This coming Saturday it won’t be wave after wave of clinical attack, but it will be a display of blunt force trauma.
S.A. have lost experience in their backline and have a 9 who has little experience at test level (perhaps the reason why Lawson was picked ahead of Laidlaw). Looks like this one is going to be teed up for the Ogres in green. Tendai Mtawarira, Bismarck du Plessis, Jannie du Plessis; Bakkies Botha, Victor Matfield (capt); Juan Smith, Ryan Kankowski. Some big boys there.
Stegmann will be hunting for truffles all game, but with Kankowski expected to batter into contact at 100mph, and with Bakkies doing what Bakkies does, with or without a knuckle-duster, the breakdown could be brutal.
Indeed it is paramount for Scotland to nullify this. We have to up our game. We also need to get more physical in the lineout because, if we don’t at least get parity there, the Bokke play the game they love. Make no mistake, South Africa’s lineout is as efficient as a Scottish lass hoovering up chips and cheese at 3am; not many morsels get past them. That, and it’s not a pretty sight. Once it gets rolling S.A. will play a fairly dull game based on M. Steyn’s front foot boot (S.A. are now the only nation that values drop-goals more than entertainment, a bit like England 2000-2005!).
There are chinks in their armour, though. No doubt humiliated by the loss of two ‘offenders’ in their squad, and with the constant glare on their coach, and the third Chuckle Brother, Peter De Villiers, it can’t be great fun in camp right now. Something must come unstuck.
The true weakness in the Springbok game is exposed when teams opt to cut back against the grain into their drifting centres and then offloading wider out once they’re through the gap. Their wingers aren’t used to turning, and even if they’re fast enough to make it back you are likely to get a penalty from the ‘eagerness’ of their pack in defence. This, however, means that Parks can’t use his crippling drift with ball in hand.
If we do this, and pass at the right time, challenge the lineout, clear our lines and get Evans one on one with a deftly-handed forward in behind (fingers crossed!) we can score some elusive tries. Do that and then Jackson can have the freedom of Murrayfield when he comes on, rather than waiting for the game to be beyond doubt. It would be nice to see South Africa self-destruct and let us experiment a little bit, because Samoa is only one game to try things out before we are in the pressure cooker of the 6N…..