was lost.
“It will be interesting to see where the Boks go from here and whether they revert back to that.”
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