Argentina vs South Africa There were lots and lots of issues that we need to talk about. The Boks have got real problems with their front rows scrummaging, particularly against the Argentines. They still havent really settled on a combination with their halfbacks. They started with [Ruan] Pienaar and [Handré] Pollard and swopped it around in the second half. Neither really worked that well. They had real defensive problems out wide and the Argentines managed to score two tries by spreading it wide. They will walk away knowing that they were very lucky to win that game today. For their game plan to succeed, they have to have good set pieces. If their one-off runners dont get momentum from the set piece, then they dont get across the advantage line. I dont know how many penalties they gave away in scrum situations today, but I know psychologically when a South African pack gets dominated in the scrum as they were today, theres very little testosterone that gets distributed to the other parts of their game. The guys looked a bit shell-shocked. The whole front row were getting humiliated. It became a bit embarrassing, and suddenly the big ball-carriers werent looking good. In South Africa we have this idea of picking loosehead props as ball-carriers, but theyve got to be scrummagers first and foremost. Gurthrö [Steenkamp] hasnt been first-choice [prop] at Toulouse and here he was really shown up. Jannie [du Plessis] also had a hell of an afternoon. I havent seen a Springbok scrum go back like that in years. I thought Jean [de Villierss] decision to go for the corner was a brave one, and a good one. Obviously they ended up scoring from the driving lineout. That was one area of the game where they started to get better as the game progressed. Their lineout was quite consistent. For 60 minutes I thought that the Argentine side played with huge enthusiasm on defence. They really got off the line quickly and smashed the Springboks. They tackled them low and stopped any momentum for their ball-carriers. The Boks dont have a backline that can conjure up tries like either the Australians or the New Zealanders. Once they get countered in their set pieces and with their physical runners, they needed to find a way to get Willie [le Roux] into the game to create opportunities for their try-scorers.
Posted on: Sun, 24 Aug 2014 08:44:39 +0000
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