We won't play conservatively - Meyer

Johannesburg - Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer has scoffed at suggestions the Boks will abandon their attacking approach for the Rugby World Cup and revert to a kicking-based conservative game plan.

According to the supersport.com website, while the Boks were a lot more adventurous in the recent Castle Lager Rugby Championship, Meyer said he had heard that some commentators were saying the Boks would return to a kick and chase style and not attack.

But the Bok coach pointed to stats which show the Springboks score a lot more tries than they are often given credit for, and that the approach won’t change, even though the pressure on the team will go up during the tournament.

Depending on their selection, the Boks will

“I hear people say we are going to play conservatively. What people sometimes don’t understand, and this is what I try and coach, is that it comes down to the situation,” Meyer told supersport.com

“ If you are in your 22m area and the opposition drop four guys back, then you run, because there is space. But if you are in your 22m area, and their whole defensive line is up there, then you can’t run out of trouble, because you have less guys, then you have to kick. If you have numbers in your 22m area, we will always run. That’s the way we coach.

“Every game we make small changes, but we try and get the guys to make the right decisions. People say we want to kick the ball away, but we don’t want that.

“We won’t play conservatively, we will play what is in front of us. We won’t go with a plan to only kick or only run. That’s not how it works.”

Meyer said while momentum is key to success in the Rugby World Cup, consistency is just as important, and thus it would be suicide to decide to change the game plan as the tournament progresses.

“You need to play the same in all seven games, because you need to have your decision-making on the right level. The top teams will always score tries and we are one of the sides that always scores tries. We tend to make the most opportunities but we don’t finish well. That must change.

“At the end of the day it will be a close World Cup and it will be about pressure. If you want to handle pressure, you need experience. England won the World Cup with an experienced squad who could handle the pressure.”

The Boks open their Rugby World Cup campaign against Japan in Brighton on Saturday.