My opinion on the game.

The summary is this: AC is still tactically clueless and unsuitable for the modern game.

Making EJ play in the pocket when he is clearly not comfortable in that role is just stupid. EJ can't play that kind of game, and I would argue that those tactics haven't worked since 2007.

With players like Folau, Beale, NMS, D-Mac, Dagg, B Smith in the opposing team, kicking the ball down their throats is never going to work, especially when executed by somebody who's skill-set lies elsewhere. The Lions and Stormers (the only teams that actually managed to beat Kiwi sides in SR) proved that the way to beat those kind of teams is to starve them of ball, not to give them the kind of counter-attacking opportunity that they thrive on.

Further more when you do run the ball, the key to making consistent line-breaks is not for your FH to sit in the pocket, the key is to take the ball flat so that the rush defense has no time to react to the move, and gives the players on the front foot, a genuine opportunity to beat their opposite number one on one, rather than receiving the ball way behind the advantage line when the defender has had time to line them up.

Similarly when defending off structured play, I don't see why South Africa is the only team in world rugby at the moment that is letting their opponents run at them. In both defense and attack we are giving all initiative to the opposing team, why give them 15 meters to run at you before you make some sort of defensive decision. This means that every time an opposing backline runs at us we give up 5-10 meters per carry, if we have just kicked the ball away this typically means the opposing team has made up the ground within 5 or 6 phases.

In short: We cannot attack from structured play in our back-line, and we can't defend the same from the opposition.

Now we weren't woeful this weekend and we are doing a lot of things right. Our set piece was dominant in both the line-outs and the scrums. Our break down work was much improved and we looked after our ball well, importantly South Africa has become a side that knows how to take advantage of a good counter-attacking opportunity especially with some more agile and skillful forwards; we know how to abuse a break better than we ever have in the past. Our tight five looks better than it has in years and the attitude to come from behind made me proud of the boys.

That said if we can't figure out how to structure a good attack and continue to let the opposition run at us we are always going to leak points agaisnt quality sides.

I specifically won't mention any players since I don't think they are the problem. Our tactics were dreadful, hopefully this gets sorted out but I have my doubts that AC will ever be adaptable enough.