South Africa are the underdogs against England... but when we do the simple things right, it goes well – John Smit

Tall order: The Springboks are always strong in the lineout, as witnessed here against the Barbarians at Wembley last Saturday
Joel Ford/Getty Images
John Smit11 November 2016

Former South Africa skipper John Smit delivers the inside track on his struggling countrymen…

ATTACK

For a few months now we have not used the driving maul as an attacking weapon at all. I think that is due to the way it has been refereed in the southern hemisphere and it has become a bit of a gamble. It will be interesting to see how the French referee handles this area of the game. Pat Lambie, at No10, is the key man for us in attack because we have not been very effective. He is a great attacking option, but is rusty and it will come down to who is brave enough to have a go at the opposition defence.

DEFENCE

The Springboks have been experimenting with different types of defence and I hope they have come up with a system they all believe in. An ineffective defence happens when the whole team doesn’t buy into what you are doing — and if one person doesn’t fall in line then it is a disaster. I want to see the team stick to a system for the full 80 minutes, but my concern is we haven’t seen that yet from the players.

BREAKDOWN

This is the area where we are going to be at a loss, because we don’t have any specialists. We have a second row at No7, a ball-carrying No6 and a No8 who roams and links with the backs. We have gone for bulk and ball-carrying in our selection and have not addressed the breakdown — and that is a worry. England have some injured guys, but still have specialist back rowers.

SCRUM

I don’t believe the scrum will be a deciding factor. Our scrum is adequate and the English one is good and I think there will be parity rather than a game-changing scenario. I just cannot see the fireworks people expect happening. Vincent Koch is a young player and tighthead props need mileage on the clock. While he has shown he can hang in there, I don’t know him well enough and this will be a good test for him.

LINEOUT

We are never short of good lineout guys — and with a second row in the back row, we have a number of options. All we have to do is get the ball in straight! However, I don’t believe we have been together long enough to have a really competitive and cohesive lineout, which means each team will look after their own ball without too many steals. It will come down to who delivers with the lowest number of errors.

VERDICT

You don’t have to be a brain surgeon to understand what is going to happen from a South African point of view — and when we do the simple things right, it goes well. We have a good record against England but we go into this game as underdogs. We need a few things to go our way and I would love them to win because it would kick-start things for this young team. However, they just don’t have enough experienced guys to lean on. Eddie Jones has done well wherever he has been and the odds are against us.

John Smit was speaking at a Robert Walters event to preview England versus South Africa. For info visit robertwalters.co.uk

You can follow tomorrow’s clash between England and South Africa live on Standard Sport. Click here to find out how.

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