This...
If White doesn’t throw a pass for an intercept try tonight I’ll eat my hat. Playing flat, taking steps before passing and a rushing Boks defence.
.. and this...
Lolesio is standing completely when he receives it…
.. and this...
Ughhhh why did we kick that away!!
.. and finally this...
Honestly, we don’t have the ability to deliver a game plan which is much different to this, this is about as simple as it gets and we fail to execute. It’s not the game plan which is the issue
.. about sums it up.
I appreciate that the weather was god awful for much of the game, but White couldn't have made it easier for the South African defense with his signposted slow service to an essentially static forward.. or static Noah, who often didn't look like he knew where to go as the press often led to a rushed kick. Besides the Wright cross kick to Jorgenson, I don't think any of those cross kicks were really on or even tactically sound in a game where it's going to be hard enough to secure the highball cleanly due to weather, but you're also betting on a one-on-one between a player like Mapimpi and Kellaway which is just as likely to go the other way.
This was always going to be a challenging game, especially with our depth, experience and injuries, but it's a little frustrating to not see us play smarter, execute the basics better.
There were some players like Bell who I think generally did well for first game back. LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto) was industrious and broadly all the players were trying their hearts out, we just seem to push it too often when the risk reward isn't right.
That game could have easily blown out in the first half with RSA fumbling a few genuine opportunities off the back of some of our play and decision making.