Playing for the wooden spoon

New Zealand is set to recapture the Vodacom Tri-Nations title without scoring another lopsided victory during its campaign this year. During its first three matches, the team's emphatic wins earned it 15 log points, with the Wallabies (4 points) and the Springboks (0) hardly in sight. The dubious honour of playing for the wooden spoon belongs to the Boks and the Wallabies.

But more testing scenarios beckon for Peter de Villiers and Robbie Deans, embattled coaches of the Springbok and the Wallabies respectively.

Deans is under pressure after eight straight losses against New Zealand. If he suffers another humiliating defeat next Saturday, it will equal the all-time nine-match losing sequence of the Wallabies between 1936 and 1947.

John O’Neil, the chief executive of the Australian Rugby Union, endorsed the credentials of Deans, saying the union still believed he was the right person for the job to take the team to the Rugby World Cup.

“But I think the dogs will be barking a bit and we just have to respond next Saturday,” added O’Neil.

If the dogs are barking after one costly 28-49 Wallaby defeat, they are howling out of control after three Springbok defeats in which South Africa conceded 93 points and saw four yellow cards flashed.

De Villiers will be under increasing pressure, particularly due to his on-going controversial media statements, which have made him public rugby enemy number one in Australia and New Zealand.

Little mistakes – big losses

Two Springboks – the former South African centre and celebrated coach Brendan Venter, and the injured Fourie du Preez – have endorsed the game plan used by the Boks in the first half of the campaign. Both say it was little mistakes that cost the Boks the ascendancy.

Du Preez said the All Blacks did not field the first five up-and-unders launched by the Springboks, and they were certainly unnerved by it in Auckland.

The game plan employed by the Boks should not be altered significantly, they said.

Du Preez said the Boks won three matches out of 10 in 2006, yet kept their composure and sustained self-belief to win the World Cup in 2007.

Venter said ill-discipline, poor defence, the lineout ills and the breakdowns were at the heart of the Bok decline. All these factors could be fixed, he added.

Hopefully, Venter and Du Preez are correct, but the current loose trio combination will not be able to contest effectively at the breakdowns, where Richie McCaw and David Pocock were so dominant against South Africa.

The key to the magnificent All Black performance over the past 11 months, which saw them win 12 straight Test matches, has been their ability to mix power and cohesion in their pack with flair and pace out wide.

They have outmuscled almost every other pack, and Tom Donnelly as a lock partner to Brad Thorn, as well as the two Frankses (Owen and Ben), have excelled at the heart of the engine room.

South Africa requires a replacement for the injured Heinrich Brussow, while Juan Smith of the Cheetahs was injured during his team's loss to the Sharks.

Ryan Kankowski, Pierre Spies and Schalk Burger will not be an effective loose trio combination to contest against the All Blacks in Soweto on 21 August.

This match will be the 100th by John Smit as a Springbok, but he will be under increased scrutiny. A growing number of critics are claiming that he is a tad overweight, and that he should be substituted during the home leg of the Tri-Nations, as Bismarck du Plessis will possibly return to the fold – at least on the substitute bench.

One could expect JP Pietersen to feature on the right wing again, as he is a very good defender, and his ability to absorb enormous pressure under the aerial attacks by the All Blacks could be a critical factor.

Coaching staff under pressure

The South African coaching staff would also be under pressure to field two game breakers in Francois Hougaard and Jean de Villiers.

Coach De Villiers will possibly be reprimanded by the South African Rugby Union after his verbal bombardments over the past three weeks, which made many rugby headlines but few friends across the Tasman.

One of his classic statements before the first Tri-Nations game against the All Blacks made mention of South Africa’s "superior talent".

Statements such as this came back to haunt De Villiers. He is better served to be gracious in victory and humble in defeat.

South Africa, though, will have to refine its game plan against the All Blacks, and to limit its aerial onslaughts if these tactical approaches fail to deliver the goods during the first half an hour.

The fact that the New Zealand team is almost home and dry and South Africa is playing for the honour of finishing second will give the Boks the freedom to play with more gusto.

Surely, South Africa should have another look at its structured approach, and its lack of game breakers at the back.

Francois Steyn

New Zealand and Australia used their fullbacks to create gaps in the opposition; and with Zane Kirchner failing to ignite the backline, it should be time for a Springbok change. Is Francois Steyn set for a return? This is a distinct possibility.

Refining combinations, game plans and reasserting itself as an attacking unit will be the three most important focal points of the Springbok management team.

It is not beyond the Boks to do it, as they demonstrated in 2004 by coming back from a litany of South African Test defeats to reclaim the Tri-Nations series. They also bounced back in 1997 after suffering a 0-49 defeat at the hands of the Wallabies, to win the Rugby World Cup.

Smit simply has to make his centenary celebrations special by leading from the front and making the sell-out crowd in Soweto witness to another Bok resurrection.