Front row veteran Ollie le Roux suggests the Springbok scrummaging display could be better in the second Test at Loftus Versfeld.
This area was a nightmare in Bloemfontein, and Steve Walsh had to blow his whistle to reset the set-piece on countless occasions. In the aftermath, Springbok captain John Smit had a dig at the English for illegal tactics geared towards disrupting the hosts’ dominance at scrum time.
Le Roux saw the situation differently, believing the match to be a good contest in this department where the visitors selected a strategy that worked in combating the overwhelming favourites in the South African pack.
“If you live in a glass house, don’t throw stones,” he told Keo.co.za. “I don’t know if he [Smit] can complain too much, as the Sharks often employ illegal tactics whenever we [the Cheetahs] play them.
“It’s all about what you can get away with at scrumtime. If you can scrum illegally without being penalised, fair enough, but don’t go complaining about illegal tactics when the opposition decides to use it against you.”
Critics have already picked apart the Boks’ 58-10 hammering of the Poms, and although South Africa were brilliant in patches, it must be stressed just how poor England were on the day. Le Roux for one is not getting caught up in too much post-match analysis, and having witnessed a few defeats to England first-hand he was thrilled with Saturday’s result.
“The first Test of the season is never a pretty sight, and it’s more about getting your structures right and building confidence. I thought it was a good battle in the tight phases and South Africa didn’t fully dominate at the set piece, although when they did get the drive going they looked very hard to stop.
“It was nice to see the massacre over the weekend. Forget about the excuses of injuries and viruses. Any group of players who represents the country is the best group of available players.
“To see England go down like that was great. We owed them a beating like that.”
South Africa’s most capped first-class player wasn’t worried about the Boks’ below-par performance, as he views the first match as a mere stepping stone to greater things.
“This is the first game of the year and everyone needs to realise that it will only get better from here. If this is the standard of rugby we can expect up until the World Cup, then Springboks would be in trouble.
“But we will improve. Areas like the scrum and line-out just need a few games to settle. The scrum is a good example. The Sharks front row and Bulls lock pairing, as well as the mixed back row need to be pushing in sync. That will come with time and practice.”
Jake White confirmed the first phase was the major problem at Vodacom Park and stated he would be addressing this in training this week. The Boks still managed a massive win; a victory produced through some enterprising displays but mainly due to a few pieces of fine opportunism.
“What was really great about that win was the instances of individual brilliance,” said Le Roux. “Guys like Bryan Habana and Jean de Villiers showed their worth in this respect. Rugby is a team game and you need a side to gel to win, but you also need the gamebreakers to win those big matches. We definitely have those players.”
By Jon Cardinelli - keo.co.za
*Disclaimer - Views expressed within this story are not necessarily the views of this Blog
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