What can Andy Farrell learn from South Africa’s defeat in Paris?

Detailed summary

The Springboks rely heavily on their set piece and kicking game. Ireland must find a way to avoid getting rinsed in the scrum, as they did last year ...

It’s tempting to suggest that South Africa are human after all, following the 21-19 defeat to France, a reflection on the personal foibles and several self-inflicted shortcomings in performance terms that led to a frustrating night in Paris.

But in another context, the double and reigning world champions are hewn in the form of another human. The pack is a living, breathing embodiment of the work of their scrum coach Daan, who has made them largely unplayable in that set piece. It should have been the foundation stone for another victory. That it wasn’t was down to halfback and backline malfunctions.

South African head coach Rassie Erasmus commandeered the headlines pregame by flipping his two front rows, starting the bench and benching the starters an hour before kickoff. When Ox Nche, Malcolm Marx and Wilco Louw were summoned to the action on 35 minutes, it was a further example of his penchant for lateral thinking or parlour tricks. Choose your metaphor.

No one can dispute its efficacy on the night. The Springboks won eight scrum penalties, were awarded two free-kicks and had French replacement tight head Regis Montagne dispatched to the sin bin, left pancaked on the turf. He wasn’t alone in suffering that fate, but he paid the price for cumulative transgressions.

That last phrase will be a bugbear for the Springboks, their coaching team and, one suspects, world rugby when South Africa take up the right of reply to the decision-making of referee Andrea Piardi and the match officials, including TMO Matteo Liperini and foul play review officer Andrew Jackson.

Piardi had a difficult night. In a game with a two-point winning margin, everything is parsed by hindsight, and one aspect was particularly troubling for South Africa. When is a final warning, not a final warning?

The Italian official had issued a final warning to France at scrum time in the final quarter, and they appeared to infringe twice more in quick succession.

South Africa got away with the odd illegality…

Ther…

Opening of the article, excerpted from The Irish Times. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.