Beast feasts on Lions
20 Jun 2009
Keo.co.za rates the Springboks in their first Test against the Lions at King’s Park.
Ratings out of 10:
15 Frans Steyn – 6
Consistency may not be his middle name, and it was another blend of the brilliant and bogus from one of the Boks’ greatest talents. Began with a shaky performance under the high ball and did deliver some misdirected punts, but kept the Lions pegged back in the first half as per the game plan. Goaled a super 50m penalty attempt from the right-hand touchline, but missed a similar shot from the other side of the park. A promising showing although the Lions’ kickers didn’t really test him enough.
14 JP Pietersen – 5
This was a rusty showing from a player who tried to get involved, but took a few wrong options and made a few unforced errors. Was also uncharacteristically exposed on defence when Ugo Monye looked to score early on.
13 Adi Jacobs – 5
The Lions’ called it on Friday, and Jacobs was indeed the weak point in the Bok backline. The No 13 was involved in the defensive balls-up that led to Tom Croft’s try and also missed a few one-on-one tackles. Failed to make much impact on attack.
12 Jean de Villiers – 6
De Villiers made his most telling contribution when he got under Monye to deny the Lions an important try in the first half. Didn’t receive much attacking ball as Ruan Pienaar opted to kick for territory, but didn’t do much wrong.
11 Bryan Habana – 6
Also battled to get involved given the Boks’ drive for field position, but got back well and stood his ground on defence.
10 Ruan Pienaar – 7
Kicked five from six and stuck to a game plan that largely paid dividends. Cleared his line well and his kicking into space troubled the Lions’ back three. Started a bit shakily but improved as the match progressed.
9 Fourie du Preez – 6
Solid service and kicking with a few sniping breaks, but not his sharpest performance.
8 Pierre Spies – 5
Did the necessary but not the imposing performance we’ve come to expect. Dropped the ball cold when he broke from a 5m scrum on his own line at a crucial stage of the second half. Overall, Spies was not physical enough in a contest that was always going to be a slugfest.
7 Juan Smith – 6
Some industrious work in the build-up to John Smit’s try and got through a lot of work on defence. Often the unsung hero for the Boks for his unseen efforts, but a few errors did detract from yet another typical performance.
6 Heinrich Brussow – 6
Brought in as a specialist fetcher but often found himself in a supporting role. Did well to slow the Lions’ ball and score off a full-scale maul, but a quiet showing by his prolific standards.
5 Victor Matfield – 7
Mr Reliable on his own ball and disrupted the Lions’ throw.
4 Bakkies Botha – 7
Botha was the boss of the intimidation aspect, delivering some crunching cleanouts and bruising tackles. Made the hit on Mike Phillips in the 50th minute to deny the Lions’ a try. Most of the visitors will have urine stains on their shorts after this Botha performance.
3 John Smit – 7
Was overshadowed by the Beast but also delivered a strong scrummaging performance against the overhyped Gethin Jenkins. One of the Boks’ best ball carriers as he always made yardage. Took his try well.
2 Bismarck du Plessis – 6
Solid display and was never scared to get stuck in. Found his jumpers regularly and also made several turnovers.
1 Beast Mtawarira – 8
His best performance to date in a Bok jersey. Underrated at scrum-time, the Beast ravaged veteran tighthead Phil Vickery to disrupt the Lions’ set-piece and win some goalable penalties for his side. Psyched from the start, the Beast was further fuelled by the South Africa supporters, and I doubt King’s Park has ever chanted the prop’s moniker so much. Some driving runs and big tackles to complete a well-rounded Man of the Match effort.
16 Gurthro Steenkamp – 5
The replacement had to deal with a tougher challenge in Adam Jones and wasn’t as mobile or as industrious as the Beast.
17 Deon Carstens – 5
Battled to make an impact when the Lions brought their best scrummagers on.
18 Andries Bekker – 5
Replaced Botha but could not replicate his physicality. Took a crucial lineout in the final movement, but the Bok management got the balance of their second row wrong by playing both Matfield and Bekker in the second half.
19 Danie Rossouw – 7
Made some important tackles and was the only replacement forward to offer the necessary grunt around the ruck.
20 Ricky Januarie – 4
Made some elementary errors and the Boks’ distribution from the base deteriorated when Fourie du Preez went off.
21 Jaque Fourie – 5
Strangely replaced Jean de Villiers instead of Adi Jacobs, and failed to gel with the Sharks’ centre. Also slipped off a few tackles.
22 Morne Steyn – 7
Dealt with the pressure well and made a potentially game-saving cross-cover tackle on Monye in the 72nd minute.
By Jon Cardinelli, at King’s Park
75 Comments
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20 Jun 2009, 17:06 pm
close
20 Jun 2009, 17:07 pm
what was management thinking we let them back in with stupid subs and taking your foot of the gas
20 Jun 2009, 17:09 pm
Attention of JM
I said I’d come back on Saturday, so here I am.
Well done Boks, we were poor in the 1st half and that is where/why you deserved the win. It was a close thing at the end.
Hopefully we’ll play our 2nd half team from the start for nest week.
Good game, I enjoyed it very much, which is why the Lions’ tours are so great.
20 Jun 2009, 17:10 pm
Beastly Dragon
20 Jun 2009, 17:10 pm
PDv alsmot cost us the game by taking of JDV instead of adi and by taking of FDP for the slouch januarie
20 Jun 2009, 17:11 pm
I have just seen that Pieter de Villiers is clueless – who in the world takes off you CAPTAIN in a test match???? The replaces the only fetcher stopping the Lions from quality ball and then keeping Adi on thus playing 2 outside centres..
We can kiss out behind lucky for winning and PvD almost cost us the match …..clueless!!!!!!!!!!!
20 Jun 2009, 17:11 pm
If you do not have possession of the ball, you cannot play the ball. I cannot understand why why why Ruan Pienaar kicks possession away and then puts the Springboks under pressure to defend, defend, defend until the Lions get their goal. It does not make sense to me for him to play a good ball deep into the Lions’s hands while giving them enough time to set up their backline to start playing the ball. What is Ruan Pienaar doing in this team?
20 Jun 2009, 17:11 pm
This is what I was afraid of, Peter De Villiers ability to screw us up the *** with very poor use of the bench! Our momentum was totally destroyed. Other then that very happy. Go BEAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Smitty, what a man! Held up well. Pienaar, I believed in you all along, thanks for restoring that trust.
20 Jun 2009, 17:13 pm
hmmm
An interesting match this. PDV what were you thinking? Do not ever sub a ball daemon like Brussow ever again. If you need to bring Danie on then get rid of that show pony Spies – get it. Now why was that fat boy Ricky brought on in place of the General FDP? That was just a doff decision.
Any way now that the rust is gone I expect, no demand that the Boks play for 80min and flatten there POMS – yes they are all POMS cause they all worship that Queen.
Beast well played, teaching those northern fatties the art of proper scrumming.
ROAR!
20 Jun 2009, 17:16 pm
A load of bollocks! We could have won by 20. Why did the friggin coach start substituting when the game was not yet 100% in the bag??? Jeez we could have lost due to shite decisions from the bench!! Surely if a side is on the “up” you let them play on?? PDV knows Fukall about rugger IMHO. Faking amature
20 Jun 2009, 17:19 pm
#10 whatever:
Ten minutes into the second half and half the starting lineup are subbed. What the hell was that all about? Way, way, way too early. But I am relieved for the win. It should have been so much worse, or so we were told. Beast and Smit are our heroes today. What a massive effort from them both.
20 Jun 2009, 17:19 pm
What did Spies do in this match?? Fakall! Sweet fakall. The chicks think he has a good bod, but what the *** does he do with it? Nothing, niks naader, drop the doos!
20 Jun 2009, 17:22 pm
#11 Alucard:
Mate, we had a scrum that was giving those boys carrotts, and what happens?……….PDV subs them?? fukme gently in the morning we need a coach big time….
20 Jun 2009, 17:22 pm
#6 oranjewurm:
Bedonnerdgeit man.
Het jy al ooit so n onnosele ontwrigting gesien met plaasvervangers?
Ons was besig om hulle stukkend te dryf, en toe haal hy die kaptein, Beast en Brussouw af.
Hy is gesuip, ek se jou.
20 Jun 2009, 17:23 pm
#3 Road_Hog:
Road Hog, the Boks were just warming up boet. They gave the B Team a run in the second half after pulverizing all before them in the 1st half.
It is downhill for your lot from here and you know it….
20 Jun 2009, 17:27 pm
4/10 for Ricky Januarie? Were we watching the same match?
20 Jun 2009, 17:27 pm
#15 The Anal-yst
Yeah, yeah, we let you have that one ’cause we felt sorry for you after ’97. No more sympathy from now on.
20 Jun 2009, 17:33 pm
Habana needs a 7/10 at least. Brussow 7 as well. Very kind to give Spies a 5, he was nowhere for 80 minutes. Only genuinely positive contributions were a decent run off the back of a scrum and 1 line out steal.
20 Jun 2009, 17:35 pm
AGAIN PDV shows why he’s the greatest threat to the springboks !!
why,why,why take of FDP . then instead of taking of adi he subs JDV .and one again he takes of a flanker and puts a lock at number 6 as if thats not enough he takes of the enforcer and replaces him with “i think i’m a winger “bekker .then to top it off he takes of our captain.this guy’s a menace.
suggestions for second test fourie in for adi WO on the bench for adi
please PDv dont screw this up for the springboks
otherwise WELL DONE BOKKE!!!!!!!!!
20 Jun 2009, 17:36 pm
Twakkie DeVilliers almost cost us the test.
imagine taking off Jean DeVilliers and and leaving Adi Jacobs on.
Seeing how our defensive lynchpin is always a 12, it is imperative that Olivier comes on to the bench. Adi takes a hike and Jaque Fourie starts at 13.
danie Roussow for Heinrich Brussouw….that was a classic.
I have no idea what Bekker was doing there.
Hopefully that is the rustiness gone and the Boks can show some tempo and retention next weekend.
20 Jun 2009, 17:38 pm
#3 Road_Hog: It was a exciting game, to close for comfort in the end for the Bokke, but as you said, thats what makes rugby great and teh Lions tour so special.
Heads up to THE BEAST – What a game!!! I would love to shake that man’s hand and buy him a beer – he was excetional – scrumed old Vic away…
20 Jun 2009, 17:40 pm
The Lions will no doubt complain about the reffing.
hilarious.
we did offer better calibre refs, albeit they’d be south African…but they chose Bryce.
funny stuff.
But to be fair…he was pretty consistant and he could have carded at least 2 Lions for foul play.The Lions have no clue withregards to the laws of the breakdown, never mind interpretations.
…1. a player needs to support his own body weight.
2. you must come in from the last players feet, not from the side.
20 Jun 2009, 17:45 pm
Ricky Januarie – 4
Is that minus four? Because it should be.
20 Jun 2009, 17:46 pm
januarie sal ek -1 gee en spies n een.spies was nerens en moet onmiddellik deur schalk vervang word as die legende weer gesond is.januarie moet onmiddellik op n program geplaas word om gewig te verloor want ek is nou nog geskok deur die man se voorkoms.brussow het goed gedoen en verdien nog n kans in die span.
20 Jun 2009, 17:48 pm
Looks like Nick Cain was right. Pierre Spies really is a show-pony. It was hilarious to see him being man-handled at the back of the scrum by Mike Phillips.
20 Jun 2009, 17:49 pm
die beast se skrumwerk het taamlik verdag gelyk,alewig vir my gelyk hy skrum binnetoe in op vickery.
20 Jun 2009, 17:51 pm
#25 Viscount Crouchback: You know what I thought was funny? The Lions’scrum.
20 Jun 2009, 17:51 pm
#24 mk:
all the ball carriers where nowhere.
We didn’t put together of 1 stanza of 5 phases.
Lions had 7 or something.
But Spies and Juan Smith did fck up their lineout at the back.
How about Bekker and Januarie?
I do know if they knew whose team they where on.
To be fair, this game was only about winning, I am expecting next weekend to be far faster tempo with more attacking.
The closesness of the final score will ensure the Boks stay foccussed.
20 Jun 2009, 17:53 pm
The surgeons at Durbs mediclinic are busy with a -head-removal-from-the-arse case.
poor Vickery.
20 Jun 2009, 17:55 pm
#25 Viscount Crouchback:
no he was wrong.
the Lions lost the 1st test.
The one they where favorites to win.
they will get fcked at the highveld.
20 Jun 2009, 17:56 pm
#27 kaksioek:
Really? You should have been reading my posts. I predicted two weeks ago that the Lions scrum would be ordinary. You can’t play a midget at hooker and two willowy locks and expect to dominate.
But you ought to note that it was the Lions pack going forward from the moment Adam Jones and Matthew Rees came on.
I expect it to be even stevens in the scrum next week, and we’ll see whether the Bok defence can improve enough to keep out Roberts and O’Driscoll.
I suspect not.
20 Jun 2009, 18:00 pm
The Beast was a Monsterous Beast today !!
He made a mockery of Vickery…. henceforth Vickery will be known as Mockery !
20 Jun 2009, 18:03 pm
#31 Viscount Crouchback: Perhaps next week the Bok coach won’t make ridiculous substitutions. Either way, the Boks will win. As they will the week after that.
20 Jun 2009, 18:04 pm
#31 Viscount Crouchback:
you still will not see lineout ball and at altitude that is far more important.
Don’t forget, the Boks actually did zilch attacking.
Very conservative.
the only time there was quick recycled ball Smit scored.
The Lions will come unstuck big time.
and it actually starts on Tuesday.
They will lose against the emerging Boks as well.
20 Jun 2009, 18:09 pm
#34 St.Petersburgbok:
They didn’t do much attacking because they didn’t have the ball. A wobbly Lions scrum and line-out and still the Boks could only earn 40% of possession.
What will they earn next week when the Lions have sorted their set-piece out? 20%?
It’s a very dangerous game to kick so much ball away against such a potent attack.
20 Jun 2009, 18:11 pm
#35 Viscount Crouchback:
26-21…..and that is with the 60%.
You need to ask what the Boks will do with 60% next week.
20 Jun 2009, 18:16 pm
#36 St.Petersburgbok:
You’re being completely illogical.
It’s extremely unlikely that the Boks will do better at the set-piece or maul next week then they did today. They dominated the set-piece and only won 40%, so how will they win 60% next week? Only by kicking less and attacking more – and they’re obviously reluctant to do that.
It’s a Sharksesque gameplan – obsessed with territory above all else. And we saw in Super 14 that such tactics have their limitations.
The Boks need to pick-and-go more around the fringes. They have big enough men to make yardage and hold onto the ball. To kick away so much possession is asking for trouble against such an incisive attack.
20 Jun 2009, 18:22 pm
VISCOUNT HUNCHBACK !
BEAST shoved Vickery so hard that his eyes almost popped out,he was bleeding from the ears he got such a hammering.You were let into the game by P De Villiers taking off our best players,oh the curly haired garden gnome prop will not make much difference next week !
How about that maul the Boks shoved the Cubs way way back for Brussows little beauty !
20 Jun 2009, 18:27 pm
did anyone see bismarck threateing BOD hahaha BOD was shitting himself
20 Jun 2009, 18:27 pm
I agree however that pointless kicks were made when as you say we have the players to use the “pick and go”
Fourie must partner Jean next week,some good runs by Roberts
20 Jun 2009, 18:27 pm
#37 Viscount Crouchback: Dude just drop it you’re making urself look silly with all this singing your doing about next week. You LOST to a better team and will lose AGAIN next week and AGAIN the week after.
20 Jun 2009, 18:31 pm
39 yes,Bismarck is fiery but has a tendency to get a bit “vuil” now and then which can lead to penalties etc,
20 Jun 2009, 18:35 pm
#40 wpforever:
Precisely. The Boks almost seem happier playing without the ball. I think they’ve got carried away with hammering England on 40% possession at Twickenham and now think that’s the way to win every game.
But it doesn’t work so well when the opposition backline (unlike England’s last Autumn) actually poses a threat and when your own defence is distinctly shaky.
It’s a dangerous game, and I’d be surprised if the Boks didn’t opt for more pick-and-go next week.
20 Jun 2009, 18:36 pm
#37 Viscount Crouchback: Be brutaly honest… the Lions only managed parity and then a bit of dominance after 4 Bokke forwards were subbed… in total brainfart fashion…
If the subs were’nt made, the Bokke would have easily put 30 past the Lions… after all the Bokke led by 26 / 7 at the time of the subs…
Not true ??
Do you pray for useless subbing again next week at Loftus… cause that will be the Lions only possible saving grace.
20 Jun 2009, 18:44 pm
#18 ziyaad: Ag k@k man! Not Spies`s best game for sure, but he did more than you suggest.
20 Jun 2009, 18:46 pm
If Boks didn’t get all those penalties first half would have been another game altogether, another ref and another tighthead will change the dynamics of the game altogether.
Lions are way better through second and 3rd phases and through the back line, if we do not up our back line play 100% we can get done next time out with another ref not blowing the Lions right out of it.
Boks are extremely lucky the Lions first attack was held up over the line, then they lost it twice more over the try line, we got 2 sniffs and scored twice otherwise it was all about penalties and cool heads through the first half.
Lions dominated the game once the loose forward balance was thrown right apart through subbing Brussow, and once they gained ascendancy in the tight with Smit and Beast off it could have got really embarrassing if the first Phillips try or the Monye try over the line weren’t dropped.
20 Jun 2009, 18:46 pm
BEEEAAAAASSSSTTTT!
Huge game, will have to start composing lyrics and folk songs to remember him by.
20 Jun 2009, 18:48 pm
#34 St.Petersburgbok:
would love to see who is picked in that emerging bok side, could give them a very good go imo.
20 Jun 2009, 18:49 pm
Very accurate assessment of performances. I would also have to say that apart from our front row stepping up tp the challenge the rest of the Boks were decidely quiet and average today. Ruan did great considering his abscence.
One just never felt they ever clicked today. Perhaps a good sign of whats in store?
And I´d for once have to agree with Crouchback… we kicked away way too much possession and never chased well enough to warrant it.
20 Jun 2009, 18:50 pm
#44 grootblousmile:
But why were they subbed?
Because they are lard arses. Most of them were blowing from their backsides by half-time.
The Lions picked a pack to win on fitness, and it almost paid off them. And the Boks aren’t going to get any fitter in the space of one week.
If the game is tight after 60 minutes next week, then it’s Goodnight Pretoria. The Lions will be much too strong in the last twenty.
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