Brendan Venter
While the Springboks must be commended for ending their Rugby Championship campaign with consecutive home victories, it’s important to remain performance rather than results-driven.
I believe it’s fair to say that most of us view rugby games through a retrospective scope, which effectively means that the final result fundamentally informs our thought patterns and opinions.
Although the Springboks whipped the All Blacks in the first half, the reality is that had referee Wayne Barnes not gone upstairs to the TMO, having being probed by the matchday producer, captain Jean de Villiers and the partisan home crowd, the Springboks could easily have lost the Ellis Park test.
SuperSport
The point I’d like to stress is that pundits often oversimplify the oval game. They love to pinpoint reasons for a match being won or lost to pacify the viewing public. For instance, a TV analyst might say, “Team A won because they kept the ball in hand or lost because they kicked too much.”
However, a match is multi-layered and there are various factors at play. Thus, using blanket explanations is wholly reductive, in my view.
In terms of backing the process rather than the outcome, I’ve been unbelievably impressed with the way in which the All Blacks have carried themselves.
In the build-up to the most anticipated test match of the year, All Black coach Steven Hansen made a powerful coaching point. He asserted that a team should not only learn lessons when they lose.
As such, Springbok supporters should not look at the last four games in the Rugby Championship and conclude that we did things wrong in Perth and Wellington and therefore lost both tests. While, in Cape Town and Johannesburg, we did things right and, as a result, came out on the winning side.
That’s absolute rubbish, in my opinion, because if we were to examine the aforementioned performances from a critical perspective, there were positives and negatives to extract from each.
WHEN TO KICK AND WHEN TO RUN
I would suggest that the Springboks continue to grow their game in order to discover the ideal blend in terms of when to run and when to kick. Furthermore, they should keep the ball in hand when necessary and look to play from turn-over possession, as they did effectively against the All Blacks.
While getting into the right areas of play and then attacking well is the challenge, I believe the Boks now possess a greater level of awareness. For example, if they force a poor kick from the opposition, via any method, they know they can’t catch the ball on the halfway line and kick a high ball back.
At the same time, when a team turns the ball over in their own 22, the universal principle dictates that it’s worth having a go with a disorganised defensive structure in tow.
In last week’s column, I made a strong case for Pat Lambie to start at flyhalf against the All Blacks.
While Lambie played really well when he came on in the 62nd minute of the match, and slotted the match-winning penalty, Handre Pollard’s performance was magnificent.
It was not only about the two tries and the 19 points that Pollard scored in total, but the way in which he kicked the ball out of hand and how he dropped into the pocket in certain situations.
For me, the greatest kernel of value to derive from the recently concluded Rugby Championship is that the Springboks have blooded some brilliant young players that look world-class on the big stage.
Over and above Pollard’s mature displays, Jan Serfontein and Marcell Coetzee have excelled at international level.
Meanwhile, Oupa Mohoje’s recent performances prove that he was selected on merit. I believe the loose forward can realistically play for South Africa for a long time to come.
good feet-on-the-ground realistic article… and I believe most RT bloggers see the game & championship pretty much in the same way brendan sees them… taking the positives out while acknowledging the negatives… several ‘strengths’ to encourage players & fans alike… and several weaknesses still to work on… as said by jean… to keep players & fans alike grounded…
when some bloggers in the past have commented on some positives… others have sometimes responded with a popular ‘truism’ which oversimplifies things as brendan suggests…
and even though i know it oversimplifies things… i think it bears repeating while being worn on another foot…
You are only as good as your last game!
so the boks were/are awesome…!
“However, a match is multi-layered and there are various factors at play. Thus, using blanket explanations is
wholly reductive, in my view.”
Excellent Article
@ MacroBlouBul: @ 2
I usually laud Venters articles, but here (while a good article and him making valid points) he’s not telling me anything I don’t already know.
As a point for all those overjoyed Bok supporters (of which I am 1!) Venter seems very pragmatic and sensible. Don’t know if he’s an unemotional type of person, but he seems to have a very calm, realistic point of view.
@ GoBokkeAndIreland:
I think this to to those people over the last few days that said, “oh we let them back in”, “it is their superior fitness”(our inferior conditioning)… It is just not that simple.
This is one of the ATG teams, are people trying to say they don’t have it in them to fight back?
Thing is people will still see what they want to see and people will either be positives or hammer on about the negatives.
What I found inspiring is this All Black team left our shores with their heads held high, they threw everything they got at us.
@ MacroBlouBul:
Good points. I am in fact 1 of those Bok supporters who was generally too realistic (almost pessimistic) who is now trying to get into the “glass half full” club. I think, with a tweak or 2, the Boks have it in them, to be the number 1 team in the world, and stay at the top for a good length of time.
On another note, I assume you a Bulls supporter – they seem to be moving in the right direction, albeit at the wrong end of the season!
@ GoBokkeAndIreland:
ha you know how the Bulls only find their feet at the end of a season.
I am not too confident yet, Griquas are a bogey team of ours, but if we can take them I think we can win the semi-final at Newlands. While PW is a great team, there are some cracks forming.
@ MacroBlouBul:
WHAT?????
Beat my beloved WP at home? HELL NO!
@ GoBokkeAndIreland:
haha not another semi final 😉
Over and above Pollard’s mature displays, Jan Serfontein and Marcell Coetzee have excelled at international level.
😆
Somewhere in the Northern Cape a dog is getting a kicking.
😆
9 @ gunther:
“Western Province centre Jaco Taute has been disciplined by the union after misbehaving in a Bloemfontein hotel.”
janee
@ MacroBlouBul: @11
Ek bly net stil . . .
Congrats to bokke supporters
must be pleasing to beat a team after 3 year of trying, even if the game had no real significance being a dead rubber…
maybe the ab could use the bokke supporters standard response by blaming the travel factor..
also good to see the typical arrogance being displayed by people like macrobloubul on the kaplan thread.
enjoy the moment
@ nga puhi:
A win is a win. As Naas would say – 3 years from now no-one is going to remember any incidents during the game – just the score!
I’m sure I speak for many Bok supporters when I say we can’t wait to meet (and beat) the AB again. (Especially on their home turf!)
and a wonderful evening to you too popps…!
great to have our little ray of sydney sunshine brightening our dark saffa world again…!! 😉
how have you been…?
congratulations on the AB championship…! thoroughly deserved…
@ nga puhi:
Thanks man, was a great game, I am so offended
6 @ MacroBlouBul:
Bulls to peak in the semi. Klap seven shades of k@k out of WP, then meet the Lions at EP in the final?
And I will be firmly ensconsed in…….. Deben on the day of the final!
@ Scrumdown: @ 17
Lekker joke there mate!
Bonjour pooper.
Couldn’t restrain yourself any longer.
Great game unlucky for your lads.
@ Scrumdown:
haha I can only dream.
20 @ MacroBlouBul:
You heard it first HERE.
@ MacroBlouBul:
@ Scrumdown:
Everyone joking and daydreaming here today, I see.
@ GoBokkeAndIreland:
haha you just wait for the punchline, either this weekend
or the next
He does write very well, this Doctor. Great article.
@ gunther:
Haha, indeed.
nga puhi wrote:
…must be pleasing” indeed it is, difficult to go in public with this semi
say what you what, spin it the way you want, we beat you on the day, in our country – like you beat us on the day, in your country by an equally small margin.
One thing is a fact though, the Boks are creeping closer and closer to the Untouchables and you will be crying come World Cup 2015. In the mean time, do whatever blows your hair back
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