FalseBayFC wrote: Sun Jun 06, 2021 3:55 pm
If the Boks dominate up front, and they should, the Lions are going to have to play higher risk rugby. Easy to do if you're the All Blacks but these guys won't have anywhere near that level of cohesion. I'm not sure what cunning plan Gatland can come up with to outwit Rassie.
Gatland is one of the 4 or 5 smartest coaches out there. If somebody can outfox Rassie and Nienaber, it's going to be him.
But yes, I'm also very curious to see what he comes up with. The November 2018 test in Cardiff that the Boks lost showed how to really exploit the Boks' defensive structure out wide. Granted, the Boks were still pretty new to it and there were a couple of communication lapses between Kriel and Dyantyi, but it is an inherent weakness in the pattern. The All Blacks also exploited it with a crossfield kick that led to the Goodhue try in the 2019 Wellington draw.
If you can get outside of the wing that is biting into the attacking 13 you have a lot of space out wide to work with, with only the sweeping cover defenders and fullback to stop it. A skip pass or crossfield kick will unlock it and if you have a speedy loosie like Simmonds running a support line for the wing, things could get ugly for the Bok fullback. But, as you say, it's high risk as that skip is also a nice intercept target.
But ja, that's wat Gatland's Wales did successfully in 2018 and they got around the Boks a number of times. Lucky for us they didn't have support runners for their wings on the day, otherwise we would've lost by alot more than the 20-11 scoreline the match ended on.