Boks rebound but not revived
28 Aug 2010
RYAN VREDE writes that the Springboks salvaged some pride in a 44-31 victory over Australia, but it only serves to plaster over the cracks in this team.
Doubtless there will be those who speak of the team having turned the corner. But such assertions are foolish. Since when have Australia, on the highveld, been an accurate measure of the Springboks? Heavyweights pit themselves against world-class heavyweights to establish their standing. The Wallabies in Pretoria are nothing more than super-middleweights – albeit ones who were allowed to punch above their weight for too long, squandering a 21-7 lead.
The scoreline suggests a classic, but don’t be fooled. This was one of the most inept defensive performances in Tri-Nations history, with both sides exhibiting the resistant qualities of a weathered, old barn door and the intensity of touch rugby players at the tackle point.
The Springboks were certainly the worse of the two for much of the contest, conceding four tries in the first half alone, three of them thanks to defensive incompetence of the very highest order. A year ago these same players were defensive giants, granitic in nature. Now they’re being dwarfed by an ordinary outfit.
Certainly the lack of a specialist openside flanker to stem the Wallabies’ attacking flow was a factor – coach Peter de Villiers’ selections exposed once more. Fatigue is another. You only get a sense of just how poorly conditioned some in this Bok side are when you see live how props Gurthro Steenkamp and Jannie du Plessis crawl from ruck to ruck, or how John Smit sucked in the highveld air like he was trying to drink wet concrete through a straw. His ongoing value as a player was illuminated when he was replaced by Chiliboy Ralepelle, who was very, very impressive.
There were those who stood out, Juan Smith the best of them yet again, but a better side (read New Zealand) would have demolished the Boks.
Barring some touches of class, their attacking play was equally woeful, lacking in creativity it was a hideous hybrid of inaccurate bombs – Frans Steyn the worst offender – and rudderless ball-in-hand play. That they scored five tries was more a reflection of a feeble and often generous effort from the visitors, than it was a polished attacking performance.
The Springboks fell behind 14-0 just seven minutes into the match, Will Genia profiting from a slipped tackle from the centurion Victor Matfield (it’s a curse), before Kurtley Beale danced through the midfield as if he were pitted against club rugby players, his run culminating in a try for James O’Connor.
The ease with which Juan Smith scored a minute later suggested defence wasn’t a priority for either side, but an elementary blunder from Bryan Habana directly from the restart saw O’Connor swoop on the loose ball to grab his brace.
When Gurthro Steenkamp rumbled over from a simple lineout drive and Morne Steyn added to two conversions with a 55m penalty, the Boks were back in business. But they then conceded a turnover on the Wallabies’ 22m and seconds later Robbie Deans’ charges’ were 28-17 up, Dean Mumm cantering over, leaving Giteau with an easy conversion.
Francois Hougaard crafted a try for Pierre Spies seven minutes before the break to keep the Boks in touch at 28-24, and when they managed to string together their best passage of play just thereafter – thanks in most part to displaying a level of control through the phases they hadn’t prior to that – one sensed the tide had turned.
Morne Steyn and Giteau exchanged penalties, before Frans Steyn touched down in the corner in the Boks’ best-structured try of the match. The Boks absorbed significant pressure and summoned some defensive solidity to deny the Wallabies, before Frans Steyn landed a long-range penalty to give them a six-point lead going into the closing stages.
Under pressure the Wallabies became increasingly cavalier, easing the defensive burden on the Boks and allowing them opportunities to have a crack at the breakdown. They effected a turnover with a minute to go and a couple of phases later JP Pietersen clinched the match.
Again a victory over a weak Australian side at altitude gains De Villiers a reprieve. But perspective must be maintained. The cracks are patent. This Wallaby team was just too poor, too inexperienced, to take advantage.
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567 Comments
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29 Aug 2010, 21:57 pm
@goyougoodthing2(goyougoodthing2)-549:
I think you’re missing SARUs mandate and constitution. As for developing the talent, just look at where the major unions sign that talent.
29 Aug 2010, 22:01 pm
@David(David)-551: I think you are missing the big picture. It doesn’t matter how good Johnny from McDorp is if he stays in McDorp.
The big Unions are the lifeblood of SARU. The dodgy dealings at the smaller unions don’t do much for rugby other than lining a few pockets.
Major metropoles have money and resources, it’s the way it works in a capitalistic society. If you wanna be a movie star, move to LA you can’t expect the directors to find you in Poffadder.
The way SARU is going about this is pathetic.
29 Aug 2010, 22:03 pm
@cab(cab)-527:
“when it comes to the big occasions we both know how the Bokke sometimes step up.
Fixed. Remember WRC2003? And what’s going on if you don’t think Tri-Nations is a big occasion?
29 Aug 2010, 22:15 pm
@goyougoodthing2(goyougoodthing2)-552:
Until the SWC, SARU had no option, other than to hire stadiums from the major unions for tests. Now they do. If you want to talk about capitalism and the free market, that’s exactly what SARU is doing. They’re choosing to go where they can make the most profit without being tied to the previous monopoly of the major unions stadiums.
29 Aug 2010, 22:24 pm
Anyway, I’m off to bed. Cheers guys.
29 Aug 2010, 22:27 pm
@David(David)-554: touche!!!!
29 Aug 2010, 22:45 pm
Chillyboy should seriously consider moving to the Lions:
That would leave each union with a springbok or more at hooker
Bulls – Gary Botha & Badise Maku
Cheetahs – Adriaan Strauss
Lions – Chillyboy Ralepelle
Sharks – Bismark Du Plessis & John Smit
Stormers – Tiaan Liebenberg & Hinyani Shimange
There are also promising youngsters in Deon Fourie, Craig Burden and Hannes Franklin..
29 Aug 2010, 22:47 pm
@Rhys7(Rhys7)-557:
That would also make his bok selection fair because he would be starting at a union in a super rugby tournament and if he played like he did at Loftus then his performances justify his inclusion…
29 Aug 2010, 23:19 pm
I read that game completely different from this article.
There were a couple of defensive errors yes, but the first 3 tries cored by the Wallabies were as a result of good pressure from them, fantastic stepping by Beale et al, and turnovers. That is VERY difficult to defend. But that defence is easy to remedy.
What was better this game was the realisation by the Boks that keeping ball in hand is key. there was none of that kick chase **** in their half for once Instead, there was pateint buildu pin intensity, and scoring tries as a result. Yes, it was a little rusty (hey when last have they done it?) but it marked a change in attitude. Forcing THEM to defend for long periods causes THEM to get tired as well as us for a change.
Because kleeping ball in and is more effective than kick chase, the only weak point is turnovers. We were still not slick in controlling our ball – until the end, when we started to click- and the turnovers were the result. You expects to have tries scored against you in the new game if you have attacking mistakes, but you must also expect to score more than them in the long run. This is a GREAT change in attitude, and the result showed that even when we do it badky, teh laws work for us, and we can get a result. Now we must just get better at doing it.
Hougaard is good at realising exactly when we have “earned the right” to go wide. He still makes a few mistakes, but will get better with more play. He is also a great playmaker with good awareness.
Now if we can just teach the Bok forwards to offload in the tackle, and the Bok backs to use the hand-off more constructively. It really is something that is lacking in the SA game. The aussies and Kiwis use it extensively from their exposure to league over here, where fending and offloading is critical. if their smallr guys can do it effectively, imagine what our bigger guys with longer arms can do with it. But they rarely even try.
30 Aug 2010, 01:06 am
@SjamBok(SjamBok)-559:
Totally agree!
This game was one of the best I have ever seen, only some mistakes led to try’s, but that is common in every game. Looking forward to next weeks game now!
30 Aug 2010, 01:15 am
@SjamBok(SjamBok)-559: I fully agree. Great to see the Boks finally score a few tries. Defense wins world cups and the best defense is to attack. The notion of defending the whole time is mind-blowingly inept. All that does is increase the chances the opposition has to score by gifting them more opportunities to attack you. Meanwhile, they don’t have to worry about defending too much and are more than happy to keep attacking whilst the defenders fatigue at a quicker rate.
Indeed the Kiwis are masters at offloading. It really breaks down the oppositions defense, and its not just the backs but the forwards doing it as well.
Smith, Spies, and Fourie are the only ones I can think of in the Bok team who fend. The first try that Smith scored showed how useful a fend is.
30 Aug 2010, 01:37 am
Congratulations Bokke.
30 Aug 2010, 01:49 am
So much for Pocock, I thought he was ordinary, no link play, AWOL in defence. Fetching is one thing, but there are more dimensions to a 7s play than he showed on Saturday.
30 Aug 2010, 03:24 am
@Black Magic(Black Magic)-563: bit harsh to judge him off one game? as I recall he looked to be carrying an injury in the last 3N match.
30 Aug 2010, 05:48 am
Some more past players getting stuck into the poor reffing and manipulation of the system by Paddy Doos.
News24
And yet the dubious officiating of the (mostly) northern hemisphere referees and touch judges in Bok matches this season goes on.
Now not for a second do I think South Africa would suddenly be looking a million dollars if it weren’t for a catalogue of infuriatingly skewed calls against them.
Yet rank refereeing inconsistency, especially in the area of foul play, continues to dog them and I was so pleased that Breyton Paulse animatedly revisited the Ben Franks shoulder charge (er, sorry, apparently wholly permissible clean-out, Mr Owens?) on Juan de Jongh in the Soweto thriller against the All Blacks last weekend.
Koue Bokkeveld farm lad Paulse will be remembered as fairly soft-spoken, unassuming and even introverted during his playing career, but he has notably come out of his shell as he gains experience as a TV pundit.
And there was no holding him back when KykNet’s SuperRugby chat programme on Monday re-ran the Franks incident.
It seemed clear as the living daylight that the All Blacks tighthead led with his shoulder — or at least very high upper arm — as he smashed into a prone De Jongh at a ruck.
The tenacious centre took the blow smack in the proverbial chops yet didn’t make a meal of it, to his credit. (His “reward”, needless to say, was no action being taken against the offender whatsoever.)
“If that had been Bakkies … 10 weeks,” said Paulse forthrightly and only in very, very partial jest as studio allies Kobus Wiese and Ashwin Willemse nodded in resigned agreement.
He also queried, again rightly, the fact that the Bok camp did not appear to make a post-match issue out of it.
SuperRugby replayed another incident in which, after a collision between the two near a corner flag, Richie McCaw appeared to poke Schalk Burger unnecessarily in the face. One wonders what the (again unmoved) officials might have done had the incident occurred the other way around?
Mccaw strikes Burger in the eyes more like it/ Not to forget the scratch marks under Smits and Flips eyes.
30 Aug 2010, 08:34 am
Maybe they didn’t make an issue out of it because there was nothing in it, just like how Smits and Flips didn’t make any allegations against Mccaw because nothing happened.
Man the players aren’t little whining girls blaming the ref’s they know where the problems are. These explayers and a minority of whining supporters are creating a whole new phenomenom of the whinging Bok which used to be limited to the poms, not the SA way guys.
30 Aug 2010, 10:54 am
That’s right Dex take it like a man
Our compeitors have painted us as dirty and get away with what we don’t
Why is that cos real men don’t whingw well that’s why the kiwis get away with it
They whinge and we get cards
Wise up we need to get smart and not allow teams to get the better of us
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