Don't panic and don't force it

Like every other Springbok rugby fan I was bitterly disappointed
with our 15-27 loss to Australia in Durban on Saturday.
Back-to-back defeats on home soil, particularly against these
opponents, was always going to be hard to stomach.

With the match at King's Park coming straight after the defeat
against the All Blacks at Newlands the previous weekend, many
of us, myself included, expected to see our guys bounce straight
back. Unfortunately this was not to be.

As I have always maintained, the Australians have a great
defence which serves them well in tough matches such as these.
Of course that does not in any way excuse the fact that we went
three halves, without scoring a single point, before Butch James
broke the drought.

That statistic alone has to tell us that things are not going
according to plan and we need to adapt ourselves accordingly.
While much has been made about the style of play the new
coaching staff are using I don't believe that this is the
be-all-and-end-all of the equation. They are acutely aware of
the fact that they have to employ a style which is best suited
to our players.

However at times like these, we need to play to our strengths
which means using our forwards to dominate and create sufficient
good field position and possession to improve our chances of
scoring.

Rugby is a simple game and ever since cavemen first started
tossing eggs around two things have remained constant - big
dominant forwards and field position. We need to be playing
in our opponents half far more often than we are doing at
the moment.

This is a very special group of players with far too much
talent not to succeed. We must however find a way to start
bringing out the best in them sooner rather than later.
In turn the players themselves must stick together as a
group and answer the tough questions that are being asked
of them right now.

Most importantly people must stop panicking and making
matters worse. This is a time for calm heads in terms
of preparation, team-selection and game plan. Fortunately
we have the opportunity to turn things around on Saturday.

If our guys give us 80 minutes of their best the chances
are we'll be back on the winning trail.

That will be a good start.

Jake White speaking to Mike Trapido of the Mail & Guardian

All Black's day and on to Australia

I was disappointed that the Springboks didn't beat New Zealand in their Tri-Nations encounter at Newlands last Saturday. Everything was set up for the win with Dan Carter missing 4 kickable penalties to leave us only trailing 0-5 at the break.

That is not a bad position to be in with twenty minutes to go, the pressure on the All Blacks and only 5 points in it. Unfortunately for us there were two turning points. Firstly Bryan Habana's foot finding the touchline and then Percy Montgomery missing two vital kicks during his 100th Test match which he would normally have slotted on any other day. Either of the two would have had us ahead or level at worst.

It was not to be.

In terms of our defence I believe that Schalk Burger proved how valuable he is to the Springboks in covering the inside. As soon as he was replaced Dan Carter got through and scored right under the poles.

Despite everything that Test was within our grasp and in the last quarter things could have turned out so differently.

That is all in the past and the guys must now focus on the Test against Australia on Saturday.

The Springboks need to get back to their strengths - their physicality and their powerful set of forwards. The danger in terms of the Wallabies will come from their backline and it is vital to the cause that we keep clean possession to them down to a minimum.

Once again Schalk will be essential to ensuring that we defend well on the inside. The Aussie backs are highly innovative while the team as a whole plays the multiple-phase game exceedingly well. The breakdowns will be vital and Schalk will help to slow the game down.

If the Springboks want to score tries this weekend then they are going to have to play the game in the Wallabies half of the field as much as possible. Field position could well be a major factor in this one.

In terms of defence the Wallabies are exceptional, owing much to the fact that they don't commit numbers to the breakdowns. This makes it harder to break their defence down.

In terms of lineouts we are going to have to improve on last Saturday's performance where we let ourselves down a bit.

Here's hoping we can bounce back this week.

Jake White speaking to Mike Trapido of the Mail & Guardian