{"id":338976,"date":"2023-10-15T23:57:55","date_gmt":"2023-10-15T23:57:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=338976"},"modified":"2023-10-16T01:01:45","modified_gmt":"2023-10-16T01:01:45","slug":"never-seen-before-springboks-tactic-raises-eyebrows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=338976","title":{"rendered":"'Never seen before' Springboks tactic raises eyebrows"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sonny Bill Williams<\/a> says South Africa's<\/a> decision to take a scrum over a free-kick from a mark – an extremely rare strategy call – shows just how in tune the team is at the Rugby World Cup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Springboks were devastating at the set piece, winning seven of eight scrums with the feed, while France only won five of nine.<\/p>\n

South Africa were otherwise out-gunned in possession and territory, France retaining 59 per cent of ball-in-hand while spending 63 per cent of the match in the opposite half.<\/p>\n

Watch all the action from Rugby World Cup 2023 on the home of rugby, Stan Sport.<\/strong><\/em> Every match ad free, live and on demand in 4K UHD<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Nevertheless, South Africa were \ufeffbold decision-makers when they were in a position to score.<\/p>\n

\"South<\/p>\n

The Springboks showed plenty of intent on the way to an upset 29-28 win<\/a>, taking opportunities for maximum points on multiple occasions that included a failed drop-goal attempt and one tap-and-go that netted them a try.<\/p>\n

\ufeffLIVE UPDATES:<\/strong> AFL trade period day six<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Springboks shatter French dreams in one-point thriller<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Smith lets $28m cheque slip after blowing lead<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

"The South Africans, they're well-coached," said Stephen Hoiles on Stan Sport's post-match coverage.<\/p>\n

"Every decision they made tactically about their substitutions, we were getting so confused with guys coming on and off for HIAs, they're just clever.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"The fact that they managed to take a mark inside their 22, call a scrum, get a scrum penalty\u2026\u00a0 they know, probably better than any team in the world, what their strengths are and what they need to play to it and stick to their game plan."<\/p>\n

\"France\u00a0vs\u00a0South\u00a0Africa<\/p>\n

Two-time Rugby World Cup winner Williams said England will have to be at their best to have any chance of overcoming South Africa.<\/p>\n

"It just showed how confident they were in their set-piece," said Williams.<\/p>\n

"You're not (typically) taking a mark and going and packing a scrum \u2013 that was the first time I've ever seen it.<\/p>\n

"I've never seen it before. That just shows how confident they are in what they're doing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"England better watch out. They better be ready."<\/p>\n

\"Cheslin<\/p>\n

South Africa's scrum wasn't the only asset in their playbook.<\/p>\n

The team's chip-and-chase was often successful and netted them possession despite France having several opportunities to win possession.<\/p>\n

"Contestables are only as good as the chase I believe, and that's what South Africa are good (at)," Williams explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"They're good at putting numbers around the ball. When the French team had a lot of momentum in this game, that's how they clawed their way back.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"South Africans, they know their DNA \u2013 up and unders, contestables, get the ball around. They scored a few tries off that."<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportRugby\/status\/1713659607342858598<\/a><\/p>\n

South Africa will face England in the second semi-final on Sunday at 6am (AEDT). The other semi-final will be played a day earlier at the same time between New Zealand and Argentina.<\/p>\n

Both semi-final matches will be live, ad-free, and exclusively on Stan Sport.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sonny Bill Williams says South Africa's decision to take a scrum over a free-kick from a mark – an extremely rare strategy call – shows […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":338978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338976"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=338976"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":338981,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338976\/revisions\/338981"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/338978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=338976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=338976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=338976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}