Lucky Maree
ON THE BALL: You would think the Springboks know that defending a lead is almost always the way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, says Lucky Maree.
Warrick Gelant, who, like most of the Springboks did not have a great match against Wales in Bloemfontein, said the number of replacements during the second half emboldened Wayne Pivac’s charges to stage a late fightback.
He said Wales were desperate and knew what victory would mean to the Springboks.
“And also if we won what it would mean to Wales,” he said.
The question that arises, Gelant, is if you knew that why did you stop playing?
Gelant, whether he realises it or not, put his finger right on the problem – and a massive problem it is.
“Sometimes you think you’re in control and in the last quarter you maybe rest on your laurels,” he said.
With 20 minutes to go in the match on Saturday, the Springboks led 12-3. A nine-point lead in such a tight game is a substantial margin. But it was not the cue for the Boks to stop playing or, as Gelant calls it, rest on their laurels.
Regaining momentum once it is lost, is one of the most difficult feats to perform in just about any sport. But in rugby it is pretty close to impossible.
The last few minutes of the match are fresh in the memory and will remain there for some time to come.
Even when Gareth Anscombe slotted a penalty to bring Wales to within one score of victory, the Boks still didn’t come out of their slumber.
Wales scored a brilliant try right in the corner through Josh Adams leaving Wales trailing by just one point. Anscombe – cool as you please – kicked a very difficult conversion, giving Wales a one-point victory, leaving the men in the green and gold more than a little stunned.
The way to defend a lead is to fight like demons for the next score. But on the night the Boks committed the sin of defending a lead. Can a single individual be held responsible for that? The person who has to take the hit for the slump of the Boks in the last few minutes is the captain.
It is a very sad reality that of the many players who didn’t do well, Handré Pollard may have been the worst. As flyhalf he did nothing to put his centres into space, he created no opportunities for the backline to get across the advantage line, and he never had the opposition guessing.
He tried a few breaks that always led to rucks and he tried to make tackles that left the team without a half-back. Oh, and he missed some really important goal kicks that would have made a huge difference to the match, didn’t he?
While the Boks seemed the fitter of the two teams, he did nothing to lift his players to man-up and get into the fight.
By contrast, Wales clicked into high gear when it mattered most.
Rugby is a game of combinations. The half-backs play in pairs, the centres play in pairs, the back row play as a trio and the wings and fullback play together.
On Saturday, the problems were all too easy to identify. This coming weekend we find out what answers – and combinations – Jacques Nienaber is going to come up with.
Image source: @Springboks
