STAT ATTACK | Springboks have little problem creating play, it's the points that are missing

Despite claiming another series victory over Wales last week, doubts and outright criticism over the Springboks' attacking play remain steadfastly in place.

Notably, a prominent Kiwi scribe argued that Jacques Nienaber's troops will be "physical, direct and unimaginative" when they take on the All Blacks in their Rugby Championship opener in Nelspruit on August 6.

Jake White, 2007's World Cup-winning Bok mentor and current Bulls director of rugby, then added some fuel to the fire - in an admittedly more measured manner - in suggesting that they'll have add new strings to their bow.

Some casual statistics from the three Tests against the Dragons certainly provide some justification to White's view though not necessarily in terms of the Boks being impotent on attack.

In fact, the most interesting thought of his relevant column is "the way South Africa plays actually keeps other sides in the game".

For the past 12 months that's been evident in something as simple as their scorelines.

Only Georgia (40-9) and Argentina (32-12) have been beaten by 20 or more points in Nienaber's 16 Tests in charge to date, which wouldn't be a travesty in the cut-throat environment of Test rugby if it weren't for the fact that four other matches had winning margins between 15 and 19 points.

Except perhaps for the 27-9 win in the second Test against the British & Irish Lions, the Boks' dominance should've translated into more points.

This year, the focus on South Africa's attacking play is even more acute because, unlike 2021 when they at times relied on being ruthless with taking any points on offer with limited opportunities, they made most of the play in the Wales series.

In the first Test at Loftus, the Boks made 480 running metres from 107 carries,