Tour review – the southern teams

South Africa

The Springboks arrived in Dublin full of promise from their win against the All Blacks at Ellis Park five weeks before, but the Six Nations champions brought them back to cruel reality.

Ireland rattled them and negated their bash, but their unforced errors trying to play at a high tempo did not help. Nor did kicking for touch instead at the posts.

They played their best on tour against England, who were sub-standard on the day apart from the set pieces.

They beat Italy but their light scrum struggled against the Azzurri pack. It was tight but their bench turned things around to make the winning margin look comfortable.

Their last test on tour, in Cardiff, was supposed to be the win to have before they got on the plane to go home, but Wales didn’t read the script.

 Wales – they didn’t read the script

The performance

The bruising rugby that South Africa produced at home to overcome the Wallabies and All Blacks did not bear the same fruit on tour. They bashed Ireland but it didn’t matter on the scoreboard. At the end the Boks looked mentally drained.

Running at people was not effective against Ireland and Wales and more should have copied Eben Etzebeth and Nizaam Carr who showed it was possible to run into arms instead of directly into bodies. Though against Springbok dogma, offloading tactics before or at collisions would have been a useful variation, because it would have retained the momentum of the run.

Their set piece was vulnerable: the scrum was affected by absences, the lineout was not the weapon it once was, and the driving maul was not potent either.

Some of their decision-making was poor but to their credit the Boks didn’t allow many linebreaks against them and when they did get the ball wide to their fliers they were dangerous.

 Patrick Lambie – kicked winning field goal for Boks v. England

The players

The flyhalf situation for 2015 was not resolved though the money is on game manager Lambie as the starter, and game changer Pollard, as the second course from the bench.

The centres were rugged on defence but less good on attack; the back three didn’t get enough ball to be consistently dangerous, and it didn’t help that Wiilie le Roux had a game right out of Elm Street against Wales.

Best players on tour

1. Eben Etzebeth, 2. Duane Vermeulen, 3. Marcel Coetzee

Tour rating     C

South Africa lost their first end-of-year tour game since 2010; so losing two out of four after the euphoria of beating the All Blacks in October was a downer. Their victory at Twickenham had them back to their best, but they looked jaded against Italy and worse against Wales.

 Springboks – poor 2006 but won 2007 Rugby World Cup

Rugby World Cup

From a RWC standpoint the Springboks won’t be slashing their wrists over losing two games on tour.

In 2006 Jake White’s team lost two out of three in November and seven out of twelve for the year – including five in a row and a 49-0 loss to the Wallabies.

A year later they won the Rugby World Cup.

The Springboks had to leave a lot of matchday players at home, and their presence next year will make a difference.

 Fourie du Preez – needs to be in form and fit for the Boks next year

Even though veterans Botha and Fourie announced their retirements and the knee reconstruction needed by de Villiers could make him miss the RWC, the Springboks will have to ensure that they don’t include too many old dogs who are hanging around the kennel for the big dog show.

One veteran they will want to include, if he is in form, is scrumhalf Fourie du Preez. The other scrummies Pienaar, Hougaard and Reinach, are not rainmakers at test level though Reinach, a dangerous runner, showed some signs of improving his passing and kicking on tour.

Although le Roux had problems on tour they need another hot-shot like him somewhere in the RWC backline and preferably at outside centre.

 All Blacks in Chicago

New Zealand

As expected the All Blacks were undefeated on tour.

After thrashing the USA in a sold-out game in Chicago, they beat England, Scotland and Wales. They seemed not to break stride but there was more to it than that.

They played their best side against England and Wales, but only two or three of their 1st XV started in the USA and Scotland tests. Their seconds had no trouble against the Americans but the Scots came close to embarrassing them.

The NZ 1st XV beat England in wet conditions despite their set piece being embarrassed and missing kicks worth twelve points.

In their last game Wales held the Kiwis’ main team to 3-3 at the break with magnificent defence and led them with twelve minutes remaining; but at the tipping point of exhaustion and luck, New Zealand broke their hearts with three tries.

Nobody was surprised and the Kiwis got out of town and onto the plane.

 All Blacks – beat Wales and got out of town

The performance

There must have been mixed feelings in NZ about the tour.

They started too slowly in games, and were lucky that England didn’t put three tries on them early instead of just one—and Wales made them look like scrubbers sometimes in the first half.

They should have used more innovative tactics during matches, or ground out leads earlier, with the personnel they had, instead of relying on their signature high tempo fourth quarter finishing to get out of trouble.

The All Blacks set piece and maul defence was not stellar and they had trouble breaching defences for long periods. Also their goal kicking was ordinary.

 Dan Carter – touring did him no favours

The players

Touring with first-five Carter did him no favours. He should have been left at home to prepare for proving himself anew in 2015 Super Rugby. In hindsight, the success of Slade, called into the squad, confirmed that he and not Carter should have been an original selection.

The first-five question for 2015 was not answered. Of the game managers, Cruden was overlooked after the England test and Carter was not in game form. The utilities Slade and Barrett both had good moments, but if Carter recovers in Super Rugby only one of them may be in the squad.

Sonny Bill Williams who had played a full NRL season should have been rested also. He was a bully against the USA but sometimes looked out of touch thereafter against strong defences, and his signature offloads didn’t work.

Hooker Coles played well on tour, however he was an easy mark for niggling opponents. His yellow card at Twickenham could have been costly against a better opponent on the day.

Piutau worked his way into the starting team and could stay there, with Ben Smith becoming the regular starting fullback instead of Dagg.

 Sonny Bill Williams – offloads didn’t work

Best players on tour

1. Richie McCaw, 2. Julian Savea, 3. Kieran Read.

Tour rating     B +

Although their short-comings were relative and they were unbeaten—and they had results that the Boks and Wallabies would have craved—you couldn’t give them an A.

Rugby World Cup

The All Blacks will be favourites as they nearly always are, and deserve to be.

The poor showing of their second XV in one game on tour won’t signify much for the 2015 RWC because they can use their lesser players for a full game, or two, against the minnows and reserve their best for Argentina and the finals.

They will be spoiled for choice in their best matchday team, although the backup scrumhalves are not stellar, and the admirable 36 year-old Mealamu as reserve hooker will not be the potent player he was in earlier world cups.

For a review of performances of the Northern Hemisphere teams in November see here

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