Harry Viljoen finally admits Montgomery is a flop as the Boks’ on-field general
Andy Capostagno
It would be easier to believe Springbok coach Harry Viljoen’s assertion that he is building for the 2003 World Cup if he had not made five changes to the starting line-up for the second Test against France in Durban on Saturday. Of those changes only Andre Venter’s is injury related, while the rest tamper with the integral structure of the team.
There’s a new front row, a new lock combination, a new centre pairing, a new fullback and consequently a new goal kicker. Some might interpret this as a knee-jerk reaction to the unexpected defeat at Ellis Park, but Viljoen said: “This series gives me a chance to look at a group of players and it was always my intention to try and give all 26 a run in the two Tests against France and one-off against Italy.”
Of course, it is easier to blood players in a winning environment and plan A at Ellis Park would have been to get 30 points ahead and throw on the youngsters. In the circumstances that was never an option and despite Percy Montgomery’s spectacularly bad day at the office Viljoen never felt able to take him off because the only alternative was the untried Conrad Jantjes.
It must have been a melancholy week for Viljoen and his advisers as they perused the tape of the French defeat. For it is one thing to lose to a French team playing champagne rugby, quite another to lose to them playing milk-stout rugby.
There were no “tries from the end of the earth”, as Philippe Saint-Andre described the one that won a Test series in New Zealand in 1994. Christophe Dominici’s try was a classic from first-phase ball, the kind of thing that is supposed to be impossible in this day and age, especially against a team that has employed the services of a specialist defence coach.
It relied on the one thing that the Springboks signally failed to deliver, quality lineout ball. All the French did was to hoist a jumper at the front of the line and all the Bok moves went out the window.
It may seem like wisdom after the event, but why was there no attempt to go back to basics, move Mark Andrews to the front of the line and throw everything to him? Perhaps for the reason that Viljoen’s first four Tests in charge at the end of last year attracted criticism, that when theory and practice clash the best team on paper loses, because rugby is played on grass.
The nadir came when Joost van der Westhuizen was asked to win a lineout, a feat that he accomplished by stepping a metre in front of the five-metre line, thereby giving away a penalty. One can only imagine what Andrews thought of that.
Not the least surprising aspect of the Springbok performance was that a squad that had been together for three weeks competed so poorly in the set pieces. But at the very least Viljoen’s selections this week suggest that he is willing to admit mistakes and get on with the game. What rankles is that so many avoidable mistakes were made in the first place.
Etienne Fynn has received his fair share of criticism for his performance at tighthead, some of it racially motivated. But the real problem was that he was asked to start the game instead of being used as an impact player. Willie Meyer is the best tighthead prop in the country, has several years left in him at 33 and he should have started at Ellis Park.
Japie Mulder and De Wet Barry are a similar type of crash-ball centre and selecting them as a pair posed few subtle questions of the French defence. If Viljoen had really been under pressure to select a representative team he would have done better to bench Fynn and start with Adrian Jacobs at inside centre. That chance has now gone because Jacobs picked up a groin strain in training.
As for selecting Andre Venter at lock, it is one of those ideas that also looks a great deal better on paper. By moving Venter there, Viljoen broke up both the Cats’ back-row combination and the Sharks’ lock pairing. Some home truths have to be faced. If the coaching staff really believes that Venter no longer has what it takes to play international rugby then he should be pensioned off, not asked to reinvent himself as a lock.
And finally, whither Montgomery from here? He has gone from being first-choice goal kicker and back-up flyhalf, to the bench and might have been fortunate not to drop even further out of contention.
It is now four years since Carel du Plessis selected Monty as a centre against the British Lions. Nick Mallett gave him his chance at fullback later the same year, but in 45 Tests you can count on the fingers of one hand the number of genuinely fine performances he has given in a green and gold shirt.
One moment last Saturday summed up his day. Fielding a high ball in his own 22 he had several options. Kick it back whence it came, hoof it into the stands, pass it to Breyton Paulse or run into four French tacklers. Needless to say he chose the last option and Paulse, who received a scoring pass in the first 20 seconds of the game and scarcely saw the ball again, was ignored.
All of which should not be allowed to obscure the fact that France won because they played well, not because South Africa played badly. They won their set pieces, put pressure on their opponents in theirs and kicked particularly well. They played more like England than France and if they can repeat it this week they’ll win again.?