You can talk about structures and shapes all you want until you take the field against this version of the Springboks. Rust? To hell with rust. The Springboks walked onto the field with one game as a group since the World Cup final in 2019 and produced a performance that could have been from the week after that same final.
How much on-field cohesion and match sharpness do you really need when you have a huge scrum, huge maul, a well-drilled kick chase that is as effective today as it was two years ago and some of the biggest defensive hitters in the game? The answer is – not much, at least on the evidence of this game.
For the Lions, this was something of a reality check on a tour that has been notable for just how comfortable every game to this point has been. I covered the Lions vs Japan game on here and I was taken by how easy the Lions had it when they turned it on in the first half and how, even when they were plainly tiring after the break, they managed to see out the game without much fuss. The matchups since have been laughably lop-sided to the point that they were barely worth covering in-depth. What do you learn from games where you win 56-14, 54-7 and 71-31 against depleted opposition three weekends in a row? You learn that the opposition is not at your level, not even close. The Springboks, dressed up as South Africa ‘A’ for the night, are a very different story.
They set the level.
They control the physics of the game.
What else would you expect from the World Champions?
Playtime is over.
***
The first real indication that this was not what the Lions had seen to date happened very early in the contest.
After the Springboks took a short kickoff from the Lions, they reset and box kicked off a familiar platform – Faf de Klerk. With Etzebeth pressuring the inside lane and Kolbe harrying the outside, we got a look at the Springboks offensive defensive kick transition. Even though this is a defensive action technically, the Springboks use it as an offensive instrument to put serious physical pressure on the Lions kick receipt and it immediately produces results.
Look at how little energy the Springboks expend after their initial counter-attack. Once it breaks down, they don’t waste time examining the Lions defence in structure, they just kick away and live with the Lions having a mark because of the territorial reward it gives them.
When the Lions kept the freekick infield – straight to de Klerk – the Boks kicked immediately off that platform to keep the pressure on the Lions backfield receipt. On this occasion, however, the Springboks were inaccurate and conceded a sloppy offside penalty.
From there, the Boks made some more familiar statements.
That shot by Van Staden on Aki off the lineout was a key part of this defensive sequence. If the Lions are going to hurt the Springboks in the series, they have to establish the close-range threat off the lineout. On this phase, they were unable to get that one on one win that they needed and the move seemed to break down from there. The halfbacks got the hammer for this one – what’s new there – but it seems like there was a bit of confusion for the second phase between carriers and playmakers.
Murray and Farrell seemed to think that the next phase was to hit Curry here but Curry was running a screen route for Farrell, who was running a decoy carry himself before looking to progress across for the next phase. On that scrappy ball, the Springboks surged back into the sequence and won a breakdown penalty. Collision dominance plus world-class defensive pressure equals turnovers. We’ve seen this before too.
Any time the Lions tried to impose themselves on the Boks, be it at the set-piece, regular phase play or even on transition, they saw the door slammed in their faces again and again.
The Lions were struggling in contact and lacking clarity, even when it came to their exit plays, which badly hurt them around the half-hour mark.
This was one that should have been box kicked, as Gatland admitted himself after the game, but it’s an illustration of the Lions playmakers under pressure to make something happen through the boot when their forwards and primary carriers were finding it so difficult to make and sustain any kind of phase pressure.
The first half ended with a brutal illustration of that fact when the Lions were rejected from close range on multiple tap and go penalties, despite the Boks losing two players to the sin-bin in that sequence. You might say that the Lions were looking to hide some of their schemes from the Boks in these scenarios but I’m not sure how much you’d need to show to execute a close-range opportunity against a 13 man Springbok side.
That collision dominance was a constant throughout the game for the Springboks. The Lions aren’t designed to go toe to toe with the Boks in that regard – even if they tried to here, at times. The Lions need to play a wider game, both through the playmakers and off the individual forwards. This is a decent example from the first half, when Itoje found a perfect tip-on to Curry for a big Lions break.
Faletau was in “offload” mode with his support line, which arguably cost the Lions the turnover but they have to play with that ambition against the Springboks and this sequence is a decent example.
On the other side of the ball, we wondered pre-game about how much the Springboks would lean into the tip on/screen passing we saw against Georgia. Well, on this evidence, that is something they reserve for lesser opposition because in this game, they went right back to the direct one out heavy metal game off #9.
This is exhausting to defend and when you see Faf kicking accurately off the back of these collisions to bring in the chase pressure of Nkosi, you’d wonder why they need to bother expanding their game too much? When it’s effective, why wouldn’t you keep doing it?
The Lions, however, won’t be too down after the game. They had enough little moments to show that their structure can work against the Springbok defence and, not only that, they’ve schemed some Springbok tendencies into their work with the ball in hand.
Look at this, for example, in the aftermath of a kick transition (you get a lot of these against the Boks) where the Lions moved right back across the field to allow a full 3-2-2 structure on the next phase.
Interesting, right?
And now watch the same principle being engineered on the third phase of a lineout strike later in the game.
The Lions used this 3-2-X shape all through the game having used a 3-3-X in the previous weeks. I think there is a direct relationship between the number of forwards in the second central pod and the number of playmakers the Lions will use in the test series. When there are three forwards in that second pod, you need that second playmaker to find the targets around the compressions created by the forwards. When you have two forwards in that second pod, you can run with a more “direct” midfield combination against an elite defence like the Springboks. We’ll test out this concept over the next few games.
But the Lions will now know this – the Boks will give you a few kick transitions per game where you escape their kick pressure. Can they be accurate enough to execute their plan to isolate the Springbok blitzing forwards on phase two or three post-transition or off the set-piece?
That is the big question.
Notable Players
I initially felt that the starting Lions pack did relatively well but I’d clarify that to say that Tom Curry did really well, the others had a tough time winning collisions offensively and defensively.
Maro Itoje, for example, had a large, high-quality defensive output in the second half in particular but he struggled in the collisions for me. He was an effective passer, to be fair, and did really well at the lineout but for a guy who was used as a primary carrier in this game, I think he came up a little short without playing poorly.
Iain Henderson was used in a heavy support role and did pretty well without blowing the doors off. He provided some unreal power behind Sinkler in the scrum during the first half, won a good collision that generated a penalty and had some big moments on maul D. He’s right in test contention, even with the return of Alun Wyn Jones.
Conor Murray and Owen Farrell had below-average games but I would be beyond shocked if their test status was affected. Both Murray and Farrell made kicking and passing errors across their time on the field but they were consistently kicking against the momentum of the game at the time. When the primary ball carriers are struggling in the collisions against a team like the Springboks, it’ll show in the halfbacks primarily, as it did here.
Adam Beard had a standout cameo off the bench. Watch his work on this close range maul late in the game, where he got access to the Bok ball transfer and then followed it up to the kill shot.
His long wingspan and heavy presence on the counter-shove really affected the Springbok maul and will not have gone unnoticed by Gatland with the tests on the horizon. Adam Beard might well have cemented himself a place on the bench with his high-quality work here.
The standout player, for me, was Tom Curry, who showed real dynamism throughout. The “small forward” build covers a tonne of role sets but Curry seems capable of playing all of them. He’s got the breakdown technique and tackling impact to be a Heavy D Flanker. He’s got the handling, pace and explosivity of a Strike Wing Forward.
He’s got the ball carrying heft, durability and pop in the collision to be a Heavy Wing Forward.
He can be a primary ball carrier, he can be a defensive lynchpin and he can do both for 80 minutes plus. It’s that versatility that will surely see him start the tests at this stage. The only question is, who plays alongside him, which is far from certain at this stage. Tom Curry is legit – we already knew that – but this was more proof, if you needed it ★★★★
The Wally Ratings: South Africa ‘A’ (A)
The Wally Ratings explainer page is here.
Players are rated based on their time on the pitch, if they were playing notably out of position, and on the overall curve of the team performance. DNP means the player did not feature and N/A means they weren’t on the pitch long enough to warrant a fair rating.
| Names | Rating |
|---|---|
| Wyn Jones | ★★ |
| Ken Owens | ★★ |
| Kyle Sinkler | ★★ |
| Maro Itoje | ★★★ |
| Iain Henderson | ★★★ |
| Josh Navidi | ★★ |
| Tom Curry | ★★★★ |
| Taulupe Faletau | ★★★ |
| Conor Murray | ★★ |
| Owen Farrell | ★★ |
| Anthony Watson | ★★★ |
| Bundee Aki | ★★★ |
| Chris Harris | ★★★ |
| Louis Rees-Zammit | ★★★ |
| Liam Williams | N/A |
| Luke Cowan-Dickie | ★★★ |
| Mako Vunipola | ★★★ |
| Zander Fagerson | ★★ |
| Adam Beard | ★★★★ |
| Tadhg Beirne | ★★★ |
| Sam Simmonds | ★★★ |
| Gareth Davies | ★★★ |
| Elliot Daly | ★★★ |
