RUGBY NEWS - Whenever the Springboks talk about being bold the reference is to their attacking game but they may need a much bolder tweak to their defensive strategy if they are to stand any chance of prevailing against the All Blacks at Newlands on Saturday.
After the 57-0 defeat to the Kiwis in Albany a few weeks ago there was much focus from the Bok coaching staff in post-match interviews on what might have been learned.
Some of that was applied in Bloemfontein, and even though the Boks were held to a draw by the Wallabies, it was a performance where they did show greater inventiveness on attack.
“I thought they looked a lot more dangerous,” was how All Black coach Steve Hansen put it and his sentiments were echoed by his assistant coach Ian Foster, who said that if the South Africans maintain their current path things would start coming together for them.
That may be so and Bok coach Allister Coetzee has rightly asserted that his men will look to protect their possession more by holding onto the ball at Newlands.
That is the right approach, particularly if the Bok kickers and chasers are going to be as inaccurate as they were the last time the two teams met.
Get your field kicks wrong against New Zealand and you are in massive trouble, as was proved at the QBE Stadium.
But attack is only half the game and it mustn’t be forgotten that the All Blacks scored eight tries in Albany.
Several of those were because of handling and other errors such as misdirected kicks that led to the All Blacks pouncing with impunity when they had turn-over ball to play with, and of course five missed Bok lineouts certainly didn’t help.
The 33 missed tackles though was a massive contributor and a lot of the headway that the All Blacks enjoyed might not have been forthcoming had the Boks employed a rush defensive system instead of their current mostly static shift system with occasional dedicated rush runners.
