“A player can tick all the boxes he wants to, but if said boxes don’t amount to the kind of player a coach wants in his team, there’s little anyone can do about it.” – Simnikiwe Xabanisa writing in City Press Volume 1, Number 15 15 November 2018 Register to receive your own free weekly newsletter at www.leopardnewsletters.co.za

Chalk One Up in the Win Column

Almost without exception, the press coverage since the win against France has been guardedly positive across most local media outlets.

The inimitable Tank Lanning (@TankLanning) was perhaps the most accurate when he described the situation thus: “Last week [in London], the Boks were the width of a rugby post away from beating England at Twickenham. This week, they were a layer of dubbin away from losing to the French in Paris.”

Indeed, right up the last few minutes at Stade de France, it looked like the Springboks were on for a second narrow defeat in a row. It was just that last- Herman’s third and fourth talking points are the high gasp try (in the 85th minute) by Bongi Mbonambi hit on Kolbe that went unpunished and Faf’s that sealed the win. questionable scrum put-ins, both worthy of discussion. He wraps up his analysis in a manner that Tank’s analysis is typically astute and well worth echoes Tank’s assessment above: “A feel-good Bok reading in full. In a nutshell, he looks at the statistics victory, but...” from the match, finds much about which to be positive and several things that need work. All in all, And over on Rugby365.com, Warren Fortune the whole article is pretty well summed up in his (@FortuneWarren) reckons the Boks suffer from headline: “Bok glass is half full”. 'tunnel vision' and he suggests that they’ll have to be a whole lot smarter in their decision-making against Across on Sport24, Herman Mostert has a piece Scotland this weekend than they were against France. entitled “5 talking points: France v Springboks”, in He has a point: which he picks out five key moments in the match. The first of these is the extra-time try mentioned “The Boks were too predictable for large periods of above. Associated with that is his second talking their 29-26 win against France in Paris last weekend. point: the penalty that Francois Louw won, that led to Their attack was devoid of any creativity and they the line-out and sequence of play that resulted in the seemed intent on employing the box kick with match-winning try. varying degrees of success.”

KEY TOPICS IN THIS NEWSLETTER

Boks Are Not a Fantasy League Team Blitzbokke Preparation in Final Stretch Rassie’s Murrayfield dilemma The World Record that Wasn’t Saffa Duo May be Key for Scotland Rassie’s Scrumhalf Conundrum

Page 1 Boks Are Not a Fantasy League Team

A dose of what was probably unwelcome reality was From the outcry on social media, Xabanisa suggests dished out in City Press this past Sunday when that fans appear to be hoping that the sheer weight of Simnikiwe Xabanisa, reminded fans that Springbok their indignation will change Rassie’s decision not to coach and director of rugby at SA Rugby, Rassie pick van der Merwe for the end-of-year tour. In so Erasmus, is not selecting a fantasy rugby team. doing he delves into the interesting factors the coach had to weigh up in the hooker position for the End Of Although writing primarily about Akker van der Year Tour. Merwe fans, his larger point is relevant to all players that fans feel are not selected when they, the fans, For those interested in how he got to the punch line think that they should be selected. (below) click the link above for the full story. For those who want to cut to the chase, he writes:

“The bigger point here is that, while being selected is a democratic right, being on form doesn’t turn it into a birthright. A player can tick all the boxes he wants to, but if said boxes don’t amount to the kind of player a coach wants in his team, there’s little anyone can do about it.

“In all the time I’ve written about rugby, I’ve never seen a Springbok Fans’ XV trot on to the field to start a test on any given Saturday.” True that.

Rassie Alludes to Selection Consistency

Vociferous rugby commentator, Mark Keohane, believes that Rassie Erasmus is unlikely to make many changes to his match day squad for Saturday, in an effort to not lose winning momentum.

He quotes Erasmus speaking of the “balancing act” he faced in terms of selection. Keohane adds: “While he will be wanting to build depth for the next year’s World Cup, he also faces the statistic of just a 50% win ratio (6 from 12) this year and will want to be trying to build winning momentum leading into next year.”

And while he concedes that the Boks will be forcedly without the services of eighth man and scrum half for Saturday (both reported on elsewhere in this issue), he doesn’t expect Erasmus to make many other changes.

Page 2 Page 3 Rassie’s Murrayfield dilemma

Writing in SA Rugby magazine, Jon Cardinelli suggests that Rassie Erasmus faces a tough call between managing his top players and fielding a pack that can neutralise Scotland’s breakdown bandits.

It’s a good point, especially with the doubt over Warren Whitely's fitness. But what it fails to consider fully is the incredible depth that has among the loose forwards.

Or perhaps not; Cardinelli does note that Erasmus has blooded 19 new caps over the past 12 Tests and experimented with combinations. That said, he does ask a pertinent question: "So, should Erasmus pick As Cardinelli writes: his strongest available side ahead of the matches against Scotland and Wales with a view to banking "And yet his decision may not be so simple when one those results?" considers the bigger picture. Erasmus has promised to give the less experienced players as well as those Most fans would say absolutely: always pick the on the fringes more game time on this tour. He also strongest 22 players available on match day. But that has a responsibility to rest and manage some of the may be a strategy from a bygone era when rugby first-choice stars, though, as they will have key roles tours lasted three months and were only repeated to play at the 2019 World Cup." every decade or so.

Saffa Duo May be Key for Scotland

Former Scotland and South Africa international player, John Allan, believes that South African-born props Allan Dell and WP Nel will have a key role to play at Murrayfield on Saturday. He spoke to SA Rugby magazine's Dylan Jack.

Allan told Jack: "They will give the Boks respect. But sometimes if you give the opposition too much respect, it can work against you."

"On the other hand, they will have that extra little bit of motivation because they were born in South Africa, are now Scottish and will want to prove a point. They will Allan adds: "If Scotland matches them upfront and want to prove that if they were still in South Africa, manages to secure ball, I think they have a better they would be there, that they are better than the Boks," attacking backline than the Boks. They also make continued Allan. better decisions. Sometimes the Bok backline kicks the ball away at the wrong time and doesn’t always But the two props are not the only former South convert pressure into points. Africans likely to play for Scotland on Saturday. Former eighth man Josh Strauss is also If I was Rassie Erasmus, I would be telling the likely to be involved. forwards that the game will be won and lost upfront."

Page 4 Page 5 Blitzbokke Preparation in Final Stretch The World Record that Wasn’t

Tomorrow it will be two weeks until the start of the A piece in last week’s newsletter (second story) 2018/2019 HSBC World Series in highlighted the possibility that one or both of Dubai and the second round follows just a week later Namibia or New Zealand could establish a new world in . record for the number of consecutive matches in which they scored four or more tries. Both had The Blitzbokke began final preparations earlier in the equalled the current record (held by New Zealand month after the availability (or not) of key players and accomplished in 2016) of 12 matches. was clarified. The bottom line is that some reshuffling has been necessitated by a number of First up was Nambia, taking on Russia at the Kuban regulars moving to fifteens and some players nursing Stadium in Krasnodar, Russia (about 300km north of injuries. Sochi) and it didn’t go well. At halftime the Namibians were trailing 19-6 and the Russians put the boot in after the break, scoring two quick tries both of which were converted. In the end, Namibia lost the match 47-20 and scored only two tries.

Seabelo Senatla, , , Ruhan Nel, and are concentrating on the 15-man game for now, while , and Heino Bezuidenhout have injuries. Shortly thereafter, New Zealand took on England at Twickenham and was also trailing at the break: 15-0. For Springbok Sevens coach , injuries are The All Blacks came back to win 15-16 in the second part and parcel of rugby. “We did broaden our base half but scored a solitary try in the process, meaning of players over the last two seasons and that will help that they too failed to break the record. So the current us...I am confident that we will put out a very record stands, which may not displease New Zealand competitive team for Dubai and Cape Town,” he said. but Namibia will more than likely be ruing a lost opportunity. “All the players have a good understanding of what is expected of them, both in culture and play, so should fit in nicely when called upon,” he explained.

The squad for Dubai and Cape Town as it currently stands: , Impi Visser, , , , , , , , , Siviwe Soyizwapi, Stedman Gans, Cecil Afrika, , , , Mfundo Ndhlovu, James Murphy & JC Pretorius.

Page 6 Rassie’s Scrumhalf Conundrum

It’s fascinating to watch the assembled punditry on Van der Westhuyzen wrote further that: “There is little social media of a Saturday when the Springboks are doubt De Klerk, with 11 Bok caps [he has 21 caps now - playing. The run up to the game and the post mortems Ed] and who’s coming off a stellar season with Sale after for days afterwards can also b entertaining. [Mea being named their Player of the Year, will be Erasmus’s Culpa, Twitter is my forum for public venting – Ed.] first choice against England later this month and possibly also in the Rugby Championship. This week, one of the threads that stood out, interestingly, on Twitter, was started by Judge Rugby “He will be Erasmus’s banker, but it is hoped the three (@JudgeRugby) in which he suggested a big debate rookies in the current squad - Ivan van Zyl, 22, Cameron around the backup to Faf de Klerk. Wright, 24, and , 21, will develop into scrumhalves who will in future be talked about as good enough for any Bok team.”

That Rassie hasn’t given many of them a lot of game is probably down to the quality of opposition the Springboks have faced over this period. This has caused frustration in some quarters, as exemplified by Wynona Louw writing on IOL Sport, who wonders what, exactly, is the plan with Embrose Papier.

But with Faf released back to his club this week, she may get her answer sooner rather than later as Rassie must now obviously give the youngsters a shot. Indeed, Indeed, this has been a big talking point since the start Oom Rugby (@Oom_Rugby) tweeted on Tuesday that of the Rugby Championship, probably exacerbated by he had heard that Papier is going to get his first start this the game time given to Faf and the revolving door in weekend. front of his backup on the bench. So, could this weekend be a chance to shine for Embrose But to be fair to coach Rassie, he made his intentions Cheldon Papier? We certainly hope so. very clear, even before the June internationals began. At the end of May he told Jacques van der Westhuyzen But a word of caution: the Scots will be no pushovers. at IOL Sport that he’s confident the problematic Oom Rugby also tweeted a list of Scotland’s last ten scrumhalf position will be sorted out before next year’s tests at Murrayfield – they lost one, to New Zealand, by World Cup. only five points.

Page 7 The Weekend Rugby Action

Just as it was last weekend, the only rugby you’re likely to watch this Saturday will be the November Tests. (Schedule alongside, local times).

It’s a reasonably safe bet that Italy vs Australia (3pm); England vs Japan (5pm), Scotland vs South Africa (7:20pm) and Ireland vs New Zealand (9pm) will be broadcast. The France vs Argentina (10pm) fixture may be on another channel because it clashes with the Irish match.

The only other decent quality rugby happening this weekend appears as it did last weekend: the English Premiership. Some of those matches may be broadcast locally but if you really want to see them you may need an internet connection, a VPN and an overseas streaming provider.

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