Bok leader: Jean de Villiers
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Springbok captain Jean de Villiers believes he made the right calls in choosing to turn down a handful of kickable penalties in favour of setting up attacking line-outs in Saturday's win over Scotland.
South Africa scored their first try from a rolling maul after a line-out set up by a penalty and it was a tactic that also worked well against Ireland.
"The decision not kick for poles comes down to gut feel," said De Villiers.
"The first one only just never worked for us, but then it worked for us later on. All the players gave me backing for my decision, and we felt we got it right most of the way.
"A lot was said last week about Scotland scoring three tries against New Zealand, the No 1 team in the world and we managed to keep them out so I think its something that is sustainable.
Springbok coach Heyneken Meyer added that the decision to go for line-outs rather than three-pointers was based on their plan to put Scotland under pressure.
"We decided beforehand that we were going to put them under pressure as we knew they would come out firing and eager to get their crowd in behind them and to get a foothold in the game," said Meyer.
"We succeeded in what we set out to do. We kept them in their half for the first 20 minutes. The first call not to kick was a 50/50 call, but I thought our tactics worked well. Our tactical kicking was superb in the first half, and I thought Patrick Lambie really played well before halftime. But the second half was a bit like the first half last week in that you can't really influence the game with tactical kicking when you don't have the ball."
"It's hard to say what happened (in the second half) but I think the Scots lifted themselves after they scored their try off a line-out set in the corner off a penalty.
"That gave them momentum, and they knew that if they just played the game in our half, they could play off penalties that we conceded. It was very frustrating and something we are going to have to redress.
"But while I always hate to be seen to be making excuses, I also want to add that it has been a long and tiring year for us. I think there were quite a few players that just never had a second 40 minutes in them today."
Comments
KingShark says...
JdV is the worst bok captain since 2004. His decision making is appaling. If yoy have a sure 3 points take it. After the 3rd or 4th penalty the opposition will have to chase the game, which means that you can score more freely. Tried and tested. His decision making reminds of the late nineties, early 2000's were we also had peroids where the captains couldn't do simple math.
Jean, for a clever guy you are really stupid sometimes.
Posted 10:37 19th November 2012
trappa says...
Good on him...I hate the kick as the 1st choice. Often 60-70 points in a game and 2 tries scored. How often do we see a team apply all the pressure and do all that work to get themselves in the opposition 1/4, only to come away with 3points. They then start basically in their own 1/4 from the kickoff give away their own 3 points. not to mention the time wasted actually taking the kicks...i just want to see good rugby...ffen hate kicking...
Posted 05:54 19th November 2012
rugbyphile says...
"our tactical kicking was superb in the first half"--!!!--Are you out of your tiny mind?? The tactical kicking was terrible----hopeless. At one stage Lambie had good quick ball and was running forward at pace with good support--then you saw him suddenly remember:--Oh no--I have been told to kick--so he hoofed it away and Scotland gratefully accepted possession and the pressure was over. Pienaar's kicking as always was at the wrong time, slow, telegraphed and ill-directed. Does superb mean uberkak in Meyertaal? If not he clearly needs to have his eyes, spatial awareness, perceptive skills and comprehension faculties medically examined. If PdeV was embarrassing he at least understood a little about rugby---Meyer clearly is lost in a world of his own imagination. Without exception every SA rugby follower I know has said roughly the same thing after this game--"With all the talent and physical ability they have to call on how can he have them playing such terrible rugby??
Posted 04:23 19th November 2012
fraserpark says...
hey boksmashoffice the idea of rugby is not to'' run into brick walls"" its to create space then run into it bro
Posted 02:20 19th November 2012
fraserpark says...
springboks suffering from post tramatic syndrome disorder under hm coaching like most coaches they are greedy only in for themselfs if he had any dignty he would walk away his agenda must be money
Posted 01:40 19th November 2012
dtoitm3 says...
This was a TEST - simple, take the points on offer.
Posted 01:08 19th November 2012
Boksalltheway says...
Keep Bismark away from the captaincy. He is a great player, but not captaincy material. He probably would run into a brick wall.
Anyone expecting any rugby captain to trot out anything other than the diplomatic line is kidding himself.
Posted 23:57 18th November 2012
ruckingkiwi says...
Thank goodness rugby has the All Blacks, France, at times Australia, Wales and Argentina (who attempt it) and the Pacific nations, to play exciting rugby, because the Boks are boring as hell and are getting worse.
Posted 19:25 18th November 2012
boksmashoffice says...
JDV you are a nice guy but it is time for you to hit the road. You are past your best. Your limitations are clear as day. Do the classy thing and walk away and give the captaincy to Bismark (A guy i will run into a brick wall for because he would do that for the team).
Posted 17:09 18th November 2012
carpelone says...
This guy is becoming a political muppet. What a load of tripe. You first win amd the you play entertaining and adventurous rugby.
Posted 16:43 18th November 2012
philipjfry says...
I'm all for setting up attacking line-outs. It's such a fantastic platform for set piece moves; constantly using the maul is such a waste of good possession especially if more teams aim to defend it by standing off like the Scots did or if it's refereed properly. Could anyone see the difference between the maul that led to the try or the one where the try was disallowed?
"It's hard to say what happened (in the second half) but I think the Scots lifted themselves after they scored their try off a line-out set in the corner off a penalty.'
I think we all know what went wrong in the second half, he needs to get his head out of the sand or learn to spin better.
Posted 13:40 18th November 2012