Plenty for Bok coach to work on

Bok coach Allister Coetzee will have to address a number of problem areas ahead of the Rugby Championship in August.

Durban - The Springboks may have snuck through the back door to beat Ireland, but coach Allister Coetzee will have to address a number of problem areas ahead of the Rugby Championship in August.

The Boks came from behind in the series after losing the first Test 26-20 at Newlands, before a last-quarter comeback in Johannesburg (32-26) and a relentless defence in Port Elizabeth, last Saturday saw them clinch the series 2-1.

But the South Africans are far from ready to take on the in-form All Blacks, who trounced Wales 3-0, and even Australia despite Michael Cheika's side suffering a 3-0 whitewash to England Down Under.

The Irish side were missing many of their first-choice stars such as Johnny Sexton, Simon Zebo, Rob Kearney, Cian Healy and Sean O'Brien, and even lost South African-born flank CJ Stander for the Ellis Park game after he was red-carded for taking out Patrick Lambie in the air in Cape Town.

Statistics garnered from Vodacom's All Out Rugby App shows that the Boks hardly had the ball in the series decider at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium last weekend, with just 32 percent of the possession and 27 percent territory.

That resulted in Adriaan Strauss' team having to make an enormous 182 tackles compared to Ireland's 81, while the Boks carried the ball just 67 times to the visitors' 160.

Coetzee's outfit won just three turnovers to the opposition's seven, with those figures rising to six and 26 respectively over the three-match series. The South Africans struggled to hold on to the ball, while they also lost the vital breakdown battle, which is where most games are decided in the modern era.

The South African Rugby Union opted not to continue using the services of breakdown consultant Richie Gray following last year's Rugby World Cup, with Gray returning to his native Scotland to help out his national team this season. But Gray has not been replaced directly in the Bok set-up, with assistant coach Matthew Proudfoot responsible for the scrums, breakdowns and all collisions.

However, openside flank Francois Louw has only had around four turnovers during the three Tests, which were not enough to trouble the Irish. Also, Ireland's 26 turnovers were carried out by 11 different players, which shows that it was a pre-planned ploy to attack the ball and rip it away in contact and not just waiting for the Irish opensider to create turnovers.

That is something Coetzee will have to look at closely as the Boks cannot expect to beat such a well-oiled attacking force like the All Blacks by just tackling the whole match.

Marcell Coetzee would've been a contender for the No 6 jersey if he wasn't injured and out for the season, while Jaco Kriel made his debut in PE and is more of a ball-carrier than a fetcher. But the Lions star has excelled in Super Rugby and has said that he can work on playing closer to the ball in a fetcher role.

The only other reasonable option is veteran Heinrich Brussow, who plays for the Docomo Red Hurricanes in Japan, but Coetzee is reluctant to call up overseas-based players and feels that Louw is his best option at No 6.

As good as the defence was in Port Elizabeth, the Boks still slipped too many tackles (25), with the Irish backs, in particular, able to create space and find the gaps with an intricate attack and offloading game.

The South African backline hardly troubled the Irish defence, and the centre pair of Damian de Allende and Lionel Mapoe never gelled. De Allende had a knack of tucking the ball under an arm and charging into a defender instead of looking to find Mapoe with an offload in the tackle, which saw the Lions No 13 - who is the joint leading try-scorer in Super Rugby with nine - seldom getting the ball in a good position.

Juan de Jongh didn't feature in June due to preparations for the Rio Olympics, but he will be available for the Rugby Championship and could be an ideal solution at No 12 for the Boks with his quick feet and organisational skills in midfield, as Jan Serfontein's wrist fracture will see him out for the next two months at least.

Fullback is another problematic position for the Bok coach, as Willie le Roux made a number of mistakes and ran across the field to close down the space of the outside backs.

Coetzee may look at Ruan Combrinck as a possible No 15, while another sevens player in Cheslin Kolbe can also come into the reckoning in late August.

A lack of discipline was a major issue in the first two Tests, with tighthead prop Frans Malherbe especially guilty of coming in from the side at the breakdowns.

The Boks improved a bit in PE, but cannot afford to concede unnecessary penalties in the Rugby Championship. - African News Agency (ANA)