Boks profit from British refs
Spiro Zavos | August 11, 2009

ANALYSIS

AS I watched the Springboks kick virtually every ball their superb pack won from the Wallabies at Cape Town on their way to a 29-17 victory I had a sense that I'd seen all this before.

When Morne Steyn kicked over his fifth penalty in the first half, with all the accuracy and aplomb of Jonny Wilkinson, I realised that this Springboks side is the clone of the England side that won the 2003 Rugby World Cup, with the tactical addition of the midfield bomb developed by Argentina in the 2007 tournament.

It's fashionable for rugby writers (and I have made the comment myself) to accuse the Springboks of not playing any rugby. What is clear after the Tri Nations Tests this year in South Africa, with the All Blacks and now the Wallabies being kicked off the paddock, is that the Springboks are playing terrific "rugby football", rather than "rugby".

The rugby football game is based on forward power, good structured play with strong set pieces, good restarts and a consistent kicking game with points accumulated, in the main, through penalty goals, drop goals and the occasional try. The rugby game, on the other hand, tends to see the set pieces as a means to the end of running the ball where possible, and scoring tries rather than penalties as the main way to score points. This is the game Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Nations have generally espoused, and the style the lost and lamented ELVs encouraged.

A shrewd observer sent me an email after the Test finished: "Did [Graham] Henry and [Robbie] Deans learn nothing from the Lions matches. The Springboks have one (bloody effective) style of play that has 4 stages: Biff. Bang. Bosh. Kick. The way to beat them is to move the ball quickly into the backs and have runners both on the inside and the outside (as per the first try). Note the Springboks' complete tactical inflexibility, eg when the Wallabies were down to 13 men and some 7-a-side rugby was called for Habana and Pietersen to 'run in', and what happened? The Springboks KICKED! Talking of inflexibility: where were the Wallabies' lineout variations?"

The success of the Springboks' attritional, rugby football style of play was helped by the referee, Irishman Alain Rolland. The penalties given against the Wallabies were justified, although he was unduly harsh with his yellow card to Richard Brown, who got his timing wrong after making a tackle. The problem was that infringements by the Springboks weren't penalised. George Smith, as acting captain, made this point to Rolland after the Wallabies were penalised late in the match for coming in from the side. Smith made the (valid) point that Heinrich Brussow had sealed off the ball for the Springboks by lying over it, forcing the Wallabies' offence.

Rolland said he didn't see Brussow only the Wallaby. When Bismarck du Plessis charged a penalty kick forcing a shorter kick, Rolland said it had no effect on the kick and refused to punish it. He was conned by captain and prop John Smit to give an important scrum penalty to the Springboks when Smit had clearly dropped and rolled in to collapse a scrum. It is significant, in my view, that the only loss suffered by the Springboks this season was when Stu Dickinson, the excellent Australian referee, handled the third Test between the Springboks and the British and Irish Lions. Dickinson (correctly) was less impressed with the dockyard brawl rugby of the Springboks than the northern hemisphere referees.

Traditionally in the Tri Nations, the Springboks have been strong at home and vulnerable out of Africa. This year might be different. When the Springboks play the Wallabies in Perth, the referee will be the New Zealander, Bryce Lawrence; in Brisbane, the referee will be Wayne Barnes, an Englishman, and in Hamilton against the All Blacks, the referee will be Nigel Owens, a Welshman. This means British referees will officiate in five of the six Tri Nations Tests involving the Springboks this season.

spiro@theroar.com.au