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Comment by Tank Lanning – Sport24 editor
London - It’s probably the primary reason I could not live in London … Having to wade through pages and pages of waffle on soccer before you get to a hint of anything to do with rugby in their newspapers. So not cool on a Sunday morning after a few too many pints of the black stuff on game day …
But today, with just a mere hint of a lovely Argentinean Chardonnay served to me by British Airways already a distant memory, upon arriving in London, I bought four of their newspapers and purposely waded through that waffle in order to find something on the Bok vs England game. It’s a pretty big affair after all.
Well, you would have thought … Ten pages into the Daily Mail sport section, six into the Daily Telegraph, nine into the Daily Express, and ten into The Guardian, perhaps it is not such a big thing here in London, especially now that it’s not a Grand Slam affair. Even with the England side under former Test lock Martin Johnson having found some form in recent months …
But I did manage to uncover two articles that I found pretty interesting, both detailing methods two prominent rugby men would use to beat the Springboks.
Ex England and Lions prop, and a man who played 12 Tests against the Boks, Phil Vickery, in the Daily Mail on Friday:
Pick a familiar front row
And doesn’t Vickery know this! He puts the beating he took from Beast Mtawarira in the first Test against the Lions down to the front row not having played together enough. But he likes the look of England tighthead prop Dan Cole, and believes the future is bright for the England tight five.
Front up physically
Vickery believes you cannot say you have played Test rugby until you have played the Springboks. If you don’t match the Boks physically and mentally you will come second.
Precision is everything
You can’t give the Boks a chance to put the pressure on you, so you can’t make mistakes. You can’t let the Boks go out and do what they want to do which hit you hard and keep hitting you.
Spoil the set piece
The Boks rely on their set piece as it’s the platform on which they deliver their game. England have to put some doubt in the minds of the Boks early on.
Don’t expect a weakness
You underestimate the Boks at your peril. They have a fantastic squad of players and if allowed to to go out and play the style of rugby they want to, they can devastate you.
Lions defense coach Shaun Edwards in The Guardian on Friday:
Move them around
Allowed the choice, the Boks would be happy to go from set piece to set piece, allowing their big men to do what they do best. So with the Lions we tried to move them around a bit, kept the ball in play, kicked long rather than into touch, aiming to keep the ball in play for at least 40 minutes.
Nullify their lineout drive
The Boks drive more lineouts than any other side in the world. You can’t always see the drive coming but you get a big hint when they call a reduced lineout, especially with one of the missing forwards is in the scrumhalf position. Don’t compete for the ball, but rather try and sack the jumper as he hits the ground.
Stop the big ball carriers
The Lions tried to “Double team” some of their big ball carriers with a little success after sometimes over committing players to the breakdown in the first Test and finding themselves short in the second phase.
It’s interesting to note that while most punters in the English papers have England to win, they do think it will be close.
These two guys, with a lot of their game plan based on either fronting up to the Bok physicality or finding a way to blunt it, probably speak to the point that a lot of South Africans are making – that this still remains the Bok game plan. There has been no intent to evolve at all and try and play a more ball in hand type game suited to the new law interpretations.
Will a physical ten man game plan be enough to get past England? And if so, will that be enough to keep a) SARU and b) the South African public, happy?
London - It’s probably the primary reason I could not live in London … Having to wade through pages and pages of waffle on soccer before you get to a hint of anything to do with rugby in their newspapers. So not cool on a Sunday morning after a few too many pints of the black stuff on game day …
But today, with just a mere hint of a lovely Argentinean Chardonnay served to me by British Airways already a distant memory, upon arriving in London, I bought four of their newspapers and purposely waded through that waffle in order to find something on the Bok vs England game. It’s a pretty big affair after all.
Well, you would have thought … Ten pages into the Daily Mail sport section, six into the Daily Telegraph, nine into the Daily Express, and ten into The Guardian, perhaps it is not such a big thing here in London, especially now that it’s not a Grand Slam affair. Even with the England side under former Test lock Martin Johnson having found some form in recent months …
But I did manage to uncover two articles that I found pretty interesting, both detailing methods two prominent rugby men would use to beat the Springboks.
Ex England and Lions prop, and a man who played 12 Tests against the Boks, Phil Vickery, in the Daily Mail on Friday:
Pick a familiar front row
And doesn’t Vickery know this! He puts the beating he took from Beast Mtawarira in the first Test against the Lions down to the front row not having played together enough. But he likes the look of England tighthead prop Dan Cole, and believes the future is bright for the England tight five.
Front up physically
Vickery believes you cannot say you have played Test rugby until you have played the Springboks. If you don’t match the Boks physically and mentally you will come second.
Precision is everything
You can’t give the Boks a chance to put the pressure on you, so you can’t make mistakes. You can’t let the Boks go out and do what they want to do which hit you hard and keep hitting you.
Spoil the set piece
The Boks rely on their set piece as it’s the platform on which they deliver their game. England have to put some doubt in the minds of the Boks early on.
Don’t expect a weakness
You underestimate the Boks at your peril. They have a fantastic squad of players and if allowed to to go out and play the style of rugby they want to, they can devastate you.
Lions defense coach Shaun Edwards in The Guardian on Friday:
Move them around
Allowed the choice, the Boks would be happy to go from set piece to set piece, allowing their big men to do what they do best. So with the Lions we tried to move them around a bit, kept the ball in play, kicked long rather than into touch, aiming to keep the ball in play for at least 40 minutes.
Nullify their lineout drive
The Boks drive more lineouts than any other side in the world. You can’t always see the drive coming but you get a big hint when they call a reduced lineout, especially with one of the missing forwards is in the scrumhalf position. Don’t compete for the ball, but rather try and sack the jumper as he hits the ground.
Stop the big ball carriers
The Lions tried to “Double team” some of their big ball carriers with a little success after sometimes over committing players to the breakdown in the first Test and finding themselves short in the second phase.
It’s interesting to note that while most punters in the English papers have England to win, they do think it will be close.
These two guys, with a lot of their game plan based on either fronting up to the Bok physicality or finding a way to blunt it, probably speak to the point that a lot of South Africans are making – that this still remains the Bok game plan. There has been no intent to evolve at all and try and play a more ball in hand type game suited to the new law interpretations.
Will a physical ten man game plan be enough to get past England? And if so, will that be enough to keep a) SARU and b) the South African public, happy?
