Sean Fitzpatrick: Size and confidence give Boks edge over flattered Wales

COMMENT

One of the first things you notice about Schalk Burger is how big he is. He's 1.93m (6ft 4ins) and 105 kg. He's not only big but he's quick, he really puts that big frame about and he has a very good sense of where the ball is and where it will be.

There were several instances in the South Africa test against Wales where he was up and down the field phase after phase, and most of the time he was there in the rucks and mauls. I thought he and Bakkies Botha were two of the reasons South Africa looked good against Wales. I was impressed. A lot of people made a bit of the score being so close but, really, I never thought the Springboks were going to lose. The score was not a fair reflection of the game.

I still don't rate Schalk ahead of Richie McCaw - I think Richie is the best player in the world at the moment - but Schalk's work-rate and power were eye-catching. He is a more confrontational, destructive player and while he is good at getting to the ball and knowing where it is going, he is not as good at the breakdown and he sometimes gets over-eager and gets exposed there. His coach, Jake White, has said that he has got to stop giving away penalties and yellow cards or he will be dropped. I think that is about Schalk's only weakness at the moment. Jake dragged Schalk off the field before the end so that he did not get another yellow card. But I thought he and Botha were outstanding, that South Africa played a very good power game. They could score points when they needed to - except, perhaps for the last few minutes when they obviously got their wires crossed.

They have a great lineout with many options - Botha, Victor Matfield and Joe van Niekerk - and they have brought in A.J. Venter now for Juan Smith so have yet another option there. They really made the Welsh struggle for their ball.

And what about Wales, the All Blacks' next opponents? I'd have to say that they still do not look like they believe they can win.

At one stage they had a kick at goal from 60m out. I thought that was the act of a side who did not believe they would score if they kicked it up the sideline and took the lineout. I thought that was telling. They did their best work in the second half when they got in among the Boks and unsettled them and knocked them out of their structured pattern.

I think they'll try to do the same to the All Blacks - but I do not think they will succeed. They'll try to knock the All Blacks off their stride by changing the pace of the game but I have my doubts that they will have the forward control to do that effectively. I didn't think their front five went very well against the Boks. They had some scrum success right at the end of the game when Dwayne Peel scored that try but the Boks' senior pros had gone by that stage. I thought Colin Charvis had a good game and tried hard, bearing in mind the front five didn't give him the platform he needs to be really effective. I do not think they'll hold the All Blacks.


All Blacks schedule and scoreboard
Squad


*