RUGBY NEWS - The Springboks’ 18-17 win over France in Paris ensured that complete disaster was averted but there are still too many questions that need answering and this is not a time for South African fans to get euphoric.
Relieved coach Allister Coetzee was understandably pleased to be back on the winning side after the 38-3 reverse to Ireland the week before.
“It was a pleasing and satisfying effort from the players. It is never easy in France and they certainly came out to play,” said Coetzee.
It is true that France started the match as if they had a plane to catch, but they were poor after that and their play was blighted by too many errors, many of them unforced. So Coetzee must know deep down that it wasn't really the rousing effort that was required to erase the memory of Dublin and Albany before that and there is a lot of work to do before the team plays Italy this week as a build-up to a clash with Wales in Cardiff that will be more of a defining moment for this tour than Paris was.
For it needs to be acknowledged that the win was no more than what should have been expected against a team languishing on the world rankings and which was abjectly poor for most of the 80 minutes. The French took 38 points against the All Blacks the week before and it would have been a lot more were it not for the fact that the Kiwis are so clearly fatigued at the end of what has been a momentous year for them.
The two teams that the South Africans have enjoyed success against this year – France and Argentina – are not ranked in the top 5 of world rugby and that needs to be recognised before we succumb to jingoism and talk of this being a special Bok team. It may become a special Bok team in time, but changes may need to be made to both playing and management personnel for that to happen, and there are many areas that require improvement.
Apart from his goalkicking, which is a big concern after Paris, Handre Pollard made a solid return to the starting team, but the attack is still hamstrung by a tendency to play behind the advantage line. France don’t press on defence like other international teams do, and the Boks would have been in trouble again in Paris had they been playing different opponents.
The malaise of passes flying behind players when the ball is spread at the back also looks far from being sorted, and while the Boks did inject more line-speed into their defensive effort at Stade de France, the best way to describe it would be sporadic. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t, and it is a long way from being as co-ordinated as it should be.
The defence was much improved on Dublin but at times it was passie and it is debatable that there is the same passion and refusal to bend that there was earlier in the season. That could just be down to fatigue after a long year – the All Blacks shouldn’t be the only southern hemisphere team that is tired at the moment – but again there is a question that needs to be answered.
