Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt has claimed that the breakdown will be ‘pivotal’ this weekend against the Springboks, as his side looks to repeat their heroics of last Saturday.
There was plenty to be pleased about for the victors at Ellis Park last time out, but Schmidt has highlighted this particular area as a problematic site, and one that needs to be rectified if they’re to turn the screw on the world champions.
Springboks versatility
Speaking to the press on Thursday, the 59-year-old highlighted the versatility in their opponents’ squad and ability in the breakdown.
“Marco van Staden is very good over the ball, and they don’t need a whole lot of back rowers going for the ball when they have Malcolm Marx – he is very, very strong over the ball. Jesse Kriel is good over the ball, too,” he said.
“The game has shifted a bit, where there aren’t role-specific involvements, there are in lineouts, scrums and set-pieces obviously, but across the board, you can have players who are very strong in the breakdown without them having a specific number on their back.
“For us, we just know that the breakdown is going to be pivotal because it is in most Test matches. I’m not sure we dominated the breakdown just because a lot of times, especially in that first 20 minutes, our breakdown got shifted backwards so quickly.
“I felt that a couple of the turnovers we got were fantastic efforts from Tom Hooper or Fraser McReight, but probably the six or seven breakdowns before them had been very much dominated by the Boks and had put us on the back foot. Some of the time, we were just hanging on.”
Experienced Springboks
If the breakdown is sorted, then that should give the Wallabies a base from which to work off. Clean ball will allow them to run their moves off the front foot and put the Springboks under pressure. If they do manage to control the breakdown, and that’s a big IF, then they will put themselves in pole position to control the game.
But even when a team has control, it only takes one moment of magic from the opposition to derail an entire game plan – just look at the situation last week.
Week in, week out, the Springboks boast the most experienced line-up in world rugby, so when things start to go their way, it doesn’t take long for the players to click together.
This fact isn’t lost on Schmidt, with the former Ireland head coach saying: “Cohesion isn’t developed week to week, that’s part of it, but it’s year on year really, and when you look at Grant Williams, is an experienced player, Handre Pollard, you couldn’t get much more experience.
“In the midfield, Damian de Allende is coming in fresh. I don’t know how many tests he has played with Jesse Kriel, but I’ve coached a few against those two, and they’ve been pretty hard to break down.
“So a lot of combinations that have spent a lot of time together – the same with Cheslin coming in on the wing, he is almost an automatic selection for the Springboks.
“Willie Le Roux has played over 100 Tests, so it’s not like he suddenly gets catapulted in there and doesn’t know how to connect with the players around him. There is some consistency in the front row, too.