Anyone wishing to know how much risk there is in playing anything but your best team against international opposition should look no further than Murrayfield last Saturday.
The world champion All Blacks made 13 changes from the side that narrowly beat England. Thus denuded they battled to subdue a team that has been close to the bottom of the “big nation” pile for 20 years. If Scotland captain Greig Laidlaw had succeeded with his final penalty attempt, the All Blacks might well have lost.
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer will have taken note, but three of the four changes for this week’s Test against Italy have been forced upon him. Schalk Burger’s two-game release from his Japanese club has ended; pity, because he was immense against England last week. Jannie du Plessis may not play again before next year’s Super Rugby competition, after a hamstring strain forced him off the field at Twickenham. Willie le Roux has not been risked in the starting side, even though scans revealed his cheekbone was not fractured against England.
Tendai Mtawarira’s absence from match day 23 was, according to management, “a break after carrying a heavy workload recently”. This may be a case of being economical with the truth, for the fact is that “the Beast” has not been beastly enough in 2014.
Mtawarira’s replacement, Trevor Nyakane, has forced his way back into contention after being dismissed from the squad last year for disciplinary reasons. In his first start, after 11 appearances from the bench, Nyakane is part of an all-Free State front row, with Coenie Oosthuizen again asked to play out of position at tighthead prop. Nyakane will have his work cut out against Martin Castrogiovanni, who has a claim to being the best tighthead on the planet.
Promoted to the bench
With this week’s alterations, there are now seven changes from the starting 15 that began the tour with a heavy defeat in Dublin. In addition, the uncapped pair of Nizaam Carr and Julian Redelinghuys, together with the seven-times capped Lood de Jager, are promoted to the bench for the first time on tour. Meyer was derided in his first season in charge for preferring experience to youth, but this year he has selected 10 new Springboks in a quest to build the depth required to win a World Cup.
What management has to come to terms with, however, is not who plays which position, but rather how to produce a more homogenous on-field product. It is probably fair to say that, against Italy, the Springboks can play poorly and still win. After all, they have in their past a 101-0 result against the Italians and the closest contest ever between the two is the 29-13 result in Witbank four years ago. But clearly the Boks cannot simply turn up and beat the best the northern hemisphere has to offer.
One of Meyer’s most important additions to the management structure is Richie Gray, a specialist at the war zone known as “the breakdown area”. This week Gray noted that the difference between the performances against Ireland and England was more cerebral than physical. “Sometimes it is just the top two inches.”
Gray also pointed out that statistics do not always tell the tale. Against Ireland, for instance, the Springboks had lots of possession and territory and competed successfully in the set pieces, but still lost heavily. By contrast, the Boks could hardly get out of their own half in the first quarter against England, yet their defence yielded a penalty and an intercept try by Jan Serfontein in that same period.
Enough platforms
It is true, of course, that teams never seem to have to motivate themselves to play against England, but the old rule of learning more from defeat than victory applies. The Boks created enough platforms against England to put the game away and withstand a two-try surge by the hosts while Victor Matfield was off the field. Against Ireland, however, they were never able to translate possession into points because of the dysfunction between forwards and backs caused by François Hougaard.
In the build-up to the England game the talking point was Meyer’s decision to change both halfbacks. It is worth reporting, then, that Cobus Reinach and Pat Lambie passed with flying colours. Lambie is a known quantity and it is fair to say he has not been given a fair shake of the stick by successive Springbok coaches. But few would have expected Reinach to take his chance with such aplomb.
It needs to be said, however, that England’s scrumhalf Danny Care was every bit as poor against the Boks as Hougaard was against Ireland. Care’s display meant that Reinach was never harried at the base of the rucks and mauls in the way that he would have been by, say, Aaron Smith.
Notwithstanding all of the above, the Boks found some momentum against England that a late comeback by the home side should not have dulled. Italy will provide a pack not quite as potent as England’s and a fierce resolve that should abate midway through the second half.