Rugby World Cup 2023 – Annoyed by the Irish affront, South Africa highlighted three areas to work on before Tonga
A few days after the meeting against the XV du Trèfle, the World champions pointed out the failures which led to this setback. They promised to respond with an even more physical match against Tameifuna’s teammates.
As with New Zealand, the defeats of the Springboks are experienced as explosions in the rainbow nation. The South African media, which probably do not fear Tonga, the last opponent of this group stage, have again sent missives against Nienaber’s protégés.
Analyzed in depth over the last few hours, the defeat was justified in three acts by third row Kwagga Smith and scrum coach Daan Human.
Strategic choicesthe heart of the debate
Lacking a reliable scorer, while awaiting the return of Handré Pollard, scheduled against Tonga, the Springboks nevertheless wanted to continue to show pragmatism against the winners of the 2023 Grand Slam. With four failures against the poles (one transformation and three penalties), the strategy did not pay off. To the great regret of Boks followers who wonder about the low use of mauls carried, particularly in the second half with only two attempts. “We are comfortable with this choice, Daan Human justified himself. We must continue to give great confidence to our scorers, especially since one of Faf’s (de Klerk) tries ended up on the post. It’s a bit like the sideline, sometimes it works, and other matches, the sector doesn’t work.”
The former member of Stade Toulouse played the defensive card: “You know, when we take the penalty, on average, 70% does not lead to a try. It’s not an admission of weakness, and we tried it on the last action to win the match. Deon (Fourie , usually third row but replaced in the hooker position Editor’s note) made a good throw, but behind we were not able to initiate the movement well. We must work and rectify a few points in order to become a little more dominant approaching the line.”
At the start of the week, Erasmus was more severe about the poor performance of his scorers. “Our problem is clearly that we have not converted the attempted penalties.” If he is not “superman” according to the sports director, Handré Pollard is announced among the starters to put an end to the emerging controversy.
Faf de Klerk is part of the Springbok executives.
The ruck zone is no longer the preserve of the Springboks
Dominant in the second half (60% possession, 54% territory gain), Kolbe’s partners were unable to bring down the Irish defense. For Kwagga Smith, who entered the game quickly with the seven other forwards on the bench, the team was not able to rule the ground game. “In this area, the Irish were constantly able to slow down the balls for us. We often managed to keep it, but we lost, on average, two seconds too many during these phases.”
A waste of time which did not offer the possibility of “maintaining speed” to “find the offsets” allowing the tests to be recorded. This is the main regret according to the ex-rugby sevens player: “The result is frustrating because we had a lot of opportunities to make them fold. But we didn’t use this ammunition well. At the end of the match, seeing the gap, it cost us the match.”
The Boks want to resolve their indiscipline
Penalized twice in a closed scrum against Ireland, the forward pack also wants to resolve the mistakes in the running game, and in particular in this ruck zone.
Against Ireland, South Africa was penalized 11 times. Ireland remained below the threshold allowed in big matches with nine fouls. “It’s an essential element of this World Cup, a poursuivi Smith. Everyone can see it. Despite everything, we managed to avoid boxes. There are more of them with the use of video. At this stage of the competition, discipline can be costly. Against Ireland, we didn’t always control our concentration. “
Facing Tonga, the Springboks owe a revenge to their supporters. “We are really focusing on them this week, because qualification is not yet a given,” insisted Human. “We have to do the work, without being distracted by other aspects like the points difference. the plan that we will be able to validate an offensive bonus, and a lot of points.”
Determined, Smith made a promise before this Sunday meeting in Marseille. “We are really going to put the emphasis on the fight and the rucks phase. I met a lot of Tongans in the Japanese championship, they are people who play with pride. They will offer us a physical challenge. The key will be to better manage the phases on the ground, with this, we will give ourselves the means to be more effective in the opposing camp.”
