Nick Mallett reveals the key tactic which made Springboks ‘difficult to stop’ and how opponents are now countering them
Springboks scrum-half is caught in possession by All Blacks back-row Simon Parker and ex-Boks coach Nick Mallett (inset).
Former Springboks head coach Nick Mallett believes the current world champions are being targeted at the breakdowns which is a big reason for their current struggles in the international arena.
South Africa suffered a 24-17 defeat against their arch rivals New Zealand at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday and that result means Rassie Erasmus’ troops have now lost two out of three matches in this year’s Rugby Championship.
The win means the All Blacks have consolidated their position at the top of the tournament’s standings and they now have 10 points, while the Wallabies are one point adrift in second spot with the Boks and Los Pumas level on five points apiece.
The All Blacks and Springboks will resume hostilities in Wellington on Saturday and the visitors can ill afford another defeat as that would make it very difficult for them to defend their Rugby Championship title.
Springboks put under pressure at the breakdowns
During Saturday’s clash at Eden Park, New Zealand dominated the breakdowns and Mallett indicated that it’s a similar tactic which caused the Boks headaches in a hard-fought 42-24 victory over Italy in Pretoria in July and in their 38-22 Rugby Championship defeat against Australia in Johannesburg last month.
Against the All Blacks at Eden Park, Springboks scrum-half Grant Williams was put under tremendous pressure at the breakdowns and could not execute his usual, slick service to his outside backs.
“It is the quality of ball you’re getting, you know, gives you that opportunity as a scrum-off to take better decisions,” Mallett told the Talking Boks podcast with Brenden Nel.
“I mean, if you’re rushed there and under pressure and you’re trying to scrabble the ball out with your hands and there’s someone you know, there’s a guy looming over you, waiting for you to grab your jersey.
“You’re not as calm with your box kicks and with your decisions as you normally are. So, going back to the Italy game, Italy put us under pressure when they flooded the breakdown. We complained that the ref didn’t referee it properly.
‘A lot of sides are going hard at the breakdown’
“I thought Australia were very good at the breakdown against us in Joburg and also in Cape Town. And again, it’s happened here (against New Zealand). So, a lot of sides are going hard at the breakdown against us.
“You know, they really, they’re putting in two or three players because they’d rather get us to have slow ball off that breakdown. Even if they lose it, they’d rather that ball is as slow as possible.
“They make a mess of that breakdown so that we don’t get that rhythm and that momentum that makes us such a very, very difficult team to stop.
“In those first 20 minutes in that Australian game, they didn’t slow our ball down. And when they don’t slow our ball down and we’re getting ball on the front foot, then we’re very, very hard to stop. So, I think that’s one of the tactics teams are using against us.
“Heavy, heavy contesting and counter-rucking at the breakdown to the extent that even the last breakdown of the game (at Eden Park), they counter-rucked us and took the ball.
“Admittedly, we were playing behind the advantage line a lot, but that is what teams are going to do against us to slow our ball down.”