Springboks: The RIDICULOUS stats behind the Tony Brown ‘attacking revolution’
Tony Brown has brought the best out of this Springboks attack
The Springboks sent a clear message to the rest of the rugby world with their performance against Australia as they look to claim their first Rugby Championship title since 2019.
South Africa have become known for their brute strength and powerful pack, but their 33-7 win against the Wallabies showed they are evolving into a much more attack-minded side, with the introduction of assistant coach Tony Brown the key.
The New Zealander has overseen an attacking revolution since joining the coaching staff earlier this year, and after some promising signs against Ireland, things really clicked against Australia.
They utilised a much more dynamic, expansive and fast-placed attack to tear Australia apart; and the stats certainly reflect that.
Springboks run riot
The Springboks seemed to have free-reign across the park, as they broke through the Australian defence with ease.
They chewed up a whopping 976.6 meters off just 139 carries as they ended their Brisbane hoodoo, an average of 7 meters per carry. The majority of these meters also came from the outside backs with Jesse Kriel, Cheslin Kolbe, Willie le Roux and in particular Kurt-Lee Arendse notching 363 meters between the four of them.
Elsewhere, the Boks seemed to cause the Wallabies defenders all sorts of bother too. South Africa racked up a total of 29 defenders beaten – a round high – during the win at Suncorp Stadium, as Arendse and Kolbe again chipping in with some big numbers.
What is interesting about this stat though is that the forwards actually beat the most defenders across the game. Siya Kolisi beat three defenders, Elrigh Louw beat four and Eben Etzebeth beat two.
This reflects the dominance of the pack at the line, and again shows the attacking revolution under Brown. Before, the Boks pack would have just looked to steamroller through their opponents in the tight, but under Brown, they are playing slightly wider and therefore have more space to charge through the defence.
Following on from this, the Boks were able to slice through the Wallabies line with ease, coming up with nine line breaks. Arendse again contributed the most to this, notching three himself; but the likes of Malcolm Marx, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Cobus Reinach also chipped in with one apiece.
All of these metrics combined beautifully to get the Springboks on the front-foot as they racked up five tries on the way to victory. This is even more impressive considering they notched 12 in the entirety of the 2023 edition and 20 in the last six-game Rugby Championship in 2022. They look on course to beating both of these numbers already…
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Pass-first mentality
It’s already been mentioned that the Springboks; identity has always been to bash through an opposition defence rather than move around them; but under Brown they are playing a much more expansive game, and their passing stats certainly mirror this intent to spread the ball too.
Against the Wallabies, South Africa made 169 passes, the second most last weekend; but what is more interesting in this stat though is who is making the passes. Outside of the scrum-halves, Le Roux leads the way with 19 and the back-rowers Kolisi and Ben-Jason Dixon also contributed a collective 17 passes between them.
This again proves the intent to get the ball wide, using Le Roux as the pivot in the back-field to bring in the likes of Kolbe and Arendse, and the forwards are also looking to pass more to link with the backs and get them on the front-foot.
It wasn’t just typical passing where the Springboks stood out too, as they came up with nine offloads.
Ball retention
Playing expansive rugby is all well and good, but if you don’t retain your own ball then it becomes impossible to play this way.
Luckily though, the Boks were incredibly effective in the breakdown as they boasted an impressive ruck success of 96.7%.
The attacking revolution under Brown is fully underway now, and it’s making the Springboks an even more frightening prospect this Rugby Championship.
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