Peter de Villiers early mass-substitutions certainly facilitated the tourists’ comeback

I RECALL watching many Munster Senior Cup encounters where there was no way the big four of Shannon, Garryowen, Young Munsters or Cork Con would substitute half their team, including their captain, against any of their rivals regardless of the score. Those sides would remain ruthless and pile the pain on their unfortunate opposition. Why Peter de Villiers elected to offer hope to the Lions is anyone’s question and both Brian O’Driscoll and Jamie Roberts had the ruthlessness to almost yank it out of the fire.

The Springboks drew a line on their scoring after 47 minutes and soon after de Villiers started his substitutions. Meanwhile, McGeechan’s substitutions were growing in stature; Adam Jones made a big difference as did Rob Kearney – he fielded an outstanding Fourie du Preez box kick in the 56 minute under severe pressure from Bryan Habana.

Kearney contributed significantly to the comeback. With three minutes remaining the talismanic Springbok captain John Smit returned to the fray. I wonder if he had an awkward conversation with his coach before the decision for him to return. In many ways de Villiers could have reduced his side to 13 players and maintained his side’s shape better than the replacements did.

The Springboks play an extraordinarily simple style of rugby. Nowhere did we see South Africa produce the same creativity as the Lions but their team provided outhalf Ruan Pienaar with the space and time to dictate the outcome. At times he mimicked a tennis player running his amateur opponent around the court to exhaustion.

The Lions have to tighten their kicking game and commit themselves to the counter attack and crucially, keep the ball away from the set-piece.

The Lions lineout exposed the realities of a touring side thrown together. Some weeks back my piece headlined “Combinations and lineout maul keys to success” was intended to highlight the years of preparation required to create the working lineout and subsequent maul. Lee Mears’ first lineout had Tom Croft as his target. Behind him Paul O’Connell, at 6ft 6in lifted him very high and unopposed. Victor Matfield was yards in front and Juan Smith was behind him. The ball didn’t hit Croft: it was a good call but poorly executed.

The second lineout hit Croft. But the third was telling. Phil Vickery stood at the tail in preparation to lift David Wallace; when the ball arrived the next nearest lifter, O’Connell, was five metres away and the ball sailed over Wallace. At this level perfection takes time to hone. Conversely, the Springbok lineout maul proved devastating, with Heinrich Brussow’s touchdown the fruit of three mauls that covered 50 metres. In the heat of battle there’s no replacement for working combinations.

On Saturday there were unknowns regarding the Springboks. These unknowns have now been unearthed and the Lions have proven they can expose the Springboks in defence. I wonder how many of last Saturday’s Lions would make the Springbok Test side? The answer is a little worrying as possibly only one of the Lions pack and three of the backs, O’Driscoll, Roberts and the late replacement Kearney. Therefore key changes may be required, particularly up front where two of the frontrow need changing along with the addition of Simon Shaw’s bulk.

Shaw was instrumental in England’s victory over France in Twickenham earlier this year. He is an average lineout operator, but his bulk, ball carrying, work-rate and scrummaging are needed. Stephen Jones offers no real threat so Ronan O’Gara with James Hook on the bench would be interesting.

For all his athleticism, Ugo Monye doesn’t have the football nous to maximise slender opportunities, hence more changes needed. This could bring possibly six changes to Saturday’s starting line-up, which will place further strain on the combinations. Can McGeechan afford to make so many changes regardless of the merits?

But these changes would help the Lions establish some degree of parity up front because the Springboks are not assured in defence. Notably, even when dominant in the first half they had a nasty habit of deserting their defensive line and opted for the triple team tackle.

Tom Croft’s excellent finish from O’Driscoll was one occasion where Roberts attracted the attention of the Springboks to put O’Driscoll through. But the damage was done inside, which will give serious food for thought. Paul O’Connell stole the bobbling ball from a poor Springbok lineout. Mike Phillips then linked with Stephen Jones, who recognised the attacking potential from turned over lineout ball by popping the ball to David Wallace. As Jones was offloading to Wallace there were seven Springboks in front of him but as he approached the gain line three Springboks lost their discipline, most notably inside centre Jean de Villiers who left a huge hole by stepping in to take Wallace.

Along with him outhalf Ruan Pienaar and number eight Pierre Spies all tackled him, leaving four men redundant inside. Worse was to follow when Roberts ran a hard line off the recycle because Juan Smith had him comfortably covered, but again the Springbok defence didn’t trust the man inside, where outside centre Adi Jacobs inexplicably stepped off O’Driscoll into no man’s land to “help” Smith. Jacobs must be replaced next week.

If not then the Lions have a golden opportunity to exploit him.

Further defensive frailty evidence arrived minutes later when Lee Byrne provided the decoy run into the heart of the Springbok defence, allowing O’Driscoll to scorch into the outside channel. A penalty ensued from poor timing by Byrne but his decoy run attracted three defenders and once again, centres Jacobs and de Villiers were involved but so too was Bryan Habana. The Springboks are obviously concerned about the Lions’ key ball carriers of Wallace, O’Driscoll and Roberts, to the detriment of discipline.

The toe-to-toe carries inside gave precious little change for the Lions as Bakkies Botha and Tendai Mtawarira, in particular, were very powerful around the fringe. Here the Lions will have to find the balance of over reliance on the miracle centres outside and tight play. More reason for Shaw’s inclusion. The channel between last forward and first back in defence is also an area the Lions exploited for Croft’s second try, where O’Driscoll’s delayed pass allowed Croft’s easy score.

Saturday’s fixture answered some unknowns but one still remains. Would the Lions have caught up without de Villier’s substitutions? They displayed enormous character but only time will tell. Clearly the Springboks will learn from their first outing; for the Lions, improvement will mean changes up front but can they afford to make them?