Five headaches Coetzee must solve

The Springboks will have to be on fire this Saturday if they want to keep alive their hopes of a series victory over Ireland.

The Springboks will have to be on fire this Saturday if they want to keep alive their hopes of a series victory over Ireland.

We look at five headaches that new coach Allister Coetzee will have to remedy if they are going to bounce back at Ellis Park following the shock 26-20 defeat at Newlands.

1 Variety in attack

Besides a wonderful rehearsed move from a scrum that led to Lwazi Mvovo’s try in the first half, the Springboks were too predictable on attack against Ireland. The South Africans found space on the outside on a few occasions, but they couldn’t exploit it with an offload in the tackle or grubber kick. Ireland’s two tries came from a lovely grubber (in the first half), while a brilliant offload by fullback Jared Payne led to Conor Murray’s try early in the second half.

The Boks were also too lateral in attack. Because they ran across the field rather than straightening the line, the South Africans couldn’t benefit from their numerical advantage. The Boks’ ball-carriers were also too upright, and they struggled to get momentum because they were easy targets to tackle back.

2 Breakdown problems

The Boks pride themselves on being the nastiest beasts on the rugby block in the physicality stakes, but they were properly manhandled by the Irish on Saturday. Ireland were just more effective in cleaning and protecting their own ball, while the arriving player at the tackle always had a go to try and slow down the Boks’ ball.

Ace SA fetcher Francois Louw wasn’t really at his best on Saturday, and looked a bit rusty after a four-week layoff since his last match for Bath in England. But to single him out would be unfair, as it is the responsibility of the whole pack to make sure that the scrumhalf gets good, quality ball. Their cleaning will have to be much better next week at Ellis Park (kickoff 5pm).

3 Lack of cohesion

Springbok coach Allister Coetzee said they had enough time to prepare for the Irish, but this SA team looked a bit disjointed and lost at times. There wasn’t a lot of communication out on the field, which was evident when debutant scrumhalf Faf de Klerk passed the ball over the top of an oncoming player twice in the match.

Louw said last week that he had only just met some of the guys in the squad for the first time, and it showed a few times on the field when the players couldn’t really read each other’s movements with ball in hand and when they were defending. This is a new group of players with a lot of new faces, so they probably will take some time to gel. However, I suggest they get to know each other better before Saturday.

4 Poor kicking game

The Springboks practised plenty of little dinks over the top, grubber kicks and cross-field bombs during their first week together at the Stellenbosch Academy of Sport. This was to counter Ireland’s famed rush defence, which loves to choke the life out of opposition attackers. Unfortunately, though, the Boks only kicked in behind the Irish defence once, and that was the incident in which CJ Stander collided with Pat Lambie.

Elton Jantjies is a wonderful attacking kicker of the ball, and he should maybe have tried to find some space with his boot; because, of the slow ball and all the lateral running, he couldn’t quite find the space out wide with a pass. The Boks also have a great contesting lineout. So it would also have been worth a shot to kick it deep into Irish territory and try to steal one of their throws.

5 Senior players must stand up

There were a few seasoned veterans who weren’t quite up to scratch on Saturday afternoon. And, when your experienced campaigners arrive late to the party, the youngsters tend to get lost along the way. The Bok pack was supposed to lay the foundation to make it easier for the youngsters at the back to play their natural game.

New captain Adriaan Strauss could also have done more to try and calm things down when the team tried rushed tactics on attack to try to exploit their numerical advantage. The senior players will have to make sure that they arrive at Ellis Park ready to play this Saturday. - Cape Times