Five reasons for Boks defeat

July 07 2008 at 07:10AM  | Peter Bills | www.iol.co.za

South Africa were a crushing disappointment against the All Blacks in the wind and rain of Wellington in the opening Tri-Nations Test of 2008 on Saturday night.

They finished well beaten, and and here we look at five major reasons for the Springboks' defeat

They chose the wrong team:

This was obvious well before the start. Percy Montgomery, Conrad Jantjes and Bryan Habana should have been the back three, a unit able to offer something on the counter- attack.

Jantjes fielded the ball well, but there was nothing coming forward from the back three, Habana's occasional bursts excepted.

The No 8 selection was nonsensical, a kind of back-to-the-future policy. Van Niekerk wasn't able to impose himself; Spies's far superior physicality would have been ideal in the conditions.

The scrum was a constant weakness. CJ van der Linde was exposed and, when he departed, Brian Mujati likewise.

You can't play Test matches in this part of the world with a weakness at tight-head prop. Solidity and power there is non-negotiable. Leaving B J Botha at home was absurd.

A general muddle and a disturbing lack of structure:

It looked to me as though the Boks didn't quite know what they were supposed to be doing. They seemed caught between the new coach's attacking philosophy and the need, caused by the conditions, for a traditional approach. The result was a mess, an unconvincing muddle.

But of equal alarm was surely the lack of fire in general.

There were occasional individual bursts, but nothing of any sustained cohesion. Normally good players seemed to disappear. That was strange. It was though they didn't have a clear idea of their roles, and what was expected of them. And once the All Blacks scored soon after half-time to stretch their lead to 16-8, the South Africans never seriously threatened to come back. Tame.

There was none of the aura, the authority of world champions:

It was as though the World Cup win had never happened. The great World Cup winners possessed a swagger, an authority that intimidated others. There wasn't any of that from these Springboks on Saturday night.

They looked mastered mentally by the New Zealanders' patched-up side, and you simply don't expect to see world champions reduced in that sense.

One factor was undoubtedly the admission by Victor Matfield that he would still need another two or three games at this level to get back to his peak after his French sojourn. The cost of that Mediterranean lifestyle?

Nothing much was constructed going forward due to Butch James's poor game:

Bryan Habana's try came from a poor, ill-directed kick by Dan Carter and New Zealands' failure to number up in defence.

But the Boks failed to construct much themselves, especially off first phase. Butch James had a poor game, his kicking was often wayward and he never really launched his line or straightened the angles of attack. Jean de Villiers did his best and Adrian Jacobs was solid and busy. But you looked in vain for a powerful line-breaker further out, like a Jacque Fourie.

A new team, a new coach: This process will invariably take time. No coach can come in with a new philosophy and get his players singing from the same hymn sheet in the first five minutes.

The Boks looked confused and uncertain as to the way forward on Saturday night. Jake White's game plan may have been far more conservative and regimented, but at least players knew their roles, what they were supposed to be doing. Here, given greater freedom to make their own judgements in adverse conditions and circumstances, the South Africans came up short. They looked deficient. Worrying times.