The Springboks need a nine and 10 who can drive South Africa’s game and build on any dominance up front against the All Blacks in Cape Town, according to Nick Mallett.
Speaking on the Talking Boks podcast, the former Bok boss broke down Saturday’s 33-16 defeat for South Africa in the first Test of the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series.
Mallett pointed to a scrum battle the Boks dominated but failed to capitalise on, as well as questioned whether the ill-discipline in the backline came down to a lack of synergy or simply an off night.
“There was proper dominance; [New Zealand] were under pressure and conceding penalties, particularly at scrum time. The front row of Ox Nché and Malcolm Marx dominated,” he said.
“In total, there were 14 penalties against the All Blacks and 11 against us. So we had a better disciplinary record than the All Blacks, but we ended up losing the game by five tries to one.
“Another big stat was the kicking. It was 18 kicks from the All Blacks and only 17 from the Boks. We perhaps didn’t put them under enough pressure with our kicking game. We did everything to get ourselves into try-scoring situations. That’s just a dagger to the heart.”
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Mallett added: “The number of dropped balls in the in-goal area, passes from forwards out the back going to ground instead of going to Sacha [Feinberg-Mngomezulu] … I would agree it looked like a side that hadn’t played together for a while.
“But we must also give credit to the All Blacks, who put us under pressure, defended well and got off the line well.”
Mallett also weighed up the merits of sticking with Grant Williams and Feinberg-Mngomezulu for next Saturday’s clash at Cape Town Stadium, or turning to alternatives like Manie Libbok and Morné van den Berg.
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“I’ve always said that the bus is driven by your nine and 10. It’s right to say that keeping the same team will be better next week, but the nine and 10 have to take more responsibility than they did in that game.
“If you want to play a game where your backline comes into play, Manie is a better flyhalf than Sacha,” he noted.
“Sacha is a better defender, better individually, but collectively Manie is someone who can get our backline away. I think Morné, as well, is a very underrated scrumhalf.”
Photo: Juan Jose Gasparini/Gallo Images
The post ‘Morné is a very underrated scrumhalf’ appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
The Springboks need a nine and 10 who can drive South Africa’s game and build on any dominance up front against the All Blacks in Cape Town, according to Nick Mallett.
The post ‘Morné is a very underrated scrumhalf’ appeared first on SA Rugby magazine. Read More
