Boks’ shock and awe might not win hearts and minds, but does win games

The great rugby truism that defence wins matches and attack determines the margin has never stood this free of contradiction.

The Springboks, the top-ranked team in the world, current Rugby World Cup holders and victors of the best the British and Irish could muster, have gone about their business firmly upholding the above adage in the most single-mindedly ruthless manner imaginable.

They tackle like demons, strangle the opposition at source, box-kick and jump as their name suggests and voraciously feast on foreigner’s folly.

It isn’t pretty, but its pretty effective.

Successful teams, individuals and entities tend to invite close scrutiny, and more often than not biting, perhaps envious criticism follows. It is the same for the Boks with several leading pundits in the sport, mostly from the northern hemisphere, pouring scorn over their methods.

The Boks have been labelled boring and their tactics are apparently doing the sport a disservice.

“It is what it is,” Handre Pollard said, shrugging his shoulders, when asked about the critique of the Boks’ methods.

“Everyone has their way of playing rugby they think is the right way of playing.”

The Boks have a win-at-all-cost approach, as evidenced on and off the field in the Lions’ series, and they are less fixated with the battle for hearts and minds as their delivery of shock and awe.

“For us it is not about entertaining, it is about winning. Test match rugby is about winning,” Pollard pointedly reminded.

The criticism is unlikely to be taken to heart. The Boks are made of sterner stuff.

“At the moment, we are doing pretty well, so for now, if it’s not broken there’s no need to fix it.

“We’ll just keep doing what we are doing and people can criticise as much as they want. We believe in it, and that’s the only thing that matters,” Pollard emphasised.

The Boks’ uncluttered methods may not resonate with some of the game’s romantics but it has been devilishly effective.

With the ball they are risk-averse and precisely play the percentages. Without it, they apply bone-rattling defence and brutish force at the breakdown to try to get it back.

They have conceded just four tries in their last 10 internationals, which is testament to coach Jacques Nienaber spending much of his waking moments plotting the shut down of opposition advances.

The Boks may have the stay awake properties of a cup of Milo, but boy do they sleep well.