A hollow victory?
The Boks might say this was a game they could never win. Against an England team as poor as the current one, the Boks would get slated if they lost like last week (and rightly so), and be greeted with skepticism if they did not win by 50 points.
There are many reasons why today's victory deserves applause. This is a battered Bok team. They show little confidence. They also show a decided lack of skill, making elementary mistakes. Most worryingly, they seem to lack the ability to punish the opposition. They are missing some of their first choice players. They have a coach in the unprecedented position of being called home to answer to his bosses during the tour.
However, at least the Boks played with some heart today. At least they showed some determination to win.
More than that, this was a Bok team that presented a change in tactics from the stubborn past points of view of their coach - they employed a fetcher, they changed their defensive pattern to the drift. They tried set moves from their first attacking ball of the game.
This was a team that bounced back immediately from a try by England that clearly wasn't.
And this was a team that defended well despite long periods of possession held by the English.
There were some good individual performances too. Juan Smith played his best game since being injured during the Super 14. Kabamba Floors did not win the tonnes of ball we hoped he would, but he tackled manfully together with Danie Rossouw. In fact, Floors' tackling made an enormous difference today.
Enrico Januarie had a fantastic game on defense and stands out as a consistent performer on the tour. His distribution is slow however, and this puts pressure on his line.
CJ van der Linde's try was top draw handling from the big man. Pretorius must have had a heart attack when he saw a prop was the man that his torpedo pass almost missed.
Andre Pretorius had a shaky start but seemed to grow in confidence as the game went on, and began to control things as was required. Francois Steyn had a few moments of brilliance but showed a lack of fullback experience at others.
Habana had a terrible start to the match and never looked like he was on top of his game. Ndungane was hardly involved. For a front row that many pundits had requested, we did not dominate at scrum time (although we were much improved from the beginning of the season). We made elementary handling mistakes and failed to do simple things like nominate for fielding kicks.
England were far better than last week. The difference in their defensive alignment with Goode in for Hodgson was palpable.
So there was a lot to applaud. But one could see the Boks look to defend their lead for a while. At around the 60 minute mark, England had about 60% possession for the second half. Then the Boks came back and made a controlled and effective maul. They found field possession and nailed the advantage home with drop goals.
Depth way off the pace
We have to be honest though. This was the worst England team that the Boks have played against in many years. The Boks have not dominated all aspects of a game against any opposition in years, and again did not today. While the first team set no example of clearing out rucks and contesting loose ball, the second choices are a long way off the pace. Our locks have shown no desire to perform the job and our loose forwards are a long way from a combined unit (not surprisingly given the fact that there has been no consistency in their selection and they have lacked a fetcher).
Our lineouts were very poor today and only when we resorted to going long to Juan Smith did we start winning consistent ball.
For all that has been said about the attacking threat of some of our backs, we have looked impotent at most times. Despite Andre Pretorius creating havoc in the Currie Cup, he did not have quite the same effect today. Jean de Villiers was better on attack last week than this. Bryan Habana's poor start to today's match may well have been caused by continued finger pointing at his workrate and his resultant desire to get involved. His frustration is understandable when you consider that he and Ndungane hardly saw the ball.
The match tactics may well have been to play for position and make sure of the win. Or this is what they seemed to be after a few attacking set moves to start the match. This again seemed to ignore the game as it opened out in front of them - the English looked fragile out wide.
The honest truth is that if this Bok side had played any experimental All Black side today, we would have come a very distant second. Whether it important to you that that yardstick applies at the World Cup or at any time of any year, the unpleasant truth remains the same.
Jake White
Frankly, conclusions as to whether Jake White should continue to be our coach or not should have been made before today.
It is astonishing how Jake has changed his position leading into today's match, however. His change in point of view on Kabamba Floors, Cobus Visagie and the rush defense are remarkable given his stubbornness in the past.
Without being a fly on the wall in the back rooms on tour, we might never know what has been behind the change in heart. But the flexibility is welcome.
Well done
Well done Bokke. It must have been a difficult time over the past week. Well done to go back on the attack in the last 20 minutes today. Well done for showing some heart and pride.
There are many reasons why today's victory deserves applause. This is a battered Bok team. They show little confidence. They also show a decided lack of skill, making elementary mistakes. Most worryingly, they seem to lack the ability to punish the opposition. They are missing some of their first choice players. They have a coach in the unprecedented position of being called home to answer to his bosses during the tour.
However, at least the Boks played with some heart today. At least they showed some determination to win.
More than that, this was a Bok team that presented a change in tactics from the stubborn past points of view of their coach - they employed a fetcher, they changed their defensive pattern to the drift. They tried set moves from their first attacking ball of the game.
This was a team that bounced back immediately from a try by England that clearly wasn't.
And this was a team that defended well despite long periods of possession held by the English.
There were some good individual performances too. Juan Smith played his best game since being injured during the Super 14. Kabamba Floors did not win the tonnes of ball we hoped he would, but he tackled manfully together with Danie Rossouw. In fact, Floors' tackling made an enormous difference today.
Enrico Januarie had a fantastic game on defense and stands out as a consistent performer on the tour. His distribution is slow however, and this puts pressure on his line.
CJ van der Linde's try was top draw handling from the big man. Pretorius must have had a heart attack when he saw a prop was the man that his torpedo pass almost missed.
Andre Pretorius had a shaky start but seemed to grow in confidence as the game went on, and began to control things as was required. Francois Steyn had a few moments of brilliance but showed a lack of fullback experience at others.
Habana had a terrible start to the match and never looked like he was on top of his game. Ndungane was hardly involved. For a front row that many pundits had requested, we did not dominate at scrum time (although we were much improved from the beginning of the season). We made elementary handling mistakes and failed to do simple things like nominate for fielding kicks.
England were far better than last week. The difference in their defensive alignment with Goode in for Hodgson was palpable.
So there was a lot to applaud. But one could see the Boks look to defend their lead for a while. At around the 60 minute mark, England had about 60% possession for the second half. Then the Boks came back and made a controlled and effective maul. They found field possession and nailed the advantage home with drop goals.
Depth way off the pace
We have to be honest though. This was the worst England team that the Boks have played against in many years. The Boks have not dominated all aspects of a game against any opposition in years, and again did not today. While the first team set no example of clearing out rucks and contesting loose ball, the second choices are a long way off the pace. Our locks have shown no desire to perform the job and our loose forwards are a long way from a combined unit (not surprisingly given the fact that there has been no consistency in their selection and they have lacked a fetcher).
Our lineouts were very poor today and only when we resorted to going long to Juan Smith did we start winning consistent ball.
For all that has been said about the attacking threat of some of our backs, we have looked impotent at most times. Despite Andre Pretorius creating havoc in the Currie Cup, he did not have quite the same effect today. Jean de Villiers was better on attack last week than this. Bryan Habana's poor start to today's match may well have been caused by continued finger pointing at his workrate and his resultant desire to get involved. His frustration is understandable when you consider that he and Ndungane hardly saw the ball.
The match tactics may well have been to play for position and make sure of the win. Or this is what they seemed to be after a few attacking set moves to start the match. This again seemed to ignore the game as it opened out in front of them - the English looked fragile out wide.
The honest truth is that if this Bok side had played any experimental All Black side today, we would have come a very distant second. Whether it important to you that that yardstick applies at the World Cup or at any time of any year, the unpleasant truth remains the same.
Jake White
Frankly, conclusions as to whether Jake White should continue to be our coach or not should have been made before today.
It is astonishing how Jake has changed his position leading into today's match, however. His change in point of view on Kabamba Floors, Cobus Visagie and the rush defense are remarkable given his stubbornness in the past.
Without being a fly on the wall in the back rooms on tour, we might never know what has been behind the change in heart. But the flexibility is welcome.
Well done
Well done Bokke. It must have been a difficult time over the past week. Well done to go back on the attack in the last 20 minutes today. Well done for showing some heart and pride.
posted at 10:14 PM
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