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Brisbane – Despite two consecutive losses against New Zealand, Springbok kicking coach Percy Montgomery believes South Africa still has a realistic chance of retaining their Tri-Nations crown this year.
“Of course we can still win the Tri-Nations,” Montgomery said at the Springbok-hotel on Wednesday.
“In the past we never managed to win here in the Super 14 and in Test matches. So you don’t just get an easy victory. We will just have to go back to doing the basics right.
“We had a bit of frustration with the two yellow cards. What Bakkies (Botha) did was very silly. You can’t afford to play with 14 men in the Test arena. I think the guys have learnt from it. There is no need to panic. They will just have to concentrate on the task at hand,” he explained.
South Africa’s most decorated player believes the changes made to the team will inject some much needed urgency and pace into the side.
Ruan Pienaar has replaced Ricky Januarie at scrumhalf. Gio Aplon comes in for the suspended Jean de Villiers on the wing, while Ryan Kankowski replaces Francois Louw on the flank and BJ Botha and CJ van der Linde swop places at tight head prop.
“We are lucky to have Ricky, Ruan and Francois (Hougaard) as scrumhalf options. But all the players coming in are all different players and can be used in different game situations,” he explained.
The veteran of 102 Tests believes the Boks have been using the right tactics so far on tour, but they have just not been executing their game plan properly.
“The guys lifted the intensity levels and were looking sharp at training on Tuesday. However, we need to focus on getting our game right. The out of hand tactical kicking needs to be spot on.
“We know the way the Australians play and we just have to be accurate in the execution of our kicks. We cannot afford to kick aimlessly. We need to kick smartly to regain the possession,” he said.
Brisbane – Despite two consecutive losses against New Zealand, Springbok kicking coach Percy Montgomery believes South Africa still has a realistic chance of retaining their Tri-Nations crown this year.
“Of course we can still win the Tri-Nations,” Montgomery said at the Springbok-hotel on Wednesday.
“In the past we never managed to win here in the Super 14 and in Test matches. So you don’t just get an easy victory. We will just have to go back to doing the basics right.
“We had a bit of frustration with the two yellow cards. What Bakkies (Botha) did was very silly. You can’t afford to play with 14 men in the Test arena. I think the guys have learnt from it. There is no need to panic. They will just have to concentrate on the task at hand,” he explained.
South Africa’s most decorated player believes the changes made to the team will inject some much needed urgency and pace into the side.
Ruan Pienaar has replaced Ricky Januarie at scrumhalf. Gio Aplon comes in for the suspended Jean de Villiers on the wing, while Ryan Kankowski replaces Francois Louw on the flank and BJ Botha and CJ van der Linde swop places at tight head prop.
“We are lucky to have Ricky, Ruan and Francois (Hougaard) as scrumhalf options. But all the players coming in are all different players and can be used in different game situations,” he explained.
The veteran of 102 Tests believes the Boks have been using the right tactics so far on tour, but they have just not been executing their game plan properly.
“The guys lifted the intensity levels and were looking sharp at training on Tuesday. However, we need to focus on getting our game right. The out of hand tactical kicking needs to be spot on.
“We know the way the Australians play and we just have to be accurate in the execution of our kicks. We cannot afford to kick aimlessly. We need to kick smartly to regain the possession,” he said.
