What John Smit’s men proved with their 31-19 demolition of New Zealand at Absa Stadium at the weekend was that it is going to take a great team to beat them when they are on top of their game and playing rugby the way they want to play it and feel comfortable playing it.

Since their strategy readjustment last August, the Boks have lost only once. That was in the last dead rubber test against the British and Irish Lions, apart from when they have kept most of their opponents at a healthy arms length playing good, direct rugby that just suffocates all breath and life out of the opposition.

Durban was as good an example of this as we have seen, and beaten All Black coach Graham Henry may have paid the Boks the ultimate compliment when he defended his high risk game-plan afterwards, for it suggested that the only way to beat these Boks is to gamble in a big way.

And gamble the All Blacks did in Durban, often playing crazy rugby as they tried to run from their own half, and even on a couple of occasions from behind their own tryline. The Boks caught them in possession, or forced them into corners, and as a result they spent 13 minutes of the match inside the All Black 22 and 72% of the game inside the All Black half.

If kicking was important under the ELVs, kicking and territory has become even more important now that we have returned to long arm penalties, as evidenced by the big role that penalty kicks to punish errors committed in a team’s own half have played both thus far in the Tri-Nations and in the British and Irish Lions series.

“We did not get a forward platform and that forced us to play a certain way. It was the execution that was wrong, and not the plan, but the poor execution was probably the product of pressure,” lamented Henry.

The All Black coach was quite right about that pressure, and the Boks applied it without mercy for the bulk of the 80 minutes, starting with the high ball that was so well followed by the chasers that Stephen Donald spilled it in the first minute.

As All Black wing Joe Rocokoco pointed out afterwards, the Boks have always been good at kicking and chasing.

“They have been doing it for the last five years,” he said in reference to the way that Bryan Habana and JP Pietersen seemed to hassle him almost every time he fielded a kick.

But they seem to have it more fine-tuned now than they ever have, something that Jean de Villiers points out takes a lot of hard work. Full marks to the coaching staff then for getting it right.

If there is a problem faced by the Boks at the moment it is that they should be able to do more with the ball when they do have it, and coach Peter de Villiers afterwards lamented the scoring opportunities that were wasted.

“We just weren’t clinical enough, there’s certainly room for improvement,” said De Villiers.

“There is a long way to go still, we are only two games into this tournament. We haven’t achieved anything yet, and this performance wasn’t as great as it should have been.”

That might come across as a chilling warning to future opponents, as it suggests the Boks can get a lot better, but many South Africans will be hoping that it is not an indication that De Villiers is still grasping for the expansive game that failed so abysmally when it was tried in last year’s Tri-Nations.

It wouldn’t appear so, for the Boks have moved a long way from that template in the last 12 months, and there seems much less chance of the Boks beating themselves now than there was a year ago. At least not with the magnificent John Smit in the driving seat, and De Villiers was quick to pay tribute to the world’s most capped captain afterwards.

“The experience of this side pays off at crucial stages, and when you have a captain like John Smit leading the way you are in a good position to start with. His influence on the other guys is awesome. Watching from the sidelines I couldn’t tell if Morne Steyn had three or 30 test caps. I think John has a lot to do with that.”

Source:  supersport.co.za