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'You'll never, ever, see that again': Ex-Bok coach vows 'primary school' errors won't return
By Ben Smith
Former Springboks assistant coach Swys de Bruin has offered a passionate but honest review of South Africa’s performance at Mt Smart against the All Blacks.
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De Bruin gave a detailed critique of the parts of the Springboks’ DNA that were ‘never there’ in Auckland as ‘primary school errors’ resulted in a disappointing start which allowed the home side to go up 17-0.
He explained that critical parts of the game plan were ‘not typically us’ as he reviewed the opening 20 minute passage.
“We can say 50-50 calls, we can say all these things,” de Bruin said on SuperSport TV‘s Final Whistle show.
“I want to come back to my earlier point, there are a few things that happened that is not typically us.
“We pride ourselves when we kick a ball, we put on the best chase line that you can have. They plan that in the system.”
Will Jordan’s first return came off a quick lineout following the Boks’ first exit kick from Willie le Roux.
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The All Black No 14 found just one defender in the chase line, Faf de Klerk, and cut back towards the blind side to rip off a huge gain.
“Here there is a single rabbit chasing, that’s Faf, that’s good. Normally behind him there is a full on line, they shout ‘lines’ and the call is up.
“You space yourselves and don’t let anyone come under attack against you. For the kickers, it is vital that it has to be a pressure kick.
“You don’t just rush like a mad donkey, you make sure your spacing is perfect. Now for me, you’ll never, ever, see that again from a Springbok side, a chase like that.
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“You’ll never ever, it’s a scattered line, it’s really primary school stuff.”
Following Jordan’s electric return the All Blacks returned to a shape to play to the openside, running a pod off Beauden Barrett at first reciever.
The typical line speed came from South Africa to pressure the pod and Barrett, but there were mistakes made leading to Shannon Frizell bursting up the middle.
“Now we rush up, that’s typically our defence but there is a dog leg [staggered rush line], normally the middle guy leads it and he’s the head of that spear defence.”
The middle defender, Lood de Jager, was caught behind his outside men, allowing Frizell the space and time to use some footwork to beat him.
“One thing after the other, it’s not us,” de Bruin explained.
“The scrums, the mauls, the pressure on the kick, that’s our DNA. That’s what we stand for and that was never there.”
On the phase before the All Blacks’ second try to Frizell, Beauden Barrett utilised a chip kick in behind which he regathered after an awkward bounce.
De Bruin broke down the sweeper defence system which left ‘way too much’ space due to perhaps a communication issue.
“You will not find the space to chip into, what happened? Let’s have a look,” he said.
“Faf, in that situation there, if he is on the blind, they’ve got a planned sweeper with one of the wingers to cover the chip kick.
“If you look at this one, Faf is stuck on the blind, here comes the kick and that vacuum is way too wide for a typical Springbok side. Way, way, too wide.”
De Bruin went as far to question whether the Boks were intentionally offering the All Blacks the invitation.
“I don’t know if they wanted to show that space, but that’s just not good enough. How can you lose seven field kicks Robbie?
“Every time it went to the rub of the green it went to the All Blacks.
Having neutralised the Springboks line speed by regathering the chip kick, Jordan attacked two props by the ruck to make a half-break before flinging the ball wide where Frizell was stationed on the touchline.
“Again there, terrible defence line, no system, they are chasing shadows. Suddenly the All Blacks look brilliant, and they were,” he said.
“I’m not saying they were not brilliant, but in any fight, I can’t fight with my hands behind my back.”
I don’t know what the boks we’re trying to do on Saturday. But it was shit to watch.
It was almost as if they were trying to make the game as hard for themselves as possible. Horrendous exits. Virtually NO kicks at all. Uncontested line outs.
It reminded me of my u15C career. When our coach banned us from kicking and instructed us not to contest the line outs.
And the All Blacks played great rugby. So I guess it could have been far worse and/or couldn’t get worse.
Aha. So I can become a writer/pundit… all I need to do is transcribe other pundits on the Telly…
That's a lot of analysis,in laymen terms the Boks sucked the hind tit for the first twenty minutes
Primary school stuffs 😂
The All Blacks were brilliant. Give them credit.
Lots of experimentation with selections going on at the moment.
The Boks will be back for sure.
So , what you are assuming, is that the Boks should have won?
It's always easy to analyze a game afterwards .. eg hindsight is a wonderful thing. The fact is the Boks were outplayed. Yes they will learn from this game so will the ABs