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Volume 1, Number 4

30 August 2018

"Rumours that Benny Griessel wil be replacing Rassie Erasmus are fake news. (Benny says it will drive him to drink. Again.)" – Deon Meyer

Argentina Shock Bumbling Boks There is no way to sugar-coat it. The Springboks were utterly awful last weekend in Mendoza. The headline above related appeared on Craig Lewis’ analysis of the match but there have been many others. Sprot24’s Rob Houwing rated the Bok performance at 4/10 and suggested that even that was too much. He followed that up on Monday with Bok loosies: Major rebalance required, which, for many might qualify as more constructive criticism. Even novelist Deon Meyer weighed in on the disaster when he Tweeted:

In case you don’t read – or don’t read Deon Meyer – Benny Griessel is the fictional detective and the main character in many of the author’s excellent novels. He was clearly trying to lighten a very sombre mood on Twitter on Sunday. Whatever your thoughts on the game, and as a mere rugby fan (rather than a pundit), your correspondent was extremely disappointed. But rather than subject you to my rather amateur analysis, I’ll defer to the experts, one of my favourites being @Oom_Rugby, who wrote a superb analysis of the Puma game plan by denying the Springboks go-forward ball.

You may be reminded of Mark Keohane’s column featured here last week, but you probably didn’t think he’d be right to soon. The apartment lack of a coherent plan to counter the Argentinian onslaught exposed both coach and captain, as being out of their depth – especially after halftime when they would have had an opportunity to consult. They simply had no answer. Jake White’s words of a week ago resonate: “Just because those players are legends of the game, some of the greatest ever, doesn’t mean they can coach. There’s the science of coaching, and then there’s the art. The science of coaching comes from a book, but the art comes with time in the saddle.” It all begins again in a little over a week, when the beleaguered Springboks face the Australian Wallabies down under at noon (our time) in Brisbane. And this time, the head coach and his team have a bit more than a few wrinkles to iron out. One thing is certain, the Australian coaching staff would have learned a considerable amount from watching the Argentinians dismantle the Springboks. However, will the Bok coaching team find anything in the thumping given to the Wallabies on successive weekends by the All Blacks? If they don’t, the Boks could sink even lower in the world rankings.

KEY TOPICS IN THIS NEWSLETTER

Wrinkles for Rassie to iron out

Currie Cup off to a cracking start

Saturday night in Mendoza

REGULAR FEATURES

Examining the Laws of the Game

Referee Profile

Player Profile

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Can Rassie Grasp the Nettle Despite the appalling performance in Mendoza last Saturday, Rassie Erasmus and the Springboks can still redeem themselves in the eyes of the public by thumping the Australians in their own back yard next weekend. There’s a very useful piece on RugbyPass that may aid the South African cause. It highlights the many problems facing the Wallabies and unpacks, in considerable detail, how it was that the All Blacks managed to expose these weaknesses repeatedly and on successive weekends. In notes that although the lineouts and scrums were far better this time around, the Australians “were killed on turnover ball once again, as the New Zealanders ran wild in transition phases”. The analysis is brutal: “While many are quick to jump and defend Michael Cheika and his coaching staff, there are visible and clear issues with their attacking play that proves to be ineffective.”

“The Wallabies run complex pre-set attacking waves from set-piece that can last up to five phases or more – it looks fancy but ends up doing next to nothing. There is a lot of pre-planned player movement, but a lack of substance makes it very easy to defend.”

Pressure never builds enough to break down the defence, and inversely it’s the Wallabies who lose any semblance of shape by running scripted play after play without getting into a balanced pattern.

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Another Topsy-Turvy Currie Cup Looms After a stunningly entertaining opening weekend, the Currie Cup dived into the gutter this past weekend. It began on Friday when the Lions leaked far too many easy tries on their way to a 62-41 victory over second-from-bottom-of-the-table Griquas. The Sport24 match report doesn’t say that but most Lions fans do. On Saturday, the previously victorious Bulls went down with a whimper to the Sharks in Durban while across in the Western Cape, the Cheetahs suffered their second defeat on the trot at a swimming pool called Newlands. If SA Rugby learned anything from that match it should be that it’s long past time to bulldoze that utterly inadequate stadium with its non-existent drainage system and build a parking lot for the cricket ground across the road. With a virtually brand new stadium down the road in Green Point standing empty most of the time, it would just be the right thing to do.

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Examining the Laws of the Game Perhaps the most misunderstood law of rugby that pertaining to onside and offside, particularly when the game is in an open play phase. A reading of the newly simplified rugby laws may provide some clarification.

“A player is offside in open play if that player is in front of a team-mate who is carrying the ball or who last played it. An offside player must not interfere with play.” That sounds simple enough, until you start to read the detail. For example, the law book states categorically that “a player can be offside anywhere in the playing area”, presumably as long as he (or she) doesn’t interfere with play. But perhaps the most debated offside decisions occur (or don’t) around the ruck and maul. The law states: “A player who is offside at a ruck, maul, scrum or lineout remains offside, even after the ruck, maul, scrum or lineout has ended. The player can be put onside only if:

That player immediately retires behind the applicable offside line; or

An opposition player carries the ball five metres in any direction; or

An opposition player kicks the ball. There is much more than we has space for but you can find more about this and about all the new laws of the game we love here.

Law Discussion: Penalty Try SAreferees.com has an interesting analysis by Paul Dobson (Moonsport) that assesses the decision not to award a penalty try in a recent schools game between Rondebosch and Bishops. It was contentious primarily because the score is tied at 10-all and the game is in referee’s optional time.

He first sets the scene: “Rondebosch win the scrum and the ball goes out to left wing Thoubaan Gabriels who has a bit of an overlap, he kicks the ball downfield, and he and the Bishops right wing race after the bouncing ball, Gabriels getting just ahead of the Bishops player. “Gabriels stoops as if to grab the awkwardly bouncing ball but instead bangs it on with his leg into the Bishops in-goal. The Bishops wing pushes Gabriels in the back and the Rondebosch boy falls into touch-in-goal as the ball heads for the dead-ball line.” With spectators (it was a Rondebosch home game) baying for a penalty try and even the television commentators asking the question, the referee calmly consulted his assistants chose to award only a penalty, which Dobson suggests was the correct decision. Read his reasoning here.

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International Club Competition Kicks Off As mentioned in a previous issue, several international club rugby tournaments are kicking off on Friday in Europe and over in Japan, and many of them have an interest for South African fans. It’s appropriate to begin with the competition that featured South Africa’s two discarded Super Rugby franchises: the Cheetahs and the Southern Kings. The Kings kick-off their PRO14 campaign on Friday night while the Cheetahs have their first match on Saturday. Read more about their respective chances on the next page. Meanwhile, across the Irish Sea, the newly renamed Gallagher Premiership kicks off and it will be sure to feature a number of South African players, including two who are presently turning out for the Springboks: Faf de Klerk and Willie le Roux, who were both named in the competition’s dream team last year. As usual, however, there will be plenty of South African interest with coaches and players from our shores plying their trade in England

Similarly, across the English Channel, more than 50 South Africans are expected to turn out in the French Top 14, which kicked off last weekend. Some, like Bakkies Botha and Bryan Habana, may have retired but others like Morne Steyn and Robert Ebersohn should be in action. The same story will unfold in Japan, with Duane Vermeulen already there. Watch this space over the coming weeks as we provide details of our many players flying the flag in foreign leagues.

Jaco Kriel is Champing at the Bit As noted above, other South African players will be running out for clubs in English Premiership Rugby this season and we expect to profile some of them during the long season ahead. The first of these is former Lions and Springbok flanker, Jaco Kriel. Since his signing to Gloucester Rugby, he has largely been restricted to the side-lines nursing a shoulder injury. The back-row forward has reunited with head coach Johan Ackermann, who he worked with previously at the Golden Lions. And, having been buoyed by the feel-good factor in the Cherry and Whites camp, Kriel is thoroughly encouraged by what he has seen in the build-up to his new side’s curtain-raiser against Northampton Saints next weekend. “The excitement throughout the group is amazing, so it’s good to be part of it,” he said. “For all the other players as well that [have] come from different clubs, they’ve fitted in quite nicely. There’s no egos in the team and that makes it easy. “I believe the squad is developing quite nicely and I’m looking forward to seeing the guys out there, and also some youngsters that [are] coming through the academy that [are] also going to get some opportunities this season. You know exactly what he [Ackermann] expects of you and exactly what he wants of you.” Read more about how Kriel views his new challenge in England here.

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PRO14 Season Previews As suggested on the previous page, the Cheetahs and the Southern Kings kick off their campaigns in the PRO14 competition this weekend. Unlike last year, when they were literally dumped into the multi-national tournament very shortly after finishing a gruelling Super Rugby campaign, both teams have had plenty of preparation time this year. Hopefully, both have also managed to secure the services of a decent pool of players and had time to address the talent depth that was so severely tested last year. We expect them both to do much better this season and, helpfully, PlanetRugby has a useful two-part series of previews of the PRO14 season. As most fans will know, the competition is split in two conferences of seven teams each. The Cheetahs feature in Conference A while the Kings play the teams in Conference B. In its preview of Conference A, PlanetRugby notes that the Bloemfontein-based side can take much from a season characterised by steady improvement. It culminated in a quarter-final appearance, which did broadcast the gap still to be bridged, but 12 wins from 21 outings and only the two losses at home is not a bad effort. The Cheetahs didn’t upset the order because it was unclear as to where they would sit but they’ve set themselves a solid benchmark for the upcoming year. Even replicating the same success will be well received as they build towards a future in the competition. Both Leinster and the Scarlets left South Africa with a loss, although the Welsh region certainly exacted revenge in the quarter-finals. The Cheetahs, another year older and wiser after facing new opposition and adapting to new methods, will have aspirations of another post-season appearance. Their South African base both hinders and enhances fortunes but, if they can nail down their home form, they can make themselves dark horses heading into the business end of the season. Johan Goosen returned from retirement towards the latter end of the season but departs back to France while Francois Venter and Uzair Cassiem left to join Worcester and the Scarlets respectively. It no doubt weakens the Cheetahs but they will hope other fill the voids after growing into the tournament last year.

In rating the chances of the Kings in Conference B, the authors of the preview don’t pull any punches. “They didn’t adapt anywhere near as quickly as their fellow South African counterparts as they finished last in their conference. A new side in their own right even before Super Rugby decided to drop them, the Southern Kings are in need of a vision and people who buy into that. Several players left after it was announced they would play in a different competition and much of the squad was made up of loan players. Hardly a recipe for success but it does allow the Kings a new slate with which to work. Their first season has laid down a marker, an unwanted one at that, as bottom of the PRO14 pile and they will be singled out as winnable opponents by the other 13 sides. That could work to their advantage but right now, having disappointed hugely in their baptism year, they have an open target upon them. A solitary win over the Dragons was all they had to show for their efforts and defeats were often anything but close. That said, it’s somewhere

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The Currie Cup Outlook for This Weekend

Despite the lack of Rugby Championship fixtures this weekend, there is plenty to interest the committed rugby fanatic. Here at home we have the Currie Cup with the Premier Division fixtures (alongside) promising to deliver up some intriguing results. All the matches will be broadcast on SuperSport along with the PRO14 matches featuring the Southern Kings on Friday night and the Cheetahs on Saturday. Sadly the Currie Cup First Division doesn’t appear to be interesting enough to (or well-enough sponsored) to attract broadcasting interest. So, if there’s a match happening in your area, you’ll have to go down to the ground to watch it – which may not be a bad thing. There are three matches on the schedule this weekend, two on Friday and two on Saturday afternoon. On Friday, the Leopards host the Boland Cavaliers at the Fanie du Toit Sports Grounds in Potchefstroom. Kick-off is at 5pm. If you’re in or around East London, you can pop along to the Buffalo City Stadium to catch the Border Bulldogs against South Western Districts. On Saturday the Griffons welcome the Valke to the HT Pelatona Projects Stadium in Welkom at 3pm. The EP Elephants have a bye thanks to the withdrawal of the Welwitschias from the competition.

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Last But Not Least

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each week. See you next week. Many thanks from the Rugby team at the Leopard Newsletters.

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