The International season is done for the Southern Hemisphere and for Springbok rugby for 2014 and the only rugby of real importance left for us southern rugby junkies, are the 2 remaining HSBC Sevens World Series Tournaments in 2014 – the Dubai Sevens this coming weekend and the Nelson Mandela Bay Sevens Tournament the week thereafter.

In the meantime the Southern Hemisphere Super Rugby sides are extremely busy with their preparation work, conditioning and getting ready for Super Rugby 2015.

The question is, what has the Springboks learnt from the year of 2014 and from the End Of Year Tour?

Will we see a total change of tack and a move away from the high-ball kick and chase bombs from the Springboks? Very few International Tests remain before the start of the Rugby World Cup 2015 (18 September 2015) in England, however a full season of Super Rugby and the abbreviated Rugby Championship still loom in 2015 before the World Cup starts.

Is that enough time to put things right as far as the Springboks are concerned and is there enough time left to find critical answers in the midfield as well as cementing selections in other toublesome positions, like the front row props?

The other lingering question is who will capatin the Springboks, should Jean de Villiers’ injury be serious enough to keep him out of The Rugby Championship and the Rugby World Cup? Will it be Fourie du Preez or Victor Matfield or perhaps Adriaan Strauss or Bismarck du Plessis – only time will tell but with Victor Matfield already having acted as Vice-Captain in 2014 and specifically on the End Of Year Tour, surely he has to be regarded as the favourite at this stage!

Lessons learnt:

SuperSport reports that South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer is not going to hit the panic button despite suffering a second November tour defeat when they went down 12-6 to Wales on Saturday.

The Springboks also lost to Ireland in Dublin, although they responded by beating England at Twickenham, and then Italy.

In a game in which South Africa had overseas-based players unavailable because it fell outside the test window, Meyer said his side had not had sufficient strength in depth.

“I know we are much better than this. All credit to Wales, they played well, but this being the fourth game on tour, and with some players unavailable, it was always going to be tough and we were always going to be under pressure.

“Every single loss you have to look in the mirror but, saying that, we always knew our depth was going to be under pressure, a lot of youngsters coming from the bench today.

“You don’t want to use that as an excuse but you have to have these games, outside of the window. We said we wanted to play this game with a lot of youngsters to see what they can do. But it’s never great to lose,” he added.

Meyer said the defeat for South Africa, who could meet Wales in the World Cup quarterfinals if they both get out of the pool stage, would have no bearing if they met in the tournament.

“I still believe we’re on the right track and I believe we can win it (the World Cup),” he said. “Usually we have a very experienced bench come on to help win the game for us. But it won’t have any bearing on the World Cup.

“We have a lot of great players to come back – we’ll have an unbelievably strong squad. We’ll be well prepared.

“We’ve learned a hell of lot (on tour). You have to lose games unfortunately and you have to learn from that. We learned a lot of things after (defeat) by Ireland, and against England.”

Death of the high bomb:

Rugby365 reports that Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer says that he might have to change tactics after another costly yellow card conceded under a high ball.

The visitors went down 12-6 to Wales on Saturday in a tryless match at the Millenium Stadium to finish the year with a whimper having lost two matches in Europe under Meyer.

Wing Cornal Hendricks was sent to the sin bin in the 63rd minute after competing for an up-and-under, which left them with little chance of overhauling the home side.

This was very similar to what happened in the Boks’ other defeat on this tour against Ireland in Dublin, when hooker Adriaan Strauss was sent to the sidelines and Meyer said that he would have to consider whether kicking and competing for the high ball is worthwhile going forward.

“We said we have to learn from this and we have to look hard and see where we can go from here.

“We need to look at our tactics, I don’t know if it is worthwhile going in the air anymore because it is always a 50/50. We are very big on discipline and in the Rugby Championship we gave away the fewest yellow cards,” he said.

Meyer admitted that the loss of Hendricks effectively signalled the end of their chances of winning the game, and added that the lack of clarity on what is legal when competing in the air is problematic.

“The yellow card for Cornal was probably the end of it because we were six points behind and needed to attack but you have to go into defensive mode.

“I am not saying it ws the wrong decision and I am not saying that we lost because of that, but it is a grey area in the game I believe.

“We play by the laws and we work really hard on that, the referee is always right.

“Up in the air it is always going to be a 50/50, it is not for me to decide so in future we might have to let the guy go down and then tackle him but worldwide everybody goes up for the ball and I think it is a grey area that they need to sort out in the game,” he explained.

Meyer said that his team had been frustrated by the quality of possssion they had on attack and simply made too many errors to caitalise on their opportunities.

“The main thing we find is that in the northern hemisphere we don’t get quick ball and it is frustrating at times when we are on the front foot and don’t get quick ball

“It is obviously very disappointing, I always said that our character and depth was going to be tested. We always knew it was going to be tough and I just think in the end there were too many mistakes,” he said.

Who will capatin the Bokke?

Sport24 reports that Victor Matfield and Fourie du Preez are the favourties to captain the Springboks if Jean de Villiers fails to recover in time for next year’s Rugby World Cup.

The 2015 Rugby World Cup only starts in September, but De Villiers’s injury appears to be so serious that it could force him to miss the showpiece event.

In that case, Matfield appears to be the favourite for captain, while Du Preez is also a candidate.

Other likely candidates are Adriaan Strauss and Bismarck du Plessis.

The 37-year-old Matfield has made a stellar return to rugby this year and captained the Boks when De Villiers was injured at the start of the Test season.

Du Preez has been sidelined with an ankle injury but should be back in action next year.

“Fourie could also be captain. I hope he’s going to be fit for the World Cup, because we’ll definitely need him if Jean is not going to be there,” Meyer said.