Ineptitude on attack, poor discipline and a shoddy out-of-hand kicking display cost the Springboks dearly against the Wallabies in Brisbane, according to SARugbymag.co.za's Opta-powered stats.
The Boks fell to a new low on Saturday, with another directionless performance enabling a weak Wallabies side to come away with a 23-17 win.
To be fair, the encounter was of such low quality that there hardly deserved to be a winner, but the Boks were simply clueless on attack, lacked the necessary physical grunt up front and were found sorely lacking when it came to their decision-making.
The statistics reveal that Australia made 408m to 383 and 115 carries to 104, while having 51% of possession and 53% of territory. Ultimately, the Boks had more than enough opportunities with ball in hand, but simply lacked the necessary execution or decision-making clarity.
Tellingly, the Boks committed 10 knock-ons, gave away 11 penalties and conceded 16 turnovers. It meant their attack simply never got going, and there is no doubt that major questions need to be asked of both the players and the game plan.
This particularly relates to the statistic that shows the Boks put 35 kicks in play, but what that doesn’t reveal is the poor manner of the kick execution.
A number of out-of-hand kicks went too deep or into the in-goal area, while the Boks bizarrely kept kicking down the throat of big Wallabies fullback Israel Folau, who boast peerless aerial skills and repeatedly made the Boks pay for their poor kicking.
In the end, Folau completed 51m and made five offloads, but it was really his ability to reign supreme in the air that perfectly illustrated the ineptitude of the Boks’ shoddy performance.
Photo: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images
