Tank Lanning
Much talk about the Bok vs Ireland game being a game of two halves, and the half time team talk given by Heyneke Meyer. And while the second half was a better one for the Boks, to me it was a game of two sets of 10 minutes …
The Boks lost JP Pietersen to yellow for the last 10 minutes of the 1st half and the Irish scored no points at all. In fact, Jonathan Sexton missed a chance to go to 15-3 up with less than a minute to go in the half, which I thought to be quite a big moment in the game.
And while the Boks came out firing in the second half, it was Ireland’s turn to be down to ten men after Jamie Heaslip saw yellow for a repeated infringement. Using what seems to be the single biggest attacking weapon in SA – the rolling maul – to good effect, Ruan Pienaar got the only try of the game, Lambie then slotted the conversion and a penalty a few minutes later. 10 points against 14 men and the Boks went from being 12-3 down to 12-13 up … Brilliant defense in the last 30 mins and that was enough to win them the game.
Not pretty, but effective … And if looking for positives, obviously an away win is always a positive, and coming back from a 9 point deficit while not allowing the home team to score a point in the second half is also worthy of a feather in the Bok cap. The defence was Fort Knox like, and the lineout looked pretty good …
But my oath it was dull, and that first half came straight out of the bottom draw …
Compared to the All Blacks, who were again entertaining in an emphatic win over Scotland, it was like watching two different sports … Sure Ireland are a better side than the Scots, and conditions in Edinburgh were definitely better than those in Dublin, where the field seemed to fold like rice paper any time a player changed direction, BUT the gap between the best and the rest seems to be increasing …
Pat Lambie put in a few aimless kicks that gave away possession, his restarts lacked height, thus giving the Boks no chance to compete for the ball, and he just looked a little betwixt and between game plans with the end result being no dominance of the game at all …
One has to wonder how much freedom he was actually given though? Was he asked to play a Morne Steyn type game? Because you can bring in all the exciting players you want, but if the coach is going to maintain the same sort of kick and chase game plan with one off runners from the scrumhalf, then there is no real point. Rather go with guys who can play that game and be dull.
And I do not mean that cynically! Sure I (and many others it seems) would prefer to see a more possession based game aimed at continuity with ball in hand, but if the coach cannot coach that type of game, rather pick the players for the game you are going to play. As it stands, the coach seems to be catching it from all sides, and is trying to appease by picking players equipped to play a game that is not being employed. Sort of hoping that 2 wrongs will make a right!
And away from the rugby … An interesting call from SuperSport to use John Smit in a 3 man commentary team, who went straight into “We need to …” mode without even a hint of objectivity.
I asked if people had enjoyed the new format and the response on Twitter suggests that Smit and SuperSport passed this test with flying colours – viewers saying he added great insight, with objectivity not expected from an ex Bok captain, as that is the role of anchor Matthew Pearce.
I listened mostly to the Irish commentators because the sound quality was so much better. It seemed to me that the South African trio were mostly overpowered by crowd noise …
Agree with you Tank – no structure no plan. AB’s showed once again that basic rugby, quick ball, maintaining possession will come out on tops.
I have said it many times – Lambie is not a 10 – having watched him since schooldays, his talent and skills come out when he is at the back. This notion of give Lambie the ball and he will produce the magic is a dream. Would Steve Hansen play Israel Dagg at 10 – no – he is so dangerous at the back. Would HO De Villiers ever had played at 10 -no – exceptional from the back.
The unfortunate thing about Lambie is that he has been talked up to be a number of things, but the reality is he isn’t an international player at all. He is going to turn out to be a fairly good provincial player and thats it. Completely disagree about him being a fullback. In today’s game the fullback requires exceptional pace, and that is his major shortcoming wherever he ends up.
With regard to the rest of the Bok’s gameplan it is just dire. We are going backwards at a horrible rate of knots and unless HM boosts his coaching staff with personnel that really understand the game it is going to get ugly.
In that kind of game with those conditions I feel Morne Steyn would have faired better than Lambie (bar Morne’s recent run of atrocious goal kicking at international level). Unfortunately the match was never going to suit Lambie’s game, or Goosen or Jantjies’ for that matter.
On a different note while Jaco Taute was solid in defence he didn’t offer anything in attack. While I believe he is a great talent he should be brought up into the team as a fullback. He has not anything to justify his selection over an inform Juan De Jongh.