defence guru Jacques Niebaber

THE Springboks will look to Stormers and Western Province defence guru Jacques Niebaber to sort out their ailing defence all the way through to the end of the World Cup, it has been confirmed. While Nienaber has been working with the Boks on a consultancy basis over the last few weeks, there is now an expectation that his Western Province employers will rescind an earlier decision on the matter and in the national interest allow Nienaber to board the World Cup ship.

Nienaber’s defensive expertise will go a long way to solving the Boks’ single biggest problem over the last two seasons.

The Boks leaked a staggering 22 tries in six matches in last year’s Tri-Nations and another 11 on the overseas leg of the current tournament, while for the last two seasons the Stormers have had the best defensive record in Super Rugby, conceding just 18 in 17 matches earlier this year. In 2010, 17 tries were scored against them in 13 matches and over the last two seasons Western Province have had the best defensive record in the Currie Cup.

Nienaber, who was originally a conditioning coach, followed Rassie Erasmus to the Cape from the Cheetahs and has now joined Erasmus suit in bolstering the Boks’ management team, and has been hard at work over the last month in Rustenburg and now in Durban to shore up the defensive structures ahead of Saturday’s return match with the Wallabies, a team that has brilliant attacking threats all over the park.

Yesterday Butch James, who would regard himself as something of a defensive expert in his own unique right! – touched on some of the subtleties that Nienaber has introduced.

“A big thing he has brought in is accountability for your defensive errors, with repeated mistakes likely to eventually cost you your place, and all the guys are happy with that scenario,” said James, who is due to be named tomorrow as the starting flyhalf – the Boks yesterday delayed their team announcement because of ongoing uncertainty over the availability of loose forwards Pierre Spies and Willem Alberts.

“If you miss a tackle, or don’t adhere to the defensive system or have not made the effort to be in the right place to cover tackle, you are going to be held accountable on Monday, so the players will have this nagging fear that they have to work harder to get into position to defend (or be named and shamed)!

“The thing players fear most is losing their place in the team, and if they are repeatedly costing the team on defence, that will ultimately happen,” the veteran added.

Victor Matfield, who like James will be playing his last ever Test match at Kings Park, said a major focus during the sessions on defence at the celebrated convalescence camp was reverting to attention to detail, something that the Boks have wandered away from.

“We have strayed away from staying in our systems. It was the biggest fault of the recent Tri-Nations tour,” Matfield said. “If we back Jacques Nienaber’s systems we will get back on track. Just look at how the Stormers’ have defended.

“Jacques is very big on detail, and that is what Test rugby is all about,” the 104-cap veteran said. “One little mistake can lead to the opposition scoring. That is why experience is good to have because experienced players make less mistakes, and we must live up this on Saturday.”

James, meanwhile, will be making his comeback to rugby following a four-week suspension for a high tackle on old Sharks teammate Keegan Daniel during the Lions’ Super Rugby match at Ellis Park, so what can James’ opposite number on Saturday, Quade Cooper, expect?!

“Tackles like that (on Daniel) happen all the time in every game,” James said. “It was a reflex high tackle. I am not too worried about it. My temperament has generally been good. It is not playing on my mind. I am happy where I am with my discipline.”

But that hardly means Cooper is going to get a comfortable ride.

“My job as flyhalf is to control the game and part of that is to make my tackles and defend that 10 channel as strongly as I can,” he said. “Whoever comes down that channel will get as good a tackle as I can manage but my mindset is to stay cool-headed and control the game as much as possible.”

by Mike Greenaway