Blacks down brave Boks
14 Jul 2007
The All Blacks were made to work extremely hard for a 33-6 victory over a spirited Springbok side.
Three tries in the last 11 minutes meant the scoreboard flattered the All Blacks after a tremendous dogfight from the Boks.
Jannie and Bismarck du Plessis dreamt of the moment they would play together in a Bok jersey, and that emotion showed on their faces as they lined up to the Haka. That passion seemed to infect their teammates who would deliver one of the bravest displays by any Springbok side in history.
They limited the world’s best team to a series of impotent attacks that yielded their first try 70 minutes into the Test. Only tired legs allowed the next two, with Nick Evans and Dan Carter capitalising.
The Boks showed enterprise early on with Derick Hougaard defying expectations and spinning the ball rather than booting it downfield. The backline looked a far more organised unit than the clueless bunch that fronted at the Telstra Stadium last week. They attacked from depth and with width, showing innovative means of creating space on the outside.
Defensively they made major progressions and looked a shadow of the vulnerable unit of last week. They mixed the drift system with elements of it’s predecessor, the rush defence, to thwart some promising moves.
The All Blacks fundamental skills were uncharacteristically sloppy and the usually polished attacking unit were for the most part unstructured on attack. Clinical and ruthless are words synonymous with the hosts, yet they displayed very little of those traits, particularly in the first half.
They spurned gilt edged opportunities you’d expect them to finish at a canter, which boosted the Boks and kept alive hopes of an upset victory.
But Jake White’s patchwork 15 failed to capitalise on the limited opportunities they had, due in most part to solid All Blacks defence around the pillar areas of the rucks and mauls, and their inability to dominate at the breakdown. Counter-rucking has been a key feature of the 2007 All Blacks, and the Boks bore the full brunt of a fierce contest in this facet of play.
They also struggled in the scrums, with Carl Hayman and Tony Woodcock at their dominating best. Unfimiliarity meant No 8 Jacque Cronje and scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar lacked cohesion, which had a domino effect on the backline, who regularly had to deal with scrappy, slow ball.
But a gutsy display meant they were still breathing at the changeover, 6-3 a scoreline even the most optimistic of Bok supporters wouldn’t have predicted.
They repelled waves of attack from the All Blacks in the third quarter with some desperate scramble defence, Breyton Paulse prominent in his perceived mismatch with Joe Rocokoko.
As he’d done in Durban, Pedrie Wannenburg again compounded the pressure on his side by getting binned for a ruck infringement in the 51st minute. They continued to hold out however, before an Albert van den Berg stamp after the Boks had been awarded a penalty, allowed Carter to sink his fourth three pointer when Stuart Dickinson reversed the decision.
The fact that the Boks conceded three rather than seven points under unbelievable pressure said everything about their defensive effort, and even more telling was the courage they showed in the 10 minutes they endured with 14 men.
It took an individual error from Wynand Olivier, who feel off a tackle, for the All Blacks to finally crack the Bok defence.
White would have learnt some valuable lessons from this Test, not least of all that Wikus van Heerden and Breyton Paulse could be valuable additions to his 30-man World Cup squad. Derick Hougaard improved his performance, but there will still be questions around his aptitude to cope at Test level. White will stick with Olivier, but given his performance, one will wonder why.
The Boks must hold their heads high. They stood up to the pretenders to the World Cup crown with a side most predicted would be pummeled.
All Blacks - Tries: Brendon Leonard, Nick Evans, Dan Carter. Conversions: Carter (3). Penalties: Carter (4).
Springboks - Penalties: Derick Hougaard (2).
By Ryan Vrede
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4 Comments
16 Jul 2007, 07:46 am
SA werent great, but hung in there. I wouldnt look at SA’s performance too much, thats not the team they’ll have at the RWC. NZ on the other hand looked average to say the least. Wallabies have great chance of beating them this weekend.
NZ might be getting a little nervous, after all it is that time of the year.
16 Jul 2007, 08:23 am
Paulse sucked big time. Came off his defensive line evrytime the ball was on his side of the field. JP wasnt much better.
16 Jul 2007, 08:42 am
Please please can we now send Wynand and Hougaard back to the bulls and never let them near a bok team again.
16 Jul 2007, 09:28 am
Wynand Olivier’s channel looked like the grand canyon, whilst Breyten was nowhere.
Derick played as **** as last week.
Muller’s captaincy still needs some developing, as his decision making wasn’t always spot-on. What I did like though, was that he is the one captain that is not afraid to say it like it is (referring to McCaw). The ever diplomatic SA approach pisses me off so badly, yet we always allow the opposition to say what they want.
By the way, in Durban we could hear quite clearly through the “veld ore†how the ref kept saying “7 black, hands off the ball!†The funny thing was how the exact same ruck ended up in a penalty for the AB’s…
Wikus was quite good and Pedrie performed ok too.
Of the backline only Ruan deserved to be in a green and gold jersey.
Skywalker, If DH and WO never play bok rugby again, it would be too soon.
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