FOLLOWING ON FROM yesterday’s piece on the remarkably similar counter-attacking scores by South Africa and New Zealand in their riveting Rugby Championship clash, we look at the other three tries from the game in this article.
As with their opening tries on turnover ball, the Kiwis and Springboks scored kindred second tries. Both featured superb lines by the try-scorer to pierce the defence and both originated at the set-piece.
The tries occurred within four minutes of each other in this absorbing game.
Kriel cuts the veterans
Stung by their concession of the Ben Smith try on the stroke of half time, the Boks came out from the break with renewed energy, beginning the second half as strongly as they had the first. Their efforts culminated in Jesse Kriel’s wonderful 46th-minute try.
Whereas the possession platform for the first-half tries were turnovers directly from kick chase, the next two scores originated at the set-piece. For Kriel’s effort, the Boks threw to Warren Whiteley at the tail and used a clever mini-peel move after transferring the ball to lock Lood de Jager.
It’s a play we saw the Boks very nearly score with in this same game, only for a brilliant tackle from Richie McCaw just metres from the New Zealand tryline to deny Heyneke Meyer’s side.
Above, we see South Africa’s use of the play as they kick-start the attack leading to Kriel’s try, although it’s not as slick a movement as we saw later in the game.
Kieran Read does a superb job in this instance, wrestling his way onto the ball and felling Tendai Mtawarira. We can see scrum-half Ruan Pienaar appealing to referee Jérôme Garcès, but the fact that the Boks themselves have broken off the original maul sees Garcès allow it.
It’s worth looking at the Boks’ second use of this play, particularly as every other World Cup team will have been keeping a close eye on their maul play.
There are legality question marks over the South African’s actions here, as Eben Etzebeth and Heinrich Brüssow pre-bind onto de Jager before there is any contact from a New Zealand defender.
Some might point to this as an example of the ‘Flying Wedge,’ which is explained in World Rugby’s lawbook as follows:
As pointed out by the excellent Blitz Defence, there is some confusion around the issue of pre-binding to the ball carrier, although the common use of the ‘leech’ or ‘latch’ in attack has made referees more than comfortable with it.
Brüssow does appear to bind to de Jager from a position slightly in front of the lock in this instance, but it would have been hugely surprising to see Garcès ping the Boks for that.
Cutting to the core of it, McCaw is still free to make a tackle on de Jager here, whatever about the lock’s back being turned to him. It’s a sensational bit of defending from the New Zealand captain, dropping in low to ensure de Jager is felled and comes up just short as he stretches for the line.
Nonetheless, South Africa’s World Cup pool opponents Samoa, Scotland, USA and Japan are sure to have noted this play and will likely be prepared to inform the match officials as to why they believe it against the laws of the game.
Returning to our task at hand – the Kriel try – the Boks run a short phase around the corner though Brüssow, who gets smashed in the tackle by the evergreen McCaw. In another brief aside, it’s worth noting the actions of Aaron Smith after this tackle.
McCaw gets good contact on Brüssow with a high tackle focus, ending up on top as the contest goes to ground.
Typically, McCaw finishes in an awkward position on South Africa’s side of the ball, although he shows characteristic body language to show that he is not attempting to play the ball.
It’s still a messy position for him to be in and we’ve seen other referees like Wayne Barnes mercilessly penalise players for being in this exact area. Garcès has a good look at McCaw’s position, but we’re specifically interested in scrum-half Smith at this point.
As Garcès is undertaking his assessment of McCaw’s position, Smith is shrilly screaming ‘Get out Rich! Get out!’ It’s very difficult to make out the next two words from Smith, but the message is loud and clear from the Highlanders halfback.
We’ve noticed this quite a bit from Smith in recent times around the breakdown, as he almost acts as a second referee for his teammates. There is clearly an impressive focus on discipline in Smith’s intentions, while it’s also worth asking whether his communication influences the referees.
It’s far from certain that Garcès would have pinged McCaw here without Smith being in everyone’s ears showing that the Kiwis wanted to get away from the ball, but there have been similar moments in New Zealand’s other recent games. One worth keeping an eye on.
We’ve digressed again, so back we go to this Kriel try once and for all. McCaw’s defensive actions have ensured that the Boks are operating off slow ball at this point, meaning they need to manufacture quicker possession if they are to threaten.
Vincent Koch is the man to do so, as he makes a simple carry and goes to deck without fuss. There might have been temptation here to look for an extra metre in the tackle (upping those stats!) by bursting upwards into Brodie Retallick and pumping the legs, but the prop understands his role in this situation.
By going straight to ground, Koch may make less of a gain, but he allows Whiteley and de Jager to ruck beyond the ball, suddenly turning it into quicker possession.
It’s not the only reason for the score on the next phase by any means, but it does certainly mean slightly less time for New Zealand’s defence to get their heads up, assess the attacking line and make positive decisions.
From there, Pienaar feeds out-half Handré Pollard, who runs a simple dummy-switch-pop play, more commonly known as ‘DSP’ on rugby fields across the world.
First things first, we have to applaud the superb line from Kriel to score his second try in two Test games, a hugely impressive introduction to the international game.
Before the phase begins, we can see the South African centre – who played at fullback for the entirety of the Super Rugby season with the Bulls – with his head up, scanning the defence and making up his mind on his line.
It’s a trait of all good midfielders, that constant awareness of what’s in front of them, whether it be an opportunity or a potential danger.
Kriel picks a gorgeous line just to the outside of Ma’a Nonu is this instance, one featuring a subtle change of direction that makes all the difference in breaking the defensive line.
It really is delicate but as highlighted above, Kriel initially runs a slight ‘unders’ line, taking him towards Nonu’s body, before he alters the line at a very late stage to a slight ‘overs,’ running to the outside of Nonu. That shift at pace is key.
As with any score in a rugby match, the defensive actions are of equal interest here and Nonu will have been disappointed with his involvement in this score, as will centre partner Conrad Smith.
New Zealand are actually in solid shape at the very start of this phase of play, essentially presented with a five-on-four in the frontline on that right-hand side, with fullback Isreal Dagg in behind as well, a situation they would expect to defend comfortably.
From that decent starting point, they let themselves down.
While the dummy switch of Damian de Allende inside Pollard might not seem hugely important at first glance, it is vital in manipulating Nonu.
Above, we’ve highlighted the brief, brief moment where the dummy switch has stolen Nonu’s attention, distracting him from Kriel. Nonu never actually fully ‘sits down’ or allows himself to be totally checked by the dummy switch, but it means he loses sight of Kriel.
We’ve already spoken of the importance of scanning in attack, but it’s just as essential on D. Nonu never gets his head up here to track Kriel, although he is of course aware of the South African centre.
The difference between those two things is evident in how effective Kriel’s subtle change of line is. Nonu’s brief moment of distraction is caused by de Allende’s line, making Nonu think that Liam Messam might sit down on de Allende, that meaning Nonu would have been required to tackle Pollard.
These are complex calculations to be making in the space of a second, but it leaves Nonu in a poor position to tackle Kriel – ‘his’ man in this case – when Pollard passes the ball.
We see that above as Nonu has grasped out in the air, somewhere in between an intercept attempt and an expected grab of Kriel. His peripheral vision had prepared him for Kriel arriving directly on top of him, but that subtle change of line has taken the South African centre back on the ‘overs’.
What about Conrad Smith outside Nonu? He too misses the tackle on Kriel, so what’s his thought process?
The veteran centre begins in quite a wide position, ostensibly marking up against South Africa Wille le Roux to start with and certainly concerned about the fullback’s threat. He too swiftly becomes aware of the possibility of the switch play and begins to bring himself closer to Nonu.
Smith has a better view of what’s unfolding in front of New Zealand, given his wider angle and increased awareness of Kriel. He can see the threat to Nonu’s outside shoulder, but his reaction is ever so slightly delayed by the option of a miss pass from Pollard.
At the moment we’ve highlighted above, there is still some chance that Pollard can throw the ball over or behind Kriel to the waiting le Roux, meaning Smith would obviously want to be in a position to drift back out onto the Boks fullback.
It means his decisiveness in closing down Kriel is just delayed. The end result of that conundrum and the one in the decision-making part of Nonu’s brain is that both Kiwi centres get to Kriel as he has already burst onto the ball close to the line.
The result is a pair of weak arm tackles on a player moving at real pace, and we can see above how poor Smith and Nonu’s positions are. There are no shoulders behind their tackle attempts, merely soft arms for Kriel to run through.
Even after the stresses placed on them by South Africa’s quick ball, the extra man in attack and the dummy switch, Nonu and Smith will have been disappointed that their usually lightening-quick reflexes didn’t allow them to even slow Kriel to any extent.
On the flip side, the 21-year-old’s intelligent work made his score deserved. Before we finish, the post-linebreak movement of Kriel is notable too, as he heads back towards the posts to take him past Dagg and then straightens to beat the covering Aaron Smith.
Respond in kind
New Zealand didn’t have to wait long to fire a shot back at the the Boks in Ellis Park and, as in the first half, their response was remarkably similar to the South African’s try.
With the Boks playing from inside their own half following the restart – perhaps buoyed by the Kriel try – a brilliant strip by Kiwi hooker Dane Coles result in de Jager spilling the ball forward.
After Aaron Smith unsuccessfully looked to grubber the ball behind the Boks on the advantage, Garcès brought play back for a scrum and Steve Hansen’s men had their platform from which to build Coles’ excellent try.
As we can see in the video above, the scrum goes to deck with the ball yet to emerge, but Garcès shouts ‘Use it!’ when he spots the pill at Read’s feet. This was typical of Garcès in this game, as he constantly looked to avoid stoppages.
Indeed, the Frenchman contributed to the brilliant contest with his lack of fuss, allowing both sides to play at a breathtaking pace. While this instance might be perceived as dangerous, the general point of allowing play to continue is certainly to be encouraged.
The Kiwis attack right from the scrum, but it’s well defended by the Boks, partly because the collapsed scrum allows Schalk Burger to break off the blindside swiftly and also due to a strong hit by de Allende, allowing Burger to follow up on fullback Dagg.
It means Hansen’s side don’t quite make the gains they might have hoped for, so they move into their pattern with the aim of ensuring they get quick ball at the next ruck, allowing them to stretch the South Africa defence a little more.
Retallick is the man to make the simple carry on this occasion from a characteristically perfect bullet pass by Smith. The towering lock is well tackled by Mtawarira and then Etzebeth joins in high on Retallick, hoping to either make a choke tackle or at the very least slow his ability to recycle, therefore giving South Africa time to fold and get set on D.
Sam Whitelock identifies that threat and takes immediate action, hammering into contact with Etzebeth to bring the tussle straight to ground.
Owen Franks is important too, arriving in to lend his weight and power, ensuring that Etzebeth has no chance of lying over the ball or even flopping a stray arm over it. The result is the ball on a plate for Smith to fire away again.
As the above is unfolding, out-half Pollard recognises that the South Africans are looking at a bad defensive situation. Below, we can see the 21-year-old signalling for players to fold across to the right even before Retallick has been tackled.
Pollard has taken a scan of the New Zealand attacking line and realised that they are numbers up even before the tackle on Retallick takes three (four if de Jager is included) defenders out of the game.
Below, keep an eye on Pollard at the top of the clip as he beckons, claps his hands and shouts in an attempt to let his teammates know of the urgent need for them to fill that right side of the ruck.
Who’s he signalling to? When we change angle and take a look at the left side of the ruck from South Africa’s point of view, we can see five defensive bodies on the short side against three (four if Read is included) attackers.
The speed of the ruck means it would have been demanding for any of these players to fold across in time, but the fact that two of them are walking at this point might not please head coach Meyer.
As well as this uneven spread of bodies in the defensive line, this Kiwi try also exploits what had been a major South African strength up until that point: the Boks’ incredible breakdown competition.
Below, we see shots of Bismarck du Plessis as the tackle on Retallick is being carried out.