“In the New Zealand versus South Africa match in Wellington, the Springboks made a total of 220 tackles, 59% of which were dominant and 107(of the 220) were double tackles.” – Rugby Analytics via Oom Rugby writing on All Out Rugby. Volume 1, Number 8 27 September 2018 Register to receive your own free weekly newsletter at www.leopardnewsletters.co.za Not Jantjies OR Pollard; Jantjies AND Pollard Regular readers of this newsletter may recall that we suggested several weeks ago that, perhaps, just perhaps, Coach Rassie has been thinking of playing Elton Jantjies and Handré Pollard at 10 and 12 respectively. Well, he got the chance against the All Blacks in Wellington when Damian De Allende went off injured in the 47th minute. And so effective were Jantjies and Pollard that Derek Alberts was moved to tweet: It’s an interesting observation and, depending on Coach Rassie’s selections this weekend, we may learn more about it as all three are in the squad and no-one appears to have been called up as cover for De Allende. Ruhan Nel has been brought in but he’s perceived in most quarters as a 13 more than a 12. Indeed, as Sport24 chief writer, Rob Houwing, suggests that a starting 10-12 combo of Jantjies and Pollard suddenly looks incredibly close to fruition for the Springboks. And he’s not alone. Former Springbok fly half Hennie le Roux believes it’s a combination that can He writes: “Partly by process of simple elimination, work. You can read the English interpretation of his Handre Pollard has an excellent chance of being remarks here and the original Afrikaans comments selected at inside centre - it would be a first-time start here. for him there – for the Rugby Championship Test against Australia at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on However, and there always is a however, isn’t there? Saturday.” On Twitter, Joshua Brown observed: “…Not sure what it is, but when Jantjies starts le Roux Time will tell. disappears.” KEY TOPICS IN THIS NEWSLETTER REGULAR FEATURES Big bad Boks blew the house down Examining the Laws of the Game Some good news in PRO14 South Africans playing overseas RWC 2019: One Year To Go! The Rugby Weekend Ahead Page 1 Big bad Boks blew the house down Regular readers will know that one of my favourite rugby analysts is Oom Rugby (@Oom_Rugby). What I really enjoy about him is the way he watches a game over and over again in order to deconstruct and understand the strategies and variations that came into play. In his usual inimitable fashion, he’s gone back and analysed the famous Springbok victory in Wellington, with a specific focus on how the Bok approach to the All Black breakdown contributed to the victory. He concluded, after citing tackle stats from Rugby What he noticed may surprise you: Analytics, that the Boks will also have to watch their discipline if they are as aggressive in PE, as they “For many people there is a debate over whether you gave away far too many penalties in Wellington. must contest your opponent’s ball or not. I have my own opinion, but if we take a look at what the Boks But then, Mark Reason felt that many of the penalties did then we will get some interesting insights,” he were spurious, to say the least. writes. Some good news in PRO14 It certainly was a promising weekend for the two SA teams in the PRO14. But to appreciate the magnitude of the Southern Kings win over the Glasgow Warriors, one should look at the teams’ relative conference standings and their records so far this season. Going into the match, Glasgow was top of Conference A with three wins (from three) and the Kings were bottom of Conference B with three losses There’s plenty of work to do, but definitely a step in (also from three). What was different this week was the right direction. that the Kings played at a smaller venue, the NMMU Stadium, and Rassie Erasmus brought the Springbok In Bloemfontein, the Cheetahs had similar woes, team down to watch the game. leading for parts of the game against Ulster and conceding an equalising try after the hooter. But the Kings’ discipline nearly cost them, again – they got three yellow cards in the match. Even so This week, both local teams fly to Wales for Round they dominated for 59 minutes and led 31-0 before 5. The Cheetahs are in Cardiff to face the Blues Glasgow got on the scoreboard. The Kings also (Friday 20:35) while the Kings meet the Scarlets in conceded a bonus point try after the final hooter. Llanelli (Saturday 19:30). Page 2 Page 3 RWC 2019: One Year To Go! Last Thursday saw the one-year-to-go party start for the Rugby World Cup 2019. It’s interesting that, had it happened a week earlier it would probably have been met with despondency but then, the Springboks beat the All Blacks in New Zealand and, suddenly, all was right with the world. But the hope restoration project may be a very brief one because a New Zealand win over Argentina early on Sunday morning (our time) will give the All Blacks their third Rugby Championship in a row. But moving along swiftly, and back to the RWC, New Zealand and South Africa are both drawn in pool B along with Italy, Namibia and a yet to be determined minnow (in rugby terms) nation. With the tournament in Japan this time, the match times will be reasonable: most early games kick off at 6:45am and late matches begin around noon, which is what we’re used to with Super Rugby and Rugby Championship fixtures down under. Usefully, the official tournament app has been released and is available in four languages for iOS and Android phones. John Mitchell departs for England Here’s a taste: “John Mitchell has experience. I’ll give him that. However, there is not much else in his CV to Many Blue Bulls supporters will have been issuing recommend him,” Barnes wrote for The Times. huge sighs of relief at the news last week. After what may have seemed like months of being reminded of However, the Blue Bulls benefitted because, not only Mitchell’s disastrous and far too lengthy tenure across did they get rid of a troublesome coach, but they were the Jukskei at Ellis Park, they will have been waiting reportedly paid handsomely into the bargain. Now that's for it all to unravel. what I call a win-win scenario And the signs were already there with increasingly inconsistent performances in recent competition. But now Mitchell is off to assist Eddie Jones with the England job and, while there is little doubt that Jones needs help, many doubt that Mitchell is capable of providing it. In a scathing piece on RugbyPass former England flyhalf, Stuart Barnes, makes it abundantly clear that he doesn’t believe Mitchell is the right man to help Jones’ England side, specifically in defence. Page 4 Page 5 Player Profile: Martin du Toit Examining the Laws of the Game As indicated last week, when we touched on the basic laws around the ruck, this week we look at the maul. The newly simplified rugby laws of rugby, note that the purpose of a maul is to allow players to compete for the ball, which is held off the ground. As an amateur rugby analyst, if you had to ask me why the Southern Kings defeated the table topping Glasgow Warriors last weekend I’d say that there were three main factors: the smaller stadium brought the crowd into the match; the King’s newly coherent and aggressive Once again, the basic are relatively simple: defence; and possibly, quite possibly, the fly half, who had A maul can take place only in the field of play. the game of his life so far. It consists of a ball-carrier and at least one player from each team, bound together and on Ozard Martin du Toit was born 27 June 1989 in their feet. Welkom and has, until now, largely been seen as Once formed, a maul must move towards a solid but unspectacular. But on Saturday, with the goal line. Springbok players and coach watching on, he delivered what must be his best performance ever, Like with a ruck, there are two offside lines, one for scoring two tries into the bargain. each team and running through the hindmost foot on each end of the maul. Players can only join the maul In many ways, it was similar to the Springbok match from an onside position, which is to say from behind the week before: most of the statistics favoured the that line with the hindmost feet, also often referred to Warriors but the Kings were ahead where it mattered: as the “gate”. on the scoreboard. They also tackled their hearts out, making almost double the number of tackles. Maul not formed And while du Toit can’t take all the credit, the way And, having joined legally, a player can only move he directed traffic while under intense pressure would forwards within the maul through the middle – he/she have had Rassie on the edge of his seat. He now has cannot swim up the side. Again, there are other the attention of the coach, he has the stage (PRO14) conditions of behaviour in a maul, which can be on which to perform and he is only a year older than found on the World Rugby website.