Advertisement

Boks made the biggest November statement

rugby28 November 2022 06:53| © SuperSport
By:Gavin Rich
Share
article image
Sprigboks © Getty Images

It may seem a bold claim to suggest that a team that lost two of its four games on tour made the biggest statement of the November international season in the northern hemisphere, but let’s examine at what we mean by the word statement in this context.

It isn’t really a statement when you do what you’ve done already and show people what they already know. Ireland ended the autumn series unbeaten, as did France, so it is probably right that the World Rugby Rankings remain as they were at the start - Ireland first, France second, South Africa third and New Zealand fourth.

But when we look at who is shaping up best for next year’s World Cup in France, you need to look at growth. That is where statement comes in. And of the top five teams, it was undeniably the Boks that showed the most growth. Both in their game-plan, where it now seems they are licensed to run back kicks from their own 22 and even tryline whereas in the past it might have been the 10 metre or even halfway line, and in the creation of depth.

DUBLIN RESULT COULD EASILY BE REVERSED

Ireland beat the Boks before they’d made the quantum shift in strategy that coincided with their visit to Marseille, one of France’s most impregnable fortresses. After the Dublin game, Bok coach Jacques Nienaber and skipper Siya Kolisi were magnanimous in defeat: They said Ireland deserved to win. And they did because they took their chances better.

The Boks though came close enough while blowing plenty of chances and also, let’s not deny it, getting the worst of some rather dubious refereeing calls, to suggest the result could easily be reversed at a neutral venue at the World Cup. A lot of Irish people acknowledged that.

Then, if you are looking at who made the biggest statement, you also have to look at what happened after that. Did Ireland show any growth following that narrow win? Nope, they were pretty poor against both Fiji and Australia actually, and were lucky to win against the Wallabies, where they discovered what life would be like if they were missing Johnny Sexton, their kingpin and captain.

FRANCE RATTLED BY BOK PHYSICALITY

France won in Marseille but would they have had Pieter-Steph du Toit not been red carded, thus forcing the Boks to play 68 minutes with 14 men? The French took advantage of that red card by rattling up an early lead, but the Boks came back at them and overtook them. Towards the end of the game it looked like the Boks were going to win before a dubious yellow card was shown to replacement loose-forward Deon Fourie and the French winning try was beyond dubious.

Let’s be fair, the French did show good temperament to regather themselves and still put the game away in those last 10 minutes. But they looked rattled for much of the game and the big statement in that game was actually a combination of how stunned they were when the Boks ran their long kicks back at them as well as how they reacted to the South African physicality.

Legend has it that the French are the most physical side in world rugby, or at least the one team that can match the Boks in that department. But that legend was built up without the French playing any games against the Boks. Their litmus test was always going to come against the Boks, and it wasn’t clear in that game that they passed it. They won’t be looking forward to a possible return match against South Africa at next year’s World Cup with great confidence. If a 14-man Bok team can come so close, what might a 15-man Bok team do?

GROWTH TO THEIR GAME

And there we also return to the question of growth. The Boks went on from Marseille to play the same more all-embracing and balanced game that they did against France in thrashing Genoa in Italy. They never eschewed their strengths in doing so, they still remained strong in the air, ferocious and physical on defence, formidable in their forward play. They just added to those ingredients with a willingness to run the ball to space and to run kicks back.

Whether England coach Eddie Jones watched that match at all is a matter for debate, for in London the Boks put their seal on the tour, and confirmed their strong contention for the World Cup, with a win that was sparked by a glorious try that started from a kick receipt in the England 22.

Kurt-Lee Arendse ended up scoring at the opposite end of the field to where the counter-attack started and it knocked the stuffing out of England. Not that they weren’t already in trouble, for the Boks repeated their domination of the scrums that set up their win in the 2019 World Cup final, they controlled the aerial battle, and they smashed England in the lineouts and the mauls.

It was only the red card shown to Thomas du Toit halfway through the second half that allowed England to escape a possible repeat of 2008, where they lost 42-6 to a Bok team coached by Peter de Villiers, their record home defeat to South Africa. Afterwards even those English scribes who have become like a dog with a bone regarding the allegedly boring Bok tactics had changed their tune. There was an admission that all the excitement, all the flair, all the attacking, and all the thought, had come from South Africa.

GAME GROWTH MATCHED BY INDIVIDUAL GROWTH

And that is a statement if ever there was one, and if the Boks continue on that path and continue to grow in the early games of the World Cup year, then they could well get to the World Cup as red hot favourites. Certainly there is no team that should feel confident against them.

The growth in their game over the past few weeks has been matched by the growth of some of the players. Franco Mostert was already an established international player, but on this tour he showed that there’s no need to feel the 2019 World Rugby Player of the Year, Du Toit, is indispensable.

They beat England with their fourth ranked flyhalf in Damian Willemse playing a key role, adding drop-goals to his lengthy repertoire and dazzling with his attacking play and eye for an opportunity. They beat England and made the switch to a more attacking game without their most recognised attacking player in Lukhanyo Am, and played England without Jasper Wiese and Cheslin Kolbe, two of the most influential players. Talking of No 8, Duane Vermeulen, who will still be in the plans, didn’t even tour, and Evan Roos certainly made good in his second starting opportunity in the jersey.

So did Marvin Orie at lock. The Stormers player had played international rugby before, but playing England was a step up for him. He’s a perfectionist so he’s probably lamenting that messed up kick-off, but otherwise he played a big part both in the lineout dominance that along with the scrumming was one of the platforms for the win.

WINGS COMING OUT OF THEIR EARS

With Kurt-Lee Arendse and Canan Moodie coming through, the Boks now have wings coming out of their ears, and depending on the opponents and the game they want to play, they have a lot of options with their experienced pool of scrumhalves too.

France and Ireland went unbeaten through November, but neither of them faced the kind of schedule the Boks did, with their only other big games other than the one against the Boks being against the low ranked Wallabies, who came close to beating both of them. England can’t be rated after losing to Argentina and South Africa and they were outplayed for most of their game against New Zealand, who for my money are the team who in the northern autumn made the second biggest statement.

But there are still chinks in the Kiwi game and if the Boks have finally flicked the switch and realised how good they can be if they add more to their game, then the memory of what happened to the Kiwis in Nelspruit when the South Africans were switched on should be an indication the Boks shouldn’t have too many sleepless nights about their old enemy.

If the Boks bring the combination of power, pace and class they brought to the Twickenham clash on any given day at the World Cup, there won’t be anyone that can beat them on that day.

WEEKEND INTERNATIONAL RESULTS

Wales 34 Australia 39
England 13 South Africa 27

Advertisement