Naas: Halfbacks hold key
2005-07-21 15:02
Johannesburg - The former golden boy of South African rugby, Naas Botha, believes the
decision-making of the Springbok halfbacks is key to the outcome of
Saturday's Mandela Plate Test against Australia at Ellis Park.
Flyhalf Botha, a six-time Currie Cup winner with Northern Transvaal who made
28 appearances for the Springboks, scoring 312 Test points, says scrumhalf
Enrico Januarie and flyhalf Andre Pretorius have the ability to influence
the result on Saturday.
"We have to make better decisions at 9 and 10," said Botha. "Before the game
in Sydney two weeks ago (which SA lost 30-12), there was a lot of talk about
our forwards and how they were going to dominate.
"I thought they (the forwards) played quite well, but they never really
created decent opportunities for the backs. On Saturday we need to get
better ball going forward, and then 9 and 10 need to make the right
decisions about how best to use that ball."
Botha, who will be part of the SuperSport commentary team for Saturday's
match (the others are former internationals Joel Stransky, Kobus Wiese,
Chester Williams, Errol Tobias and Joost van der Westhuizen and established
rugby commentators Hugh Bladen and Christo Olivier), also hopes the players
have been given license to use their initiative.
"In Sydney we went into the match with a plan A, where the hope was we would
dominate up front and kick the ball behind the Australian backs to get them
to turn around," he said.
"When that didn't work, the guys couldn't figure out what to do. Jake White
(Springbok coach) has picked a new team, with a backline that is full of
players with flair. Let's hope he now allows those flair players a bit more
freedom, gives them the opportunity to express themselves."
The match will be televised live on M-Net and SuperSport 1, with the
build-up starting at 14:00 ahead of the 15:00 kick-off.