Doomsday looms at Twickers

Dubai having passed in strange combination of blurred action and excruciating boredom it was good to escape the heat of the desert in time to see the Boks take on France and Australia up against England.

What I saw was enough to make me go cold.

England at times were awesome, the Wallabies showed a lot of fight as they started life without John Eales, France could well be the team to beat by Rugby World Cup 2003 and the Springboks… oh dear the Springboks.

To be frank, I could not believe how bad they were.

They just seemed to do everything wrong. They were under the cosh in the scrums (and being penalised) from the start; they kicked when they should have held the ball; they held the ball when it should have been chipped over the top; they got in each other’s way; they kept trying the risky pass, they continued to be impatient in the build-up; they telegraphed their moves and they were just so sluggish.

It is difficult to pin-point why and where things began to go awry, but in my experience when such a general malaise settles on a team it either points to dissatisfaction in the ranks or to a situation in which the players are calling the shots.

Harry Viljoen promotes the democratic way, but in a team full of provincial captains and seasoned campaigners it is debatable if this is the best policy. South African teams traditionally respond better to iron discipline and a straightforward plan.

Another factor that definitely played a role in the Boks being unable to intimidate a callow French team, apart from the by now well-known fact that the big nations are no longer in awe of South African forwards, could also have been the fact that André Vos and Mark Andrews were coming back from injuries and therefore not at 100% while I get a feeling that Cobus Visagie is also not quite right.

Ollie le Roux’s incursions are becoming more and more intermittent while Bob Skinstad, if you think about it, has always struggled to bring his special skills to bear in an attritional type of game. Five out of eight forwards not at optimum? … the equation just does not work.

Joost van der Westhuizen’s competitiveness will never be in doubt but he seems to have lost that explosive pace that used to carry him into and, more importantly, ‘through’ the close tacklers while Braam van Straaten’s long absence from playing flyhalf and known lack of dash were evident.

Van Straaten tended to crab sideways and broadcast his intentions; causing centres Trevor Halstead and André Snyman to look like two strangers who had just met on the Metro.

In the circumstances the back three of Pieter Rossouw, Conrad Jantjes and Breyton Paulse did not have many opportunities, although Rossouw did range over to the opposite wing to cap the Boks’ only piece of sustained re-cycling with their only try.

A big concern, too, was Paulse’s continued tendency to opt for the chip and chase rather than looking to link.

In fact, while we’re on the subject of kicking, it does appear that the introduction of a kicking coach by Viljoen has not had the desired effect. The Springboks’ kicking out of hand lacks the prerequisites of accuracy, authority and imagination and one gets the impression that they kick – remember Butch James – because they have been told to rather than relying on the things they do best or naturally.

The problem for Viljoen, as the England test looms as a potential doomsday, is that none of this criticism is new. The coach has had a horrid run with injuries but it is worrying that after a year his “process” is producing so little evidence of a clear direction.

Another big worry is that the players looked tired and listless. Knowing how hard they work and how much they care could it be that most of them are suffering from incapacitating fatigue from a season that is just too long and hard? This distant observer certainly believes it is a factor.

Juxtaposed with the sluggish Boks the French were a revelation; being able to do without a number of stalwarts and unveiling some new youngsters that, if they manage to avoid their notorious capacity to shoot themselves in the foot, could make them the team to beat in Sydney in 2003.

I especially liked the way their backs lined up diagonally and took the ball deep; pulling the Springboks’ formation apart and giving their runners the ability to build up the pace needed to swerve and jink rather than to just go crashing in.

England might never have the flair of the French, but this team being built up by Clive Woodward is not far behind. They have developed exceptional variety to go with their technical precision in the basics, and judged on the weekend’s performances the Boks look too loose and disorganised to cope with a team who will be out to score an unprecedented third successive victory.

England’s driving off the lineout is awe-inspiring, they have become streetwise with the way they throw themselves on the wrong side at tackles and even in the absence of Martin Johnson and Lawrence Dallaglio they have a high quotient of genuine world-class players in the like of Jason Robinson, Dan Luger, Jonny Wilkinson, Kyran Bracken or Matt Dawson, Richard Hill and Neil Back and players who are getting there in Will Greenwood, Phil Vickery and Joe Worsley.

It was not a good weekend for South African rugby. Although Chester Williams’ Sevens squad performed courageously to reach the final in Dubai we are still light years away from competing with the All Blacks in the mini game.

Unlike in XVs, where everything possible is done for the team, the sevens Boks at least have the excuse that they’re the step children of Sarfu’s international activity.