3 Things We Learnt from the Boks’ Win Over England

The Springboks can take a lot of pride in their convincing win over England to wrap up their 2022 Test season, with the 13-27 being somewhat flattering to England, who didn’t take many opportunities that were presented to them. On the other hand, the Springboks finally looked like the team that everyone knows they have the potential to be, playing far more attacking-minded rugby. However, what can we learn from the performance of Jacques Nienaber’s men?

The Boks Can Score Points in a Number of Ways

While the Springboks have been scoring some great tries throughout the year, the team has been somewhat pigeonholed by many critics into thinking that they can only put points on other sides through traditional Bok means: i.e. mauls and penalties. Saturday’s match showed that the South African team has the full arsenal of tricks up their sleeves, with everything from drop-goals, long-range counter-attacking, mauls, and a ruthless scrum to either deliver tries, easy points, or penalty attempts. If the Springboks can continue evolving this breadth of capabilities, they’ll be a hard side to stop in 2023.

Mostert is the Unsung Engine of the Bok Team

Something has to be said about Faf de Klerk’s monumental performance, literally throwing himself into every tackle, forcing infringements from the English (poor Jonny Hill), and delivering excellent depth from his box-kicks to allow the wingers to chase and compete. However, Franco Mostert deserved his man of the match award. The big flanker does all the hard work that no one sees: clearing rucks efficiently and legally, stealing lineouts, carrying where necessary, and making immense tackles (and making them count). While other players get the limelight and camera attention, Mostert is in the depths of the action, literally bleeding for the green and gold. Mostert is arguably one of the most important elements of the Bok gameplan.

Tryline Defence is One of Our Best Weapons

To be fair, England should’ve scored a lot more points than they ended up with. They were on the South African tryline and in red zone for quite some time, but couldn’t manage to get over (despite the late Henry Slade try). The Springboks’ lineout defence was superb too, managing to steal a crucial lineout in the late stages of the game, but it was the Springboks’ unwavering tackling on England’s picks-and-drives that needs to be commended, forcing them to give up on that and go wide — to which SA countered excellently too; see exhibit A:

A clap and a bow to Kurt-Lee Arendse, you deserve it, son.

Image source: Facebook / Springboks