Schalk Burger offers ‘bad habits’ theory for Springboks struggles as ex-international ‘shocked’ by experienced forward’s off day
Eben Etzebeth managing to win a lineout for the Springboks against the Wallabies and former South Africa star Schalk Burger.
Schalk Burger believes the Springboks’ lineout issues are a ‘quick fix’ but reckons they have potentially let standards slip in training.
South Africa conceded 38 unanswered points to the Wallabies as they succumbed to a shock defeat in Johannesburg last weekend.
They will be looking to bounce back quickly when they face Australia in the rematch in Cape Town on Saturday, but first of all Rassie Erasmus’ side will have to rectify their set-piece.
Following a quick start, in which they went 22-0 in front, the lineout started to go wrong and enabled the Wallabies to garner some belief and come back into the game.
Struggles of the Springboks hookers
It is usually such a reliable area for the Boks, but both hookers, Malcolm Marx and Bongi Mbonambi, struggled with their throwing as the visitors continually turned them over.
“I think [that it’s a quick fix]. We’re functioning at lower than 70 per cent, which is not Boks standard. We’ll go three or four games without losing more than one lineout,” he said on The Verdict podcast. “We’ve got good throwing hookers.
“If you lose confidence in the lineout, this weekend’s going to test you. By all accounts, the weather’s not looking good, we know the wind can blow in that stadium. On the Highveld normally, it’s the easiest thing because the speed of the ball normally beats the contest.”
Mbonambi has since been dropped from the 23 for the encounter in Cape Town after both he and Marx failed to find their targets.
“It’s not necessarily the calls we made but rather the execution. It was a little bit skew here, a little bit short,” former South Africa captain Jean de Villiers said.
Burger’s theory
Burger suggested that it could been down to a lapse in training standards which potentially led to their issues in the Test.
“You can often trace it back to the week and in training. You didn’t quite have your finger on the pulse,” he said.
“You just get into little bad habits. Maybe you haven’t been pushing maximum height in the week and all of a sudden someone goes up in front and you (the hooker) catch the player in front because that bad habit has crept in.
“It’s about driving standards and completing lifts because often a great execution will beat a contest. A little bit of a drop-off from the Boks.”
De Villiers, Burger and fellow ex-Springbok Hanyani Shimange reviewed one particular lineout which showed Mbonambi being called for a not-straight, which was thrown to Eben Etzebeth at chest height.
“I was shocked, I don’t think I’ve seen Bongi do that,” Shimange said, before adding: “It was just another individual mistake.
“I promise you, you will only see that from Bongi once. He must have thought they’re not contesting or something and chucked it in, and they went with a late lift and that’s where it caught him.”
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