Mallet on England, Meyer, the upcoming series, players and conservatism.

"I pity Heyneke because it's going to be very hard trying to prepare a team for a Test one week after those derbies, while England will have two weeks' preparation," Mallett told reporters on Wednesday.

"He has to win all three Tests in order to buy himself some time to develop his philosophy.”

“That is the only thing I'm slightly worried about with the Heyneke regime - his mantra is execution above innovation and it will be a very conservative team and gameplan,”

“So he is not looking for innovative players, he's looking for people who execute well.”

“If we are going to do a move that will take the centre into the midfield, we are going to do it so well, at such pace, that it doesn't matter if the opposition know about it - we will get across the advantage line and we will dominate that impact zone.”

"He'll be happy to win 25-18 with a handful of penalties, a drop goal and a breakaway try."

"I would not be surprised if England sneak a game. They're a very strong team, they're bringing an air of confidence out of the Six Nations, as the tournament developed, so did they,"

"They're scoring tries and they're really well coached. Stuart Lancaster needed to bring pride back to the country and the jersey and he did that by picking the youngsters. “

"He's given England the ability to counter-attack and they can hurt the Springboks,"

“In Heyneke and Rassie we are very, very lucky in having two very good coaches. Rassie, from a technical point of view, is outstanding, and Heyneke, from a personality, man management point of view, is exceptional. We’ve got the world’s greatest exponent of learning other people’s calls in Rassie.

“There isn’t a single coach in the world who goes into as much detail in working out how the opposition call, and what they mean. He’s absolutely believable at that.”

Erasmus was the same as a player, said Mallett, and, strangely enough, there was no better example of this than in Mallett’s last match as Springbok coach, in Durban.

“Rassie was the first player who came up to me and said, ‘Listen, Nick, I’ve been studying the way the Australians get out of their half. They throw to (John) Eales at four, they bring Jeremy Paul down on the peel-off, they then pass behind the back of (Owen) Finnegan to (Toutai) Kefu, who takes it up. They set up the ruck in the middle of the field and they’ve got a left-footed kicker in (Chris) Latham or right-footed in (Stephen) Larkham to kick out.’

We had our defensive system, and Rassie said, ‘You always want me to tackle Kefu, but I want to go for the interception’. I covered it by telling Joost to make sure he would tackle Kefu if the intercept didn’t work.

“It worked unbelievably. We’re in their 22, their line-out, throw goes to Eales, around came Paul, pass to Kefu, interception by Rassie Erasmus, try, under the bloody poles! The Aussies all dived on his back. The question (to the TMO) ‘Is there any reason I can’t award the try’, only came in afterwards.

The question was, ‘Did you see the ball grounded?’ Of course they couldn’t see it grounded, there were Australians all over it. Latham was the last man up, he actually pats Rassie on the head and says, ‘Well done’.

“We didn’t get the try, lost the match 19-18 and it was ‘cheers Nick’.”

“Andries Bekker has a long way to go before he can be talked about in the same breath as South Africa’s greatest lineout specialist, Victor Matfield.”

“Bekker is nowhere near as good as Matfield in the lineouts. Bekker needs to listen to Matfield - then he will become better,”

“Because he is big, he thinks he can win every ball whereas Matfield thinks about the lineouts. Matfield will not throw one ball to himself if there is a danger of losing it or if there is a blocker there. He will call a ball everywhere else except for himself if it means his team winning the game.”

“Bekker, however, will call on himself and if he loses one, he will call another one because he is upset he lost one. Then if it happens again he will blame the hooker for not throwing into the lineout high enough.”

“Teams can only put two blocks and you as the lineout reader need to see where they are and that’s where Matfield was absolutely unbelievable.”

Mallett also had criticism for captaincy candidates Pierre Spies, Jean de Villiers and Bismarck du Plessis, pointing out factors in their games that worried him ahead of the England tests.

“At outside centre Jean is a really poor defender,” Mallett said about the Stormers captain, “So he is going to have to sharpen up because (Manu) Tuilagi is going to run rings around him. Tuilagi is very physical, big and strong.

“That’s the problem at outside centre, but then again we never pass the ball in SA rugby so it might not be necessary to select a centre,” Mallett joked. “If he can’t chase up and unders and tackle, then what is he doing there…?”

The former Bok mentor also called Spies, the Bulls captain, “a flat-track bully” who had never impressed him.

“Loose forwards are a big issue. I don't rate Spies as a defender, he is poor on defence and his close ball skills at the back of the scrum are also poor,” Mallett said. “He is only good against weak teams. A flat-track bully who will run in three tries. We are missing out on someone who is good from the base of the scrum.

“I know Heyneke likes Willem Alberts, but it is also worrying that he is in the top five in Super Rugby in terms of missed tackles. He’s missed 24 tackles in six games, and that’s bloody high. Marcel Coetzee is the guy I would pick, he is in the top five in terms of tackle stats and in ball carries.”

Mallett also called for an increase in discipline for the two Bok front row brothers Bismarck and Jannie du Plessis.

“We have to be very careful with the Du Plessis brothers - they are a five penalty package for opposition teams. Bismarck does turn over ball, but he gives two to three penalties away at the breakdown. Jannie gets pinned at scrum time and there’s always something, a stiff arm or going over the top. In terms of discipline they need to be spoken to but the Sharks front row, when they are on song, are formidable.”

Taylorman wrote:Yep!

Like you I can picture a match with 10 mins to go. Boks needing 13 points and all the oppostion has to do is hold them out. Some teams might not but the best will...easily.

emack2 wrote:Nick Mallett,Bok coach 1997-2000 71% win stats compared Bok Average since 1906 62.8% average.Coincided with Wallabies best period two 3Ns titles and Brumbies Super wins[tail end].Not sure exact start and finish BUT Boks played All Blacks 9 times in that period results 5-4 to the AllBlacks.This included the period when the AllBlacks couldn`t buy a win in 1998 after Fitzy and co. retired.[most of].AFTER his tenure the following 9 matches v AllBlacks 8-1 to the All Blacks.Both those periods contained a RWC win for each side,BUT not a RWC loss in Malletts period.Italy under both John Kirwan and Nick Mallett has`nt exactly set the World alight.Not a ball has been kicked,teams for 1st Test picked
so everything said about styles is academic.
Incidentally Bulls have just lost to the Stormers at Fortress Loftus,one try each
a penalty and conversion the difference.Bulls turned down points trying to score trys stuffed up lost the match.
Maybe a message for the Boks there take the points win by 3 s if nothing else works !!!.
This year the way the Refs are going theres going to be lots of sin binning and Penalties.you heard it here first!!!!