Sports After Dark

The Springboks might have won the Tri-Nations opener, but they also revealed a lot of chinks in their armour.

South Africa needed two late drop goals from replacement Francois Steyn to beat Australia in the opening game of the 2007 Tri-Nations, but that was not the real story to come out of that match.

The real story was that South Africa were unable to turn long periods of dominance into points. After having almost all the possession and territory for the first half hour, the Springboks were only able to muster one converted try and a penalty goal.

Once the Australians had weathered the early storm, the Springboks gave away numerous penalties in their own half, allowing the Wallabies kick goals, finally culminating in Pierre Spies being shown a yellow card for his third penalty in the shadow of his own goal posts.

The Australian style of attack is very different from that which the All Blacks employ. The Wallabies like to take the ball into contact and recycle it quickly, drawing in defenders for phase after phase of attack. By contrast the All Blacks employ a tactical kicking game for territory and play a counter attacking style, waiting for their opponents to make a mistake before pouncing.

This provides the Springboks with an interesting challenge. Even if they win the set phases with their powerful pack, will they be able to deal with the counter-attacking back line when they turn the ball over?

When the All Blacks played France at the end of last season they had a mere 30% of the possession yet won convincingly, feeding solely from turnovers.

Of course everything is not in the All Blacks’ favour. Against Canada the back-line showed little creativity, and were only able to take control late in the game against a tired opponent. The addition of specialist centre Isaia Toeava will help prove some much needed mid-field punch.

While the All Blacks have the edge in the backs, the Springboks have a fearsome forward pack. Captain John Smit is out with an injury, but his replacement, Gary Botha, is more than capable. Giant locks Viktor Matfield and Albert van den Berg are two of the most dominant players in their position, and have far more experience than their All Blacks’ opposites.

The battle that often decides All Blacks-Springboks encounters is between open-side flankers Ritchie McCaw and Schalk Burger. Quite possibly the best open-siders in the world, whoever wins the battle of the breakdown will allow his team the front-foot ball which could decide the game.

Despite the somewhat poor showings in both teams’ previous outings, this will be a tight and physical contest and both teams will take their performances to the next level. Many are expecting these teams to meet in the World Cup final and this weekend’s game will give everyone the first real test of this year’s rugby season.

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The All Blacks look to exploit Springbok weaknesses by Hamish McBrearty, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.