Schalk Burger says the Springboks have to rediscover their attacking edge or fix their defence ahead of the third Test against the All Blacks at FNB Stadium on Saturday.
The Boks levelled the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series with a 33-26 victory in Cape Town after losing the opener 33-16 at Ellis Park, but New Zealand have outscored them nine tries to four across the two Tests.
In Cape Town, the All Blacks also enjoyed more possession and territory, made more running metres and produced more linebreaks.
Asked by former Bok centre Jean de Villiers on The Verdict podcast how South Africa had won despite those numbers, Burger’s answer was simple: “Scoreboard pressure.”
Ex-Bok hooker Hanyani Shimange agreed, pointing out that New Zealand were forced to chase the game after trailing 24-14 at half-time.
“So they’re naturally going to dominate the stats; you’ve got to look at it in context,” he said.
Burger felt the Boks’ physicality and direct approach had been highly effective, particularly early on, but believes their attack becomes less convincing when they attempt to play with more width.
“Areas, on attack especially, where I think we are still weak is that we don’t have that fluency,” said the former Bok flank. “You could see every time we try to pull it out the back, the error came.”
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Burger is also concerned by South Africa’s inability to quickly organise their attacking shape after regaining possession.
“We don’t set fast enough on those transition plays,” he said. “It’s almost like for a few weeks now, the focus is somewhere else instead of an all-out attack going.”
De Villiers highlighted another problem, noting that the Boks are still making “a lot of handling errors” after conceding 15 turnovers in Cape Town.
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Shimange, though, cautioned against reading too much into the possession statistics because of the teams’ contrasting strategies.
“We are never going to make more passes than New Zealand,” he said. “In that middle third area, they want to play for a penalty, so they’ll keep the shape and keep going.”
The Boks, by contrast, are more inclined to kick contestables after one or two phases.
“It’s just two different strategies,” Shimange said. “We will never burn rucks or burn phases in that middle third area of the field.”
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Burger nevertheless believes improvement is essential at FNB Stadium on Saturday.
“The All Blacks scored nine tries in two games; you’ve got to assume they’re scoring 30 points this weekend again, and the Springboks would have to discover their attacking flair or sort out their defence – either or.”
Photo: Roger Sedres/Gallo Images
The post Schalla: Bok attack lacks fluency appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Schalk Burger says the Springboks have to rediscover their attacking edge or fix their defence ahead of the third Test against the All Blacks at FNB Stadium on Saturday.
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