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England will use copycat blueprint to beat Boks - Venter
By Chris Jones
Brendan Venter expects England to copy the title-winning game plan he developed at Premiership champions Saracens to win the three test series with South Africa which kicks off at Ellis Park on Saturday.
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Venter’s blueprint for Saracens helped turn the North London outfit into English and European champions with Mark McCall, who took over from Venter as director of rugby, taking the club to a new level of domination.
The newly crowned English champions are providing key players for England in the first test, including captain Owen Farrell, Mako and Billy Vunipola and Maro Itoje. However, Venter expects Leicester scrum-half Ben Youngs to be the main weapon in England’s tactical kicking plan.
Venter, the former Saracens director of rugby and most recently the Springboks defence coach, writes in SA RugbyMag: “Eddie Jones has built his whole dynasty on the Saracens style of play – a conservative approach underpinned by kicking for territory, driving the lineouts, contesting high balls and defending well. By all accounts, the three-Test series will be a battle of the conservative coaches because, like Jones, Rassie Erasmus also favours the ‘suffocate and strangle’ game strategy.
“The largely green back four – Willie le Roux is the only player with genuine Test experience – can expect an aerial bombardment. I foresee England scrumhalf Ben Youngs bombarding debutant wingers Aphiwe Dyantyi and S’bu Nkosi with high balls, along with outside centre Lukhanyo Am.
“The English will be quietly confident that they can attain a positive result from the first Test on the highveld. They possess cerebral coaches in Jones, Steve Borthwick and Paul Gustard, and will target South Africa’s inexperienced tight five at set piece. England are coming off the back of four losses, they have been beset by injury and have limited squad depth but – we should make no bones about it – their starting team is extremely strong.
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“If the hosts can weather the aerial bombardment, they are in with a shout. However, at set phase the Boks are potentially at their weakest, not because of poor personnel, but owing to inexperienced players. Looking to exploit South Africa’s lineout will be England’s main game. It’s so relevant that, if I was in the Bok camp, I would even consider telling the players not to kick the ball out because the lineout will be at risk.
“Expecting Rassie to meet transformation targets, win matches and play a good brand of rugby from the start is unbelievably unfair.
“In the infancy of his Springbok coaching tenure, people must back off in terms of the style of play he chooses to employ, provided the team is winning. The bottom line is that Rassie should win in whatever way he thinks he can – be it box kicks or driven lineouts.
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“If the Springboks box clever, they can win the opening Test, but this fixture will be a tough one for an inexperienced Bok side, who will be without Bismarck du Plessis and Frans Steyn.”
Venter’s most recent role was as technical advisor to London Irish having been the defence coach with Italy before taking up the Springbok role which ended when Erasmus took over in March.
