RUGBY pundit and coach Jonathan Mokuena likes what he is seeing from the Springboks after their recently concluded July Incoming Test matches as the World Champions build towards defending their Rugby Championship title next month.
First up for South Africa are two domestic Test matches against Australia during August.
They face the Wallabies on 16 August at Ellis Park and a week later conclude their two-game series against the Aussies with a showdown in Cape Town, before heading to New Zealand for two highly anticipated clashes with old rivals the All Blacks.
New Attacking Intent Lighting Up Springbok Rugby
During the July Test matches against Italy in Pretoria and Gqeberha, and a one-off clash against Georgia, the Boks showed off their new attacking intent, while coach Rassie Erasmus also blooded a few new faces.
And of being impressed by what he had seen the Boks come up with, under the guidance of Erasmus and attack coach Tony Brown, Mokuena tells TelecomAsia Sport:
I am reasonably impressed by the direction the Boks are heading into. There is some new things that we are trying to do.
The great thing is that a guy like Tony Brown is seeing the potential that our outside backs has and he is creating opportunities for them to be put in space and as we know when guys like Cheslin Kolbe, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Edwill van der Merwe are given space, they can be extremely dangerous. It is a good direction that we are moving into.
Boks’ Ball Security Was Scrappy
Although Italy are a top tier rugby country and Georgia are also striving to make inroads as a future rugby powerhouse, Mokuena admits the Boks could afford to take risks with their new attacking style of play.
However, against stronger opposition, although Australian rugby is also not the strongest these days, Mokuena warns that being too attack minded could see Erasmus’ men caught with their pants down.
Especially after Italy and Georgia exposed some frailties when it came to securing clean ball for the outside backs to run rampant with.
Mokuena says:
Yes, my biggest concern is our inaccuracy at the breakdown – it is still not clinical enough. But that sort of comes with the territory when your chancing your arm a bit more on the attacking side of the game. Where your players don’t necessarily play towards the ball as much as they are used to doing.
If you look at how the Georgian loose-forwards, especially their No.6, were an absolute menace at the breakdowns and then his replacement came on and continued disrupting our ball. When we look at that, then one must definitely somewhere along the line have a look at how the breakdown can be shored up.
At this stage, we are playing good rugby and everything looks so easy on the eye, but then we turn over possession at critical stages. It is a worry that the Boks will have to work on.
Another worry for Mokuena, although more game time should fix that problem, is most capped Springbok, Eben Etzebeth’s lack of physicality in the recent series.
The towering lock, known for making big hits and bashing over people, was unusually quiet according to his standards, Mokuena reckons.
But with the seriousness of becoming the first Springbok side to successfully defend a Rugby Championship title coming up, former Springbok Sevens ace Mokuena reckons the best of the senior members of the Springbok squad will be on show come 16 August.
