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How badly the Boks were beaten, both physically and intellectually, and thus on the scoreboard, does require some proper introspection though. They were flat, probably a little ring rusty, complacent having believed all the media hype, and worryingly, wanted it less than the home side.
Not ideal by any stretch of the imagination, but I have no doubt in my mind that the Boks will get the physical side of things right at Twickenham on Saturday, and for that reason, I would have given the same starting XV another run.
Whether they can get it together in a week to play a smarter game, though, is what the result will hinge on. And perhaps that is where Heyneke Meyer is hoping the five swop outs will help. Again, though, I would have given the same team another bite at the cherry.
That game stats are fairly illuminating:
Kicks from hand: 27-18
Meters run: 237-321
Clean breaks: 3-4
Carries: 68-115
Defenders beaten: 14-24
Passes: 79-124
Offloads: 0-6
Tackles: 128-68
Possession: 43%-57%
Territory: 38%-62%
Illuminating in that the Bok stats are in the second column! Yep, they did all the running, and tried to make the play, yet failed fairly spectacularly!
A few short months ago, with Fourie du Preez and Morne Steyn at the helm, these numbers would have been the other way round.
I have been leading the charge for a change to a more ball in hand, heads up, attacking brand of rugby, so am delighted to see these stats. But this type of game comes with three pretty damn important provisos:
1. You don't throw the baby out with the bath water. Ball in hand does not mean you stop kicking completely. The All Blacks kick the most out of all international sides, yet are known for their attacking brand of rugby. It's how and when you kick that counts. Johnny Sexton and the Irish gave the Boks a masterclass on Saturday.
2. You not only have to dominate the primary phases like scrums, lineouts and kickoffs, but also the breakdown and collisions. The Boks were owned by the Irish in these two departments. Enter Schalk Burger, but Eben Etzebeth needs to be more of a factor here.
3. Ball in hand requires industrial conditioning, proper skills, and a low error rate. Against the Irish, the Boks missed 14 tackles, knocked on 10 times and made 13 handling errors. Game over against a side kicking so astutely.
The Boks are on the right path, though. With all change comes the odd hiccup. They need to keep on trucking.
In closing, perhaps a comment on how the Irish negated one of the Bok's biggest weapons, the driving maul from a lineout. Bold, and not without risk, the Irish chose to disengage completely, turning what I call legalised obstruction into what it should be, illegal truck and trailer!
Risky in that the jumper could come down and make free yards with ball in hand. But that is how it should be. Allowing the player who has ripped the ball from the jumper to "swim" to the back of the maul is what gets me about the driving maul. Defenders are not allowed to do it, so why should attacking players be allowed to do it? Make the attacking team include the skill of having to pass or move the ball to the back of the maul and it becomes a fairer contest.
That the Boks did not have an answer to this Irish tactic is a little concerning. I am sure they have one now, not that we will get to see it against a more physical English side happy to take on the Bok driving maul on Saturday, though.
Tank is a former Western Province tighthead prop who now heads up Tankman Media, and sprouts forth on all things rugby on the Front Row Grunt.
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