South Africa reclaimed the Web Ellis Cup on Saturday night with an exciting triumph over New Zealand in the World Cup final. The immense physicality of the Springboks has been a hallmark of their success under Jacques Nienaber, and Glasgow Warriors assistant Murchie feels similar approach has been embraced by their club sides.
The Stormers come to Glasgow on Friday, leading the URC after racking up maximum points in their first two games, and Murchie sees parallels with the national squad.
“Yeah, there are definitely hallmarks in the four teams that you can read across from the national team – they are all physical,” he said. “They all have large units of players, and the kicking game, power runners, and broken pitch are big against them.” When you look at SA’s tries against France, you’ll see that they weren’t scored through incredible attacking structure.
“Two of the tries came from kicking an up and under and they’re under the sticks before you blink.” So they have players that can hurt you in various areas of the pitch. All of the South African teams, albeit they play differently, have some of those characteristics.”
The conclusion of a spectacular World Cup in France will prompt coaches around the world to think and analyse the game in order to detect new patterns.
Murchie has identified many intriguing new concepts at the highest level of rugby that could inspire Glasgow.
“It’s been definitely interesting,” Murchie noted. “Some trends in the game, such as how teams have been kicking, have indicated a shift in that regard.” The physicality on display in some of the games has been out of this world, and with teams adjusting their tackle heights, it’s a hot topic right now.
“It varies depending on the team.” New Zealand modified their defence slightly; normally, they stick to their game plan and execute it to the best of their ability, but they adapted and were able to defeat Ireland.
“They’re the first team in a long time to get on top of their attack, which was interesting to see.” Obviously, South Africa’s physicality is a huge distinguishing feature. They play the game differently than practically every other side in the world in terms of defence and attack, but it works for them; they’ve proven they can win a World Cup by playing to their strengths.
“We’re not necessarily going to follow SA’s blueprint, but it demonstrates that you can be different and still win.” It’s not about imitating teams; it’s about being first and being the first to play the way you want to. Teams certainly copy each other, but you want to be the first because the game has probably changed and moved on by the time other teams catch on and copy.”
Glasgow will look to rebound from a disappointing loss to Connacht when they meet the Stormers at Scotstoun under the lights. Warriors head coach Franco Smtih will be concerned about the fitness of Kyle Steyn and Huw Jones, who are both recovering from ankle injuries.
Glasgow, on the other hand, will be bolstered by the return of some key Scotland international players, but Murchie was not delighted with the performance levels in loss in Connacht.
“We were poor,” Murchie said. “It was a poor performance that was very frustrating.” We handed the ball over 23 times, which is a lot, and they outplayed us physically in the first half. We were lucky to be up at halftime and to have the wind on our side, which was more than ten points.
“In some ways, we were better in the second half, but our attack didn’t really click until the last 10 or 15 minutes.” We were better defensively in the second half, but they physically dominated us in the first, which disappointed us.
“Sometimes things go against you, especially when you’re away from home and in front of a partisan crowd.” We couldn’t get anything going in our game, and things can sometimes compound themselves. You must change momentum, and there are numerous ways to accomplish it, such as Kyle Rowe’s attempt. It was a classic momentum mover from a restart, but we didn’t capitalise on it and kept going.
“We continued to make mistakes after that, and it’s about learning how to manage the game when things go against us in various ways.” So it doesn’t take until halftime to send the message out to the boys to sort out a few issues, we’d prefer to get it done right away and we’d probably see a different scoreline.”
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