The Springbok Championship Defence

 

The Springboks are the World Cup champions, Rugby Championship holders and have just clinched the British and Irish Lions series. Their defence has to be admired and the coaches have put in a good shift to make it world class. I want to focus on their defence system and why it is so good.

    To start this piece off I would first like to start of with some of the principles of this Bok defence. I list a few of  them below. 

• They have the player profile
• Their conditioning is up there with the best
• Players have clarity
• Tackle technique is a weapon that they use
• They rush attack to make decisions
• They force attack back on the inside
• They scramble well
• High energy defence system (linespeed)

The Boks have big men who hit you hard, are physical in contact with the right attitude. They also have hitters with a high work rate and with a good technique that also gives players confidence and certainty. They don't only hit you hard in the tackle they also put a huge amount of pressure on the defence breakdown. I don't think they get enough credit for what they do at the defence breakdown. They are dominant, physical, get low and work through the breakdown to force knocks ons when opposition try pick up from the base or to turn the ball over and counter ruck.

Making Good Reads

The Boks have the ability to make excellent reads and if they are not making excellent reads they are making huge hits. Either way they are going to stop you and you almost can't do anything about it because they are so good at what they do. So how do they make these hits and reads well? The best attackers and the best defenders use vision and eyes up all the time to help them make decisions on the field with good execution. When there is a read everyone else also works within the line and jam off options to cut attack off.

Lukhanyo Am's value

Lukhanyo Am is instrumental to this defence system. He currently now is probably one of the best defensive organisers in world rugby. Have a look at his games watch what he does off the ball, how he uses verbal and non-verbal language to get a message across. He calls a fold or gets his hand up to stop the fold so that numbers are even matched on defence and mirroring that with numbers on attack in the frontline. He makes big defence plays and has such a great variety of defence skills that make him a weapon for the Boks. 

Kick Chase

Team defence and your kicking game normally go very much close together. This plays a big role in the Bok system and you can see the clarity that the players have on the field. Kicks will come from 9, 10, 15 and then you will see a pressure chase working as a unit contesting in the air but also jumping on every scrap available to get the ball back. If they don't put you under pressure in the air then they will put you under pressure on the ground. They try to suffocate you.

Below you see Duhan Van Der Merwe as the primary chaser but no one covering the short side (circled in red) for any scraps that fall on that side or transition attacks from the opposition. We all know the outcome of this.

Below we see role clarity in terms of kicking game roles and clarity from the Boks. You have a primary chaser (Cheslin) in yellow and Am is covering the short side red arrow for scraps or transitions to the short side if the Boks lost that battle. Siya is covering on Cheslin's inside and the chase line (white line) is catching up as well.

The role of 9 on defence

The Boks use their 9 a bit differently compared to most teams. In their system you need work rate because you do cover a lot of work around the field. You organise, you put pressure at source, you fold, you defend close to the rucks, you defend on the edges and cover kicks. Without work rate this will not function well. Faf de Klerk does this so well and Cobus Reinach complemented that evenly well in the last test against the British and Irish Lions. Below you see Cobus Reinach (circled in red) defending in the line.

The final product and why South Africa are dominant!

The Boks are a team who back their tackle technique, one versus one they get you down, they double hit you back into the ground and slow your ball down and they can also choke you. They are a linespeed team who are aggressive off the line and look to cut you off and force you back on the inside into the guys that are going to hit you hard and destroy and pressure your breakdown. They win the race around the corner to fold, they then set early, try get as wide as possible and get off the line. This defence has brought them three trophies in three years conceding 13 tries in the last 16 matches at an average of 0,82 tries a game. Jaqcues Nienaber will be proud of this effort and surely looking to dominate the rest of the international season this year going forward. I believe that there is a whole lot more to come from this group.

Katleho Lynch