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Cape Town - Former Springbok assistant coach Alan Solomons is impressed by what he’s seen from the national team in 2017.
After beating France 3-0 in a home series in June, the Boks started their Rugby Championship campaign on a high note when they beat Argentina 37-15 in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
In an exclusive interview with Sport24, Solomons said he was particularly impressed by the Springbok scrum.
“I thought the Springboks played really well. The 3-0 series win over France in June generated a healthy dose of confidence and you could see that in the way the players performed last Saturday. What was particularly pleasing to me was the way in which the Springbok scrum operated. The Boks were playing a Pumas side that is renowned for the scrummaging prowess and managed to dominate the South Americans at the set-piece.”
Solomons, who is currently a coaching consultant at English club Bristol, had high praise for two players in particular.
“Malcolm Marx is exceptional and is without doubt the best hooker in the world. He makes an enormous difference in the scrum and I thought Coenie Oosthuizen (who was named man-of-the-match) had his best game in a Springbok jersey. However, an effective scrummaging performance is an eight-man effort and the whole pack must take credit. Forwards coach Matt Proudfoot must also be applauded because it was a tremendous scrummaging performance. Overall, the Springboks continued to show that they are well-organised and the reason they came away with the win was because they played intelligent Test match football. Admittedly, Argentina turned over a fair amount of ball owing to handling errors, however, South Africa dominated the territory and possession stakes and grew stronger as the game unfolded.”
The return Test between the two nations takes place in Salta on Saturday (kick-off 21:40 SA time).
Teams:
South Africa
15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Raymond Rhule, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Uzair Cassiem, 7 Jaco Kriel, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth (captain), 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Beast Mtawarira
Substitutes: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Pieter-Steph Du Toit, 20 Jean-Luc du Preez, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Curwin Bosch, 23 Damian de Allende
Argentina
15 Joaquin Tuculet, 14 Ramiro Moyano, 13 Matias Orlando, 12 Jeronimo de la Fuente, 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 10 Juan Martin Hernandez, 9 Tomas Cubelli, 8 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 7 Tomas Lezana, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Matías Alemanno, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Agustin Creevy (captain), 1 Lucas Noguera
Substitutes: 16 Julian Montoya, 17 Santiago García Botta, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Marcos Kremer, 20 Javier Ortega Desio, 21 Martin Landajo, 22 Nicolas Sanchez, 23 Matias Moroni
