Deon Davids' defends the Springboks' 'boring' tactics

August 02, 2021
1759
Ultimate Rugby

The Springboks have responded to criticism of their style of play.

South Africa handed the Lions their biggest test defeat since the 2005 tour surging to a 27-9 at Cape Town Stadium to take the series to a decider.

The Springboks have come under fire for their style of play with the two halves taking over an hour.

Ian Foster is among those unimpressed, saying that the match “put me to sleep” and that the two sides were “almost afraid to play”.

2009 Lions Series-winning Springboks boss Peter De Villiers also labelled the Boks as “very, very, boring”.

Springboks' assistant coach Deon Davids denies the Springboks' game plan is a bad advert for the game.

“No, not at all. It’s a spectacle. I think it’s fantastic. Rugby has always been about a physical battle on-field, but also a battle where opponents try to outsmart each other, whether that’s on or off-field,” Davids said.

“The competitiveness and talent shown by both teams on-field – it’s good for world rugby. And if we can continue being competitive at this level and aspire to be better, then rugby in South Africa will just get better.

“The same narrative was there when the Boks won the 2019 Championship. The same thing was there when they won the World Cup. It’s still the same narrative.

“It’s surprising that the effectiveness of this in terms of getting good results is not seen. There’s always a plan behind everything.

“When we execute stuff, it’s not about being boring, it’s about understanding what we want to achieve.

“By doing that we’ve created enough opportunities to be able to play with the ball in hand and score tries.

“I believe in our approach and what it leads us to. We will just get better in terms of what we’re doing.”