The Springboks are turning to laboratories to crush their opponents. No, it is not steroids they're after, it's science. The South African Rugby Union has funded a long-term study to unravel the secrets of the perfect goalkicker.National kicking coach Louis Koen initiated the project, which might have already improved flyhalf Pat Lambie's success rate.The Springbok and Sharks player was among 15 of the country's best goalkickers who had electrodes attached to their bodies so that researchers could monitor their kicking action.The project started in 2014 at the Stellenbosch University's Unit for Human Movement Analysis.John Cockcroft and Dr Dawie van den Heever of the university's department of mechanical and mechatronic engineering were entrusted with the task.Much is riding on their work - the Springboks lost to lowly Japan at the Rugby World Cup last year and struggled to beat Ireland last month. Even if they can't score tries, a better penalty-kicking performance could spare them some blushes. It is great that [Saru] used all the resources available to them to ensure that South Africa remains a powerhouse in world rugby "What I want to find out is if you find a guy who's never kicked a ball in his life before, can we use the data to give him a starting point?" said Koen."I'm very keen to develop something for primary school kids. Maybe when a dad takes his son ... to the field, he's got a little bit of a model that's properly researched that he can use to guide his son into becoming a better kicker."Cockroft said they scrutinised everything about the 15 players' kicking action, including how fast their toe was moving when it hit the ball.They have concluded that a player's body type has nothing to do with his ability to perform.The players' techniques varied considerably, but their run-up angles, foot speed and where they planted their foot next to the kicking tee were very consistent."We found that the variability decreases as the player nears the tee - this is telling us that the brain is compensating in the movement to ensure consistency in the final outcome," said Van den Heever.Koen said Saruhad pumped "a lot of money" into the project but the main benefactors would be future generations of rugby players.But Cockcroft noted that during a match just a few weeks after Lambie took part in the research, he kicked from the halfway line to seal victory for his team.Cockcroft messaged Van den Heever with excitement. "We kind of joked that we helped in getting it over," he said.Finer details of their studies will remain top secret so that rival teams do not benefit.The next chapter involves testing amateur kickers."It is great that [Saru] used all the resources available to them to ensure that South Africa remains a powerhouse in world rugby."This is also why we can't go into too much detail with our findings - we don't want the Aussies to get hold of our secrets," said Van den Heever.hymana@timesmedia.co.za..