Schalk Burger says the Springboks have made too many changes for Saturday’s Test against the All Blacks in Wellington.
Rassie Erasmus has made seven alterations to his starting XV for the Rugby Championship rematch, including a new-look backline with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu at 10 and Damian Willemse at 12.
“We’ve gone back to basics, I suppose, in terms of naming [the team] early – but loads of changes. Too many from my side,” Burger said on The Verdict.
“It’s a completely new backline, so it’s set up that we want to play ‘Tonyball’, play more rugby. Can you flip and flop through styles like that in big Test matches? It’s hard to get right.
“We also can’t do the Bomb Squad as we’re still set up with 5-3.”
Even so, a couple of combinations appeal to him.
“Damian Willemse at 12 is super exciting for me – I love his close-contact skills, and if you play him as a playmaker it’s great. Sacha at 10 is exciting and daunting at the same time – a bit scary, isn’t it?”
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Last weekend’s 24-17 defeat at Eden Park left South Africa with regrets. The Boks conceded two soft early tries to trail 14-0 before fighting back, but a high error rate and a malfunctioning lineout proved costly.
“I called this, unfortunately – a 14-point deficit to start,” Burger said. “The same frailties in our game exist: early defensive lapses, lineout problems and the breakdown.”
He felt the Boks lost their tactical balance after the poor start.
“We’ve gone from a kick-to-pass ratio of about 12:1 to playing almost 2019 rugby – one-pass rucks and kicks, quite conservative. We were set up to lead from the front, then at 14-0 down we had to chase.”
That, he says, hurt the team’s developing attacking identity.
“With [attack coach] Tony Brown on board we’d built a shape, but that shape disappeared. If you’re chasing, you still need the shape – tighten the options, sort out the breakdown, but keep the picture so you can create soft shoulders.”
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The lineout was central to the Boks’ defeat as they lost four of their 18 throw-ins.
“It felt like the play was dictating the lineout, not the other way around. Win the ball first. Our rhythm was off – too many dummies, poor lifts and throws,” Burger said.
“New Zealand ran a proper mirror contest – they don’t give you free ball. Against that, the speed of the drill beats the man-watch. Ours wasn’t quick enough.
“The four-man looked like our main attacking option; once that failed, it got tricky. Sometimes you’ve got to go fuller, pick on a weaker jumper, and build back into the game.
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“The maul never got going,” he added. “Scott Barrett was hugely disruptive – splitting the jumper or fighting through the middle. At Eden Park you won’t get the 50/50s [from the referee], so your execution has to be better.”
Burger also pointed to the Boks’ poor conversion rate in the All Blacks’ 22.
“It was a tale of two 50/22s. Beauden [Barrett] kicks one – they score. Handré [Pollard] kicks one – we don’t.
“We didn’t convert our entries at all. We ran the same strike stuff New Zealand had clearly prepped for – you need a variation after it works once.”
Photo: Craig Butland/MB Media/Getty Images
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