South Africa - State Of The Nation

Dire Straits
The 1995 and 2007 World Cup tournaments were memorable triumphs for the Springboks, while 1999 and 2003 and 2011 were disappointments. But now we have the gloomy possibility of the Boks failing the make it through the pool stage to the quarter-finals. Impossible, surely? But that’s what everyone in the rugby world, bar none, thought about Japan beating South Africa in Brighton. The only redemption for the Springboks now is to go on to win the RWC final on 31 October.

Personnel or Game-Plan?
Is it as simple as getting selection right? That would be over-simplistic. The primary problem is not so much personnel as the predictable game-plan, the lack of creativity and flair. The Springboks offer little innovation and are just too easy to defend against. The players need their shackles removed. Tighter discipline and more judicious decision-making would help too.

The Energy-Urgency factor
While there may be debates about selection and on playing pattern, there can be no gainsaying that one of the saddest features of Saturday’s embarrassing defeat to Japan was that so much of the energy and urgency evident among the players came from the Brave Blossoms and so much less from the Springboks.

Jean de Villiers
With his uphill struggle to regain ability after his knee reconstruction and then a fractured jaw, is it worth keeping De Villiers in the 12 jersey because of his exceptional leadership qualities, or should Damian de Allende be starting alongside Jesse Kriel? This is a conundrum for Heyneke Meyer since it is not a straight decision weighing up the respective merits of two inside centres.

All is not lost
Getting it right against Samoa, Scotland, and the USA will see the Boks through to the quarter-finals, and World Cup glory in the end is certainly not beyond these players’ abilities. But it will take brains and skill, not the uninspired, formulaic rugby offered against Japan.