The Springboks attack coach, Tony Brown, believes that there is room for improvement heading into the second Test against Ireland in Durban, especially at the breakdown.

The back-to-back World Champions took the lead in the series after winning the first Test at Loftus Versfeld 27-20 and they are on the front foot, but there is always room for improvement.

The Springboks breakdown wasn’t as good as they would have liked, especially against the Irish who are just at good in this aspect of the game. This led to the attack being a little less effective, but there were also some really good signs.

Malcolm Marx was superb at the breakdown when he came on and he managed to turn the ball over.

The former All Blacks flyhalf Brown said against a team like Ireland getting the breakdown right is even more important and it also creates opportunity for pressure and points.

“It was a really tough first Test match in Pretoria, and both teams were going really hard at the breakdowns and there was a lot of messy rugby,” said the former Highlanders pivot.

“The things we are trying to do on attack had some really good signs, especially in the first half when we created a lot of momentum with our width. The boys were able to apply a lot of pressure and score a pretty nice try early on.

“The breakdown is going to be fierce again this week in Durban, and Ireland have been traditionally strong at the breakdown defensively. From an attacking point of view, we have to be better. The better ball we get, the better we can attack.

“Ireland obviously wants to slow that down and disrupt our breakdown which disrupts our attack. We have to make sure that our breakdown is quality, that our ball carries are quality and then we can attack with some quality.”

Saturday’s Test at Kings’ Park kicks off at 17:00.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport