When push comes to shove it’s the forwards, especially the front row, that can lead the Springboks to victory over the Lions
RUGBY:Steve Morris
IT is not overstating the case to say that Martin Johnson’s British Lions have grown considerably in stature and the ability to handle the South African game since their arrival.
Starting out as a group of northern hemisphere players without the hardening experience of Super 12, the Lions have moulded into a team that deserves respect going into the first Test at Newlands this Saturday.
It would be unfair to both sides of the equation in the first match of the three- international series to use the Emergent Springboks or Natal as a benchmark in the majority of facets which go to make up the confrontation.
But there is a similarity in the thought process of both coaches. Ian McGeechan, the elusive three-quarter of the 1974 Lions, has played his cards close to the chest in all but two areas: he has continued to look at the combinations that will best serve the tourists under fire and has consistently stayed with the hard men.
To a degree, this has been mirrored in the selections made by Carel du Plessis, who has looked for a similar combination of strength and mobility to counter the threat that the Lions backs undoubtedly throw in the face of the Amabokoboko.
Both coaches have also opted for a mature and professional approach to the way they handle their players, McGeechan insisting that every member of the touring party is part of the greater team and that, while some will make the Test side and some will not, there is no difference in the way they are thought of among themselves. Whether this philosophy will hold steady through a Test series remains to be seen, but it is refreshing in the professional era to see that not all the finer points of team spirit have been lodged in a safety deposit box.
Du Plessis has done a similar thing, albeit in a different way. He has insisted – over some vocal displeasure from provincial coaches – that the squad players belong first to the nation and then to the affiliations they carry at Currie Cup level. This has meant that some players have been barred from provincial games while others – like Mark Andrews and Pieter Muller – have been freed to get the match practice they need.
In Muller’s case, this has led to the re- emergence of the skills which made him such a valuable asset in the middle of the backline. Muller has got better with every game he has played since returning from sojourns in league and in France.
Du Plessis has also placed the onus on the players in declaring their own fitness. James Small – not always noted for a roundness of maturity in his actions – Fritz van Heerden and skipper Gary Teichmann were all allowed by Du Plessis to make their own evaluations after being injured in the one-off Test against Fiji.
It could be argued that this is a possible abrogation of coaching responsibilities, but should rather be seen in the light that Du Plessis intended: the player must be mature enough to put the needs of the country ahead of any personal wishes.
But it is surely not in the backline that the seeds for eventual victory will be sown. Forward play is the dominant factor in the way rugby is progressing. Ironically, this is a throwback to the days when big Springbok packs practised the ethos of subdue and penetrate and, while the second phase admittedly drew less adherents, was a formula which worked and worked well.
Despite the fact that Du Plessis has bred into him the willingness to run with the ball that is a vital factor in all great wings – and few would argue that this mantle does not sit comfortably about the shoulders of Du Plessis – it will surely be through the forwards that his match plans are focused.
The Lions have shown no reluctance in any phase to take on all the South African sides they have faced and, while successive local captains have become less and less critical of the physical abilities of the Lions forwards, there still remain some question-marks about the front row.
In essence it works like this: hold them tight with power scrumming and the loose forwards have an increasingly smaller chance of lifting their shoulders out of the business end.
Carry this through on opposition ball – and with a scrummager like hooker Naka Drotske free to lend weight to the shove, keep them at least static on their own ball. This, in turn, leads to pressure on the scrumhalf, which translates into a blunting of the service from the base of the scrum and the corresponding lack of space for flyhalf Gregor Townsend to manoeuvre the ball wide or kick for territory.
It all sounds relatively simple. In reality it is far from that.
But the dictates of the game have not really changed that much in the years since 1955 when Robin Thomson’s Lions arrived with a backline that included the genius of Cliff Morgan, Tony O’Reilly and Jeff Butterfield. They lived with the pounding of the Springbok forwards and let their backs run when the smallest of opportunities availed.
It was enough to give them a share of a series the South Africans had to fight all the way for and only managed to square in the last Test at Boet Erasmus, but the advice of the late Felix du Plessis, father of Morne and like his son a Springbok captain, still holds good. He was of the firm opinion that good backs could win you a game, but that it was no use without a solid front row. In this, as in so many other things he had to say about rugby in his quiet and understated way, he was 100% correct.
It is, after all, where the game really begins. We are, after a spell of searching, blessed with some fine prop forwards in Adrian Garvey and Os du Randt. It is here that South Africa and Du Plessis will concentrate their major hopes.
Hold the Lions up front and the scoreboard will show the final story. Let them off the hook and we will be fighting to hold the series together.