Playing without the ball – the truth of Springbok rugby

I find Cricinfo to be a rather interesting website. Preaching to a sub-continental power base that is obsessed with betting and stats has pushed cricket’s leading website towards the cool, cold and brilliant world of sport statistics. Cricket is far more susceptible to mathematical dissemination than rugby, but South African rugby and South African rugby fans would do well to take a peek behind the curtain of numbers – sadly they will not like what they find.

Statistics are just like the really interesting first line of a story. Slap up a table like the one below – and then embark on a diatribe of subjective conjecture as to the cause. Against the countries that matter the Springboks have had a bad time of it since 1992. We have just lost our fifth in a row against Australia, and are less than 1 out of 3 against the All Blacks. Our record has slipped significantly, not improved. There are many stories in those stats. Not least of which has been the Springboks’ seemingly slow learning curve when it comes to changes – laws, professionalism, conditioning, tactics etc. Always a fundamental physical force, we must have been poor in other departments?

The current spin I would like to place on these stats is that for way to much of the period since 1992, our coaches and players have not valued possession of the rugby football. We have won two World Cups – and that is a number which stands in opposition to the figures below. Both ‘95 and ‘07 were victories won – despite not having too much of the ball. Our skills with ball in hand have played second fiddle to mean defense and kicking. With the exception of the central part of Nick Mallet’s tenure, building phases and keeping the ball has never been a priority for us. It is my contention that this fact has contributed heavily towards our decline. The numbers don’t lie – less wins. It would at very least be something for coaches past and present to mull over.

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From our guest writer reuthers