Rugby: Mallett's tactical gamble gutsy but doomed to fail

By JOHN DRAKE

South Africa are taking an enormous risk with their new playing policy, and it never got close to paying dividends in Christchurch.

From what we are reading and seeing, Nick Mallett is trying to steer South African rugby down the road taken by New Zealand and Australia, rather than stick to the dour style which served it so well until a few years ago.

Mallet is showing a lot of guts, but you would think a much better policy would be to reorganise the South African approach from the bottom up, rather than the top down. And their test side are really struggling to adapt.

Ironically, two areas that were weaknesses for the All Blacks against Australia - defence and lineouts - turned into strengths against South Africa. But they were helped by the Springboks' glaring deficiencies in those departments.

Whereas New Zealand and Australia take on the defensive line, the South Africans attacked from so deep that their moves were spent by the time the ball carrier got to the line, making him an easy target.

And as happened in the Nelson Mandela match in Melbourne, the Springboks were slow-thinking and out-foxed in the lineout.

The All Blacks used ploys which often gave them an extra jumper on South Africa's throws. Referee Chris White should have penalised the All Blacks because of that, but the Englishman was hardly up to the pace of the game.

The South Africans should have been quick to bring it to White's attention and/or use counter-ploys, but they were lacking.

Although it was a muddling sort of game, it was still a fine All Blacks win and a comprehensive one in terms of the history between the two sides.

The All Blacks' attack was hesitant, but that had much to do with South Africa's umbrella-type defence, which kept forcing the All Blacks to turn the ball inside.

The player who really impressed me was Andrew Mehrtens, especially his kicking game early on. The South Africans came out with a certain defensive game in mind, but were almost played out of the game in the first 15 minutes because of Mehrtens' tactical approach.

And the deterioration of the game in terms of a spectacle had plenty to do with the referee, and South Africa could rightfully feel hard done by with some of the decisions. White became increasingly inconsistent, and the players began to show frustration.

Wayne Smith was impressive in the way he again brought replacements into the game early.

And he will undoubtedly stick to his player rotation policy, which can leave the rest of us guessing which sides he will come up with.

The videotape often reveals things that are not so obvious when first watching a match, and that plays a big part in how the All Blacks' lineup is formulated.

For me, one of the interesting aspects of last week's test against Australia was Scott Robertson's performance. He had a very quiet game, but in watching the tape, it appeared that he was unlucky - Robertson would go one way and the ball would invariably go the other.

Of course you can make your own luck, but sometimes a game can go that way for a player.