Boks leave NZ with more questions than answers

The Springbok performances over the last two weeks have left more questions than answers. Were the All Blacks better than the Bokke? Yes. How bad were the Boks? Not sure. How good were the All Blacks? Very good, but did they make the Boks play badly?

The head-in-the-sand view is that South Africa were out-muscled, out-played and out-skilled by New Zealand, which means New Zealand brought their A-game for two weeks in a row. This Springbok playing group haven’t turned into an average one overnight … they are just experiencing a short-term loss of form.

Personally, such a view, if accepted by the important people with the Springbok hierarchy, would be very worrying and bordering on the edge of lunacy. I don’t think that is the accepted view, but it is one Bok fans, management and Saru administration must stay away from because it is the easy excuse.

But beyond the mess of the New Zealand tour, this is what could be seen:

Many of the senior players didn’t stand up
Ruan Pienaar is a way better scrumhalf than Ricky Januarie. His ball is quicker and the 30 minutes he was on the field against the Kiwis the Boks looked in way better shape offensively.
Wynand Olivier just doesn’t cut it as an international centre. Bring on Juan de Jongh. He would be an improvement.
Jean de Villiers is and should always have been at inside centre. His best moment was when he ran in that channel over the weekend to set up Danie Rossouw’s try. Gio Aplon is a fine replacement.
Zane Kirchner isn’t that bad.
John Smit needs to be managed.
Pierre Spies is a player who only excels if your team has front foot ball, but disappears when the going gets tough. Bring in Kankowski for the weekend against the Wallabies.
Losing to the Wallabies is a very large possibility.
Morne Styen improved, but I wonder how this Bok team would attack the gain line with a physical and straight running flyhalf in Butch James?

So things don’t look quite as rosy as they did a few weeks ago, but perhaps this is the sort of wakeup call Peter de Villiers needed in relation to the actual strength of his playing resources. The two positions where SA doesn’t have depth (flyhalf and fullback) will need quality developed. Frans Steyn should, God and sense willing, be back in time for the World Cup with Kirchner as understudy. Whether there is an alternative to Steyn remains to be seen, and if PDV is going to carry James in this Tri-Nations squad, perhaps now is the perfect time to ring him loose?

The All Blacks deserved to win, there is no doubt about that, and will be alongside the Bokke when the favourites for next year’s World Cup become clearer. It happened to Jake White, with that 49-0 loss in Brisbane ending the careers of De Wet Barry, Marius Joubert and Jaco van der Westhuizen.

South Africa is by far in a better position, but if Peter de Villiers and his management team aren’t careful, they can find themselves panicking if they don’t keep cool heads. A loss in Brisbane wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, since it would draw some lines in the sand in relation to this current playing group and whether or not changes needed to be made before next year’s World Cup. John Smit played way better, but the continued lack of discipline in a line up with over 700 Test caps is frankly ridiculous. Smit said it best after Wellington, saying that they don’t know where they are because they haven’t had a 15 man effort on the field yet.

He’s right, so hopefully they can stamp out this stupidity before it really counts.

Bring on Brisbane, and some clarity.