Crafty 'Boks aim to hit Lions from a height
Brian O'Driscoll. Photo: David Rogers, Getty Images
The climax looms in the Six Nations. Within the next 10 days, we should know whether Brian O'Driscoll will eventually slip away into international retirement with a Grand Slam under his belt, or will it be merely another frustrating near miss.
The state in which O'Driscoll was left after England had finished with him at Croke Park left you wondering just how many more seasons this magnificent player can go on for.
But a Grand Slam is just one of O'Driscoll's ambitions still to be achieved. Playing in a successful Lions series is probably another. And in that respect, very valuable lessons are already available for those studying South African rugby.
You can bet your last euro on the fact that the Lions coaches are scrutinising every single match and each player in this Six Nations championship. But are they giving equal attention to events currently unfolding in South Africa, to where they head in May for their six-week tour?
They certainly should be. For clear lessons are there right now for the Lions to learn ahead of their three-Test series trip.
Crucial
The Lions will play South Africa in the first Test in Durban on June 20. Of course, it's a crucial game; it always is in a three-match series. But what intrigued me last weekend were the comments of a South African provincial team coach whose side played in Pretoria, where the Lions will meet the Springboks in the second Test on June 27, before their final game in Johannesburg one week later.
Now Rassie Erasmus, coach of the Super 14 side the Stormers, knows his rugby in South Africa. He played for years at provincial level as well as representing the Springboks.
For the Stormers' game at altitude in Pretoria last Saturday, Erasmus adopted a fascinating strategy, one the Lions might well consider emulating when they go there in June. Basically, for the first 50 minutes, Erasmus's team refused to play any rugby. They chose some heavyweight, experienced guys up front to win the ball and selected two arch kickers, Willem de Waal at fly-half and Percy Montgomery at full-back. Both kicked the leather off the ball in those first 50 minutes.
The Bulls did exactly the same thing, which led to a contest of aerial ping pong. It was ghastly stuff to watch but, in the Stormers' case, there was a shrewd ulterior motive behind it.
Thereafter, from around the 50th minute, the Stormers suddenly started to open up and play rugby. They switched to keeping ball in hand, moved it wide and ran hard. In the end, they fell just four points short in a 14-10 defeat but, given that most critics had expected them to be overwhelmed, it was a moral victory for Erasmus's controversial game-plan.
Afterwards, he explained the reasons for this intriguing style.
"I have come here many times and have had a little bit of success. I can promise you that every team that comes here and tries to play rugby in the first 50 minutes normally lose because you just have to accept that, if you come from sea level and play at altitude, and you want to play rugby for the whole 80 minutes, you will come second," he said.
"You get tired here. That has been their success."
This information should be of crucial interest to the Lions because I understand they will spend most of the week leading up to the Pretoria Test preparing at sea level in Cape Town. They'll only fly up there on the Friday, which is what a lot of teams tend to do these days. But few have tried Erasmus's philosophy and few have got as close to the home team at Loftus Versfeld.
It is no coincidence that the Lions have been given an itinerary of two Tests at altitude. In 1997, when they last toured South Africa, two Tests were at sea level, a clear help for the tourists. This time the South Africans want to make it as hard as possible.
Adopting Erasmus's wily approach could well be the best thing the Lions do in that second Test in Pretoria. Trying to play normal rugby for 80 minutes at that altitude is a killer for visiting sides.
- Peter Bills
