Speed and Penalties Hurting Springboks at Tri-Nations
The South African Springboks have now lost all three of their matches to start the 2010 Tri-Nations tournament. Two to the New Zealand All Blacks to start, and most recently a third to the Australian Wallabies on the weekend in Brisbane. In all three meetings, the Springboks lack of speed and their inability to remain disciplined have cost them the match.
Tournament So Far
The Boks have struggled the whole way, getting blown away by their competition at every turn. The closest match they have played this tournament has been a 31-17 loss to New Zealand in Wellington.
The Boks were supposed to be the class of the 2010 competition, many experts pegging them to take over New Zealand’s number one world ranking, running over their competitors. Their size and aggressive play, which was supposed to be their major advantage, has ended up being their most notable hindrance.
Speed
The Boks have not been able to keep up with their opponents, as their front eight have looked lethargic against the speedy Aussie and New Zealand sides. They were especially exposed in Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium over the weekend, as the pitch is said to be one of the fastest in the Southern Hemisphere.
The lack of speed on the Boks side has been particularly noticeable in the scrum-half position. The scrum-half is responsible for getting the ball out of the scrum and beginning play, a job that generally dictates the pace of the game. In addition, the scrum-half must have the imagination to open up the opponent’s offence. The worst part of all for South Africa and Peter de Villiers is that they cannot seem to find the right mix in the middle.
The Boks began the tournament with Ricky Januarie in the 10 spot, but after two losses to the All Blacks he did not travel with the team to Australia and was replaced with Ruan Pienaar. Pienaar looked completely confused during the match against the Wallabies and was taken out in the 72nd minute.
In addition, the play of prop, Victor Matfield, has been average over the last three matches. Dubbed as perhaps the best player in the world entering the tournament, Matfield has been just regular, not nearly dominating line-outs as he was expected to.
The one bright spot for the Boks has been the play of Morne Steyn, who looks like he is the only person capable of scoring for the South Africans. The Boks fly-half actually leads the tournament in scoring at 22 points, which is over half of his team’s total.
Discipline
Perhaps the most glaring statistic of the Boks' 2010 tournament is their serious lack of discipline. They have now collected four yellow cards and accumulated 16 weeks of suspensions in just three games.
In the game against New Zealand, they lost their all-star centre Bakkies Botha for nine weeks after he head-butted a New Zealand player. Jean de Villiers was given a two week ban the following game for a dangerous tackle against the All Blacks, and most recently, Jaque Fourie was handed a four week suspension for a similar tackle against Australia.
Last weekends game in Brisbane put a star beside the Boks lack of focus and discipline, as the Aussies kicked six penalties, for 18 points, a total that alone would have been good enough to defeat South Africa, with five points to spare.
If the Boks are interested in getting back into the 2010 Tri-Nations tournament they are going to have to start by staying disciplined and stop losing some of their best players to silly suspensions. Earlier in the week, coach De Villiers came out and accused the referees of favouring New Zealand, however, after the Australia loss, he may want to take a look at his own club to see what the real problem is.
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