Boks must put boot to ball
November 21, 2000

Former Springbok centre and acknowledged backline expert Brendan Venter believes that the Boks will have make more use of tactical kicking if they hope to continue their unbeaten Test run against Wales on Sunday.

Bok coach Harry Viljoen is adamant that the ball-in-hand-approach is the way forward for South Africa. So keen is he to get his players to run the ball that he urged them not kick for the entire first half of their Test against Argentina last week.

He said before the Ireland Test that the players would show more flexibility in strategy, but Venter is adamant that the Boks are still ignoring the value of tactical kicking to their peril.

He feels that SA could come up short against the organised defences of Wales and England, against whom the Boks end their European tour in a fortnight.

"We could have beaten Ireland by a far greater margin (than just 28-18) if we had kicked more and put the all behind the Irish," Venter told a newspaper.

"The Northern Hemisphere nations have improved their rugby immensely and we will have to do our homework thoroughly if we hope to break their defensive patterns.

Venter is keen to point out that he doesn't believe in unnecessarily kicking possession kicking away and wasting quality ball - something he says England were guilty of doing in their 22-19 victory over world champions Australia on Saturday.

"England's play against Australia was disappointing, because they enjoyed a surfeit of possession, but kicked away most of it. But the fact of the matter is that they won and now believe they are the best team in the world.

"Their confidence will be sky high and they will be relishing a battle against the Boks and that makes them very dangerous."

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