TRADITIONALLY, SOUTH AFRICA have been content to win the forward battle and move ahead of the opposition three points at a time – think Joel Stransky and Percy Montgomery in the 1995 and 2007 World Cup finals.
But over the last two years under Heyneke Meyer that style has shifted to include more attacking options like run-first fullback Willie le Roux and playmaker Handre Pollard.
Pollard has impressed since making his debut during this year’s Rugby Championship and Schmidt knows the threat that the young South African poses.
“One of the things about South Africa when Pollard plays is that they play,” Schmidt said.
“Their first phase of play in a recent test match was three minutes and 20 seconds. Traditionally, a phase of South African play was about 20 seconds.
“They usually try to put the ball out of play when they are in their own half but with Pollard they try to play their way out of their own half.”
Schmidt notices the marked differences in the philosophy this Springbok team has compared to their predecessors. They have routinely put up big scores thanks to a dynamite back three of Cornal Hendricks, Bryan Habana and le Roux.
“We need to work really hard defensively to face a South African team that is a lot different to the 2007 World Cup winning team,” Schmidt said.
“Heyneke Meyer has adopted a different coaching philosophy in recent times. To score three tries in the last eight minutes of the Australia game – you don’t normally see that from a South Africa side.
“They have been worth every bit of the scoring that they have delivered. They have a lot of weapons out there. I would be delighted if they decided not to use them but that is a strategy that they have adopted and we are going to have to be ready for them.”
While there is no question that South Africa have become more attack-minded under Meyer, Ireland assistant coach Les Kiss doesn’t think it has lessened their physicality up front. In fact, Kiss feels that due to the attention teams need to pay to South Africa’s weapons out wide, their traditional areas of strength can cause even more havoc.
“In a strange way, the style of play they have adopted has actually strengthened the stock part of their game,” Kiss said.
“Their kicking has become more dangerous because you have to stay advanced in your defensive line. Space opens up and their kicking becomes even more dangerous because they have spread their weapons across the park.
“All of their core forward strengths have been improved because they have shifted their philosophy to play from deep.”
