South African-born ex-France international Antonie Claassen previews the 45th test between SA and England, talks about why the Boks must stop playing the victim card and how Evan Roos will come full circle at Twickenham on Saturday.
BOKS MUST PORTRAY RIGHT IMAGE
After Rassie Erasmus was banned for nine months, a second punishment was bound to happen after he started off again with his social media charades. The videos and Twitter content was amusing in the beginning but it has now brought a negative image to the team. Will Rassie stop his Twitter activity after the two-game ban? It’s yet to be seen but at the end of the day everything has got to be done going forward to present the right body language on-field and correct image off it to get those 50-50 calls going your way.
It was interesting to see that Jacques Nienaber said: “I don’t know if we’ll ever get respect.” But we must remember that respect is earned and not just given. The Boks are whinging to a certain extent at the moment and must stop playing the victim. They should keep a lower profile and let the on-field stuff do the talking. It’s the best way of the Boks showing that they are a powerhouse in world rugby and should be respected.
A DREAM COME TRUE FOR ROOS
I’m looking forward to seeing Evan Roos starting his first game for the Boks at Twickenham. It was the venue where I played my first test for France and I have great memories. I watched the clip of Evan being asked about starting in the No 8 jersey at Twickenham, having done the stadium tour seven years earlier, and he got very emotional speaking about it. It took me back to my debut which was a special moment and huge honour. I’m looking forward to the impact he’ll have hopefully for 80 minutes.
Playing at Twickenham offers up a daunting atmosphere because all the English fans get together and sing at the top of their lungs. On-field, England are also imposing. They had a great comeback against the All Blacks last week and their tails will be up to make it four straight wins against the Boks at Twickenham. Eddie Jones always comes up with some new tricks and brings niggle as an Australian. Eddie was part of the management team when South Africa won the 2007 World Cup, so he knows the Boks very well. Having lost the 2019 final, Eddie is always looking for revenge against them and I’m sure he’ll come up with some master plan in order to try to outwit South Africa.
JONES HAS OPTED FOR YOUTH POLICY
Jones has favoured a youth policy but whether the Boks should follow suit is up for debate. There is a fine line between bringing in too much youth and not enough experience. You have to find a balance between the two, with the ou manne’s experience needing to rub off onto the youngsters. When there are too many young players you have to create a new culture and environment, which can sometimes be difficult especially when it comes to test rugby. But if you’ve got exciting youngsters you must bring them in at certain stages. The Boks have started doing that to a certain extent now and Canan Moodie, who scored an amazing try on debut, is a case in point.
The battle of the backrows is very balanced. Sam Simmonds at 6 is a strong ball-carrier and Tom Curry is a nuisance on the ground. On the other side, Roos will have plenty of energy and will want to prove to the selectors that he is deserving of his place. Franco Mostert has a high work-rate and skipper Siya Kolisi’s play this season speaks for itself.
ENGLAND OUT TO DIFFUSE BOMB SQUAD
There has been talk in the build-up about England looking to diffuse the Bok Bomb Squad. It has been a strategy that has been really well employed by the Springboks over the past three years and has worked to great effect. You have to have a strategy to counter it and experienced players such as Jamie George and Mako Vunipola are defintiely personnel England will lean towards when the Bomb Squad starts coming on and showing their power and energy in the scrums. The forwards can do the hard work and tire out the English and then it gives an opportunity to the Bok backs to run the ball.
TWIN BOK THREATS AT FIRST RECEIVER
I would like to see the Bok back three getting their hands on the ball more and showing some of their magic to score tries. Willie le Roux brings that different dimension to the game and, with him and Damian Willemse, the Boks have two flyhalves so to speak on both sides of the ruck. With that twin threat, defences will always have to be on the lookout. It was also great to see Manie Libbok, who is on the bench again, get game time against Italy and the more he plays, the more comfortable he’ll get in that position.
If you were a spy in England’s camp this week, you’d definitely hear them plotting ways to stop the Boks’ driving maul and limit their effectiveness at scrum time. It’s pretty much a basis of rugby – if you can counter the forwards then it’s very difficult for the opposition team to gain front-foot ball. The Boks exert most of their pressure at driving mauls and scrum, so if England can nullify those strengths they can cause real issues.