Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

'Criticising this Bok team is like clubbing a baby seal'

South Africa players look stunned after All Blacks defeat

Springboks coach Allister Coetzee may have been able to find some positives from South Africa’s drubbing at the hands of New Zealand but former skipper Jean de Villiers was less impressed.

ADVERTISEMENT

Coetzee’s side travelled to Albany unbeaten in 2017 and growing in confidence thanks to two victories over Argentina in the Rugby Championship.

However, they were quickly brought back down to earth as the All Blacks ran riot on Saturday, the world champions cruising to a 57-0 triumph.

It was a humbling that could have easily brought stinging criticism from Coetzee, but he chose to praise some aspects of the Springboks’ performance, including their defensive effort.

De Villiers was less enthused, though, and suggested the display emphasised the work still to be done by Coetzee and his squad.

“We all thought last year losing to New Zealand by 42 points was a low point and we didn’t think it could get worse. It did today,” he told SuperSport.

“It is very difficult to find something positive to say about this game.

“We need to be honest with ourselves, we got outplayed in every single department of this game and were beaten by a much better team.

ADVERTISEMENT

“When you talk about the improvement of the South African side, yes they have improved, but when they compare themselves to the best in the world there is still a massive gap.”

Meanwhile, former Springboks coach Nick Mallett launched a more scathing attack on the national side.

“Criticising this Bok team is like clubbing a baby seal. The poor guys are defenceless,” he said.

“The scrums were a shambles in the second half, the lineouts didn’t go well in the first half. The replacements didn’t make an impact. The scramble defence was nowhere. The first-up defence got worse and worse as the game progressed.

“There isn’t enough leadership in this team at the moment and certainly not enough skills. Not one Springbok would make the All Blacks side.”

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

T
Tom 8 hours ago
Will Bristol's daredevil 'Bears-ball' deliver the trophy they crave?

Also a Bristol fan and echo your sentiments.


I love watching Bristol but their approach will only get them so far I think. Exeter played like this when they first got promoted to the prem and had intermittent success, it wasn't until they wised up and played a more balanced game that they became a consistently top side.


I really want Bristol to continue playing this brand of rugby and I don't mind them running it from under their posts but I don't think they need to do it every single time. They need to be just a little bit more selective about when and where on the pitch they play. Every game they put themselves under so much needless pressure by turning the ball over under their posts trying to do kamikaze moves when it's not required. By all means run it from your goal line if there is a chance for a counter attack, we all want to see Bristol running in 100m tries from under their posts but I think until they learn when to do it and when to be pragmatic, they are unlikely to win the premiership.


Defense has been a real positive from Bristol, they've shown a lot of improvement there... And I will say that I think this kamikaze strategy they employ is a very good one for a struggling side and could be employed by Newcastle. It's seems to have turned around Gloucester's fortunes. The big advantage is even if you don't have the biggest and best players, what you have is cohesion. This is why Scotland keep battering England. England have better individuals but they look muddled as a team, trying to play a mixed strategy under coaches who lack charisma, the team has no identity. Scotland come out and give it full throttle from 1-15 even if they struggle against the top sides, sides like England and Wales who lack that identity drown under the relentless will and synergy of the Scots. If Newcastle did the same they could really surprise some people, I know the weather is bad up there but it hasn't bothered the Scots. Bristol can learn from Scotland too, Pat is on to something when he says the following but Scotland don't play test matches like headless chickens. They still play with the same level of clarity and ambition Bristol do but they are much better at picking their moments. They needed to go back to this mad game to get their cohesion back after a couple of seasons struggling but I hope they get a bit wiser from matches like Leinster and La Rochelle.


“If there’s clarity on what you’re trying to do as a team you can win anything.”

2 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Henry Arundell lined up for early England homecoming Henry Arundell lined up for early England homecoming
Search