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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28 Aug 2010, 18:58 pm
Drop Habana
28 Aug 2010, 18:58 pm
Congrats Boks
28 Aug 2010, 18:59 pm
Hougaardt is awesome, dragons
28 Aug 2010, 19:00 pm
Bad defence. Bad referee. Doesn’t know how to referee a maul. Australia got away with pulling down one attacking maul, and coming in from the side in another.
28 Aug 2010, 19:02 pm
Drop Helium, D.i.c.k. and Old.
28 Aug 2010, 19:02 pm
@coherence(coherence)-4:
Let’s go there. He was equally “okay”.
28 Aug 2010, 19:03 pm
CHILLIBOY WAS INCREDIBUL ! HUGE EFFORT AND PROVED ALL OF US HE IS THE BEST NO 2 IN SA ! THE CRITICS CAN SHUT UP NOW !
28 Aug 2010, 19:03 pm
There were almost always overlaps outwide that the defensive line never closed down. There was no drifting in defense, and usually no effective rushing up either. The Bok coaches know very little about this area of the game. It’s strange because D. Muir was such a good defensive coach in the Super 14.
28 Aug 2010, 19:06 pm
There is similarities between Lions defense and Boks, what’s the common denominator between the two teams ?
This team needs two players, Basson (wing) and Vermeulen (loose forward).
Ralapelle is far superior that JW’s boy – Smit.
28 Aug 2010, 19:08 pm
Brilliant Boks. Agree Habana must go …conceded 4 tries in 2 games!! Centres pair outstanding!!
28 Aug 2010, 19:09 pm
Muir was a good defensive coach in S14, that’s plain joke. His team, the Lions, lost all matches and by big margins.
28 Aug 2010, 19:10 pm
#10 Zandberg, talking from beyond, you have awesome wisdom. Once again nice holding on boks
28 Aug 2010, 19:11 pm
@coherence(coherence)-8: lot of changes might’ve affected that, plus they dropped the best defending 13
28 Aug 2010, 19:13 pm
@coherence(coherence)-8:
Cannot agree with that. By the time DM got to the Lions they where completely f&^*^ up.
Best thing they can do is rest the senior players and prep for the Cup next year.
28 Aug 2010, 19:13 pm
Haban was dropped by White and Heyneke Meyer, his trip down south has been totally unsuccessful.
28 Aug 2010, 19:13 pm
OCO’s prediction 100% correct. Congratulations.
Boks under pressure until BJ comes on. Smacks opponents back and the ball, for the first time, actually gets to the wings.
JdV, Habbana, Spies, M. Steyn should be dropped.
End of story.
Did I mention congrats to myself? OK, guess I did.
Also drop the dom *** WP/N.TvL commentators who obviously no idea and can’t even understand reality.
I should also mention congrats to the BB faithful who booed BJ on his conversion attempt. Guess you took the stupid booing award from WP?
28 Aug 2010, 19:14 pm
@Big Hit(Big Hit)-13: The problem of not drifting in defense has been there throughout the Tri-Nations. It has little to do with replacements.
28 Aug 2010, 19:15 pm
Francois Hougaardt is the type of ‘new’ legs we need.
28 Aug 2010, 19:17 pm
gio & juan MUST b there…these old tarts need 2 go!! incl victor, john, habana, spies
28 Aug 2010, 19:18 pm
@OCO(OCO)-16: Butch was monstrous, a joy to watch for those who appreciate the collisions, nailed that kick at the end too
28 Aug 2010, 19:18 pm
@OCO(OCO)-16: hiyas oco
south africans must be by far the worst supporters of sport in the world
28 Aug 2010, 19:18 pm
BTW, it would have been a ‘no contest’ if Kanko had played instead of Spies. The first try Spies scored anyone could have done it, the second ‘attempt’ Kanko would have gone over unoppossed. Spies is a Dianosaur and should take up shot put or something. Also slipped more tackles than any other player (except maybe JdV).
28 Aug 2010, 19:19 pm
@OCO(OCO)-16: oh and congrats
28 Aug 2010, 19:20 pm
@Big Hit(Big Hit)-20:
yes a joy that has been with-held because he doesn’t fit the ‘WP and NTvL players ubber alles’ mentality of the Bok (so called) management.
28 Aug 2010, 19:20 pm
Bryan should be booted. Not sure about Frans Steyn. F Hougaard is turning into a legend, like I said before. Butch hasn’t got the goods, nearly killed himself making that big hit. Morne kicked well. And Ryan’s squeezing sensationalism out of it.
28 Aug 2010, 19:21 pm
@OCO(OCO)-16: I thought JdeV had a great game.
28 Aug 2010, 19:22 pm
Hahahaha! The most amusing thing i Have SEEN ALL DAY, like concrete through a straw!
In Knots I laugh, with tears streaming from my drunken face, I stagger out into the star filled Namibian skies…. to light my fire…… Like Cement through a straw….. Haw! Haw! HAw!…. aah! Com’on okies…. that’;s fekkin funny….
28 Aug 2010, 19:24 pm
@sharks_lover(sharks_lover)-21:
Some of the supporters who fel that if the team isn’t 100% Wp/NTvl then they’re not up to scratch.
As I’ve always maintained, the SA side should be equally divided amongst the best players irrespective of Province. However, 2 provinces, namely WP and NTvL believe they have the better players and the results thus far show exactly the stupidity of that assumption.
28 Aug 2010, 19:24 pm
Chilli is amazing. The future of rugby. Future captain.
28 Aug 2010, 19:25 pm
Hougie outplayed Genia completely.
FdP did a good job preparing his successor.
28 Aug 2010, 19:25 pm
geluk bokke ! nie dat dit gord was nie
28 Aug 2010, 19:26 pm
@David(David)-26: So did I. He was into tackling everything and looked dangerous a few times on attack as well.
28 Aug 2010, 19:28 pm
@Washier(Washier)-25:
Lost the ball in contact, missed tackles resulting in trys? You a great game by JDev once more.
I should also mention poor Habs that was castigated because he went for an intrecpt try. JDeV has lsot more points than he gained becuase of trying intercepts – but then again, the BB/WP commentators don’t seem to pick up on this.
However, he did play better today that previously but I suspect that JF with DJ could be a better combo.
28 Aug 2010, 19:29 pm
Folks we should not get over ourselves and need some perspective. Seems to me that the SA Bokke players, BB’s in particular, have developed a serious problem in playing away. After the S14 it seems a bit of a mystery, I really hope this is a temporary clinch as the WC is in NZ & we were dismal over there this year.
28 Aug 2010, 19:30 pm
@RedLion is born again(RL)-30:
Hougie played well – after the first 30 minutes. I felt, and he said, that playing with BJ made the difference. The whole team came alive when BJ entered the foray – same as in Oz when the Boks put on 2 tries when BJ repalced MS.
28 Aug 2010, 19:32 pm
Australia threw away so many scoring chances. They should have easily won this game. In my opinion they were the better team today. Hopefully next week they will convert their missed chances into points next week and finish of the sa tour with a win.
28 Aug 2010, 19:34 pm
@OCO(OCO)-28:
Why wouldn’t WP and NTvl believe they currently have the best players? Both of them played in the Super final recently – isn’t it logical?
28 Aug 2010, 19:35 pm
@permelsy(permelsy)-36: If they were the better team, why did they lose?
Sport is about winning a contest. If you don’t win, then that almost always mean you were inferior – even if that means not adapting to the referee.
28 Aug 2010, 19:36 pm
Spies and F Steyn was not on par. Although they both scored, Spies is so poor defensively.
28 Aug 2010, 19:37 pm
This must be the worst articles I have ever read in my life…
28 Aug 2010, 19:38 pm
Frans Steyn – 5
JP – 6
J Fourie – 7
J de Villiers – 7
Habana – 4
Steyn – 8
Hougaardt – 9
Spies – 7
Juan – 9
Burger – 7
Flip – 6
in’VICTER’US – 8
Jannie – 6
Smit – 6
Steenkamp – 8
Butch – 5
Chili-man – 6
CJ – 6
Row’sou-7
28 Aug 2010, 19:38 pm
Much beter performance , but i believe our top players deserve a break from the game , what do we have to lose ? lets give the younsters that feeling of big rugby , we have the players from all over. Well hope i guys don’t burn out
28 Aug 2010, 19:39 pm
@lepel(lepel)-40: Agreed. But I must say, this space is fun
28 Aug 2010, 19:39 pm
@lepel(lepel)-40: Coming back from 21 – 7 (and yes, we were rubbish in getting to this position), against the Aussies is very good.
Ryan, stop believing that only the All Blacks can play rugby and that the Springboks are necessarily the best team in the world. We were WAY behind and should’ve been dead and burried, but we fought back tremendously well.
28 Aug 2010, 19:40 pm
@coherence(coherence)-38: They lost because of their missed chances in the second half.Even with these missed chances they still looked far more dangerous on attack than the boks. The boks were lucky to get their last two tries. Overall the Australians did play a superior brand of rugby. I look forward to the game next week. Austalia 1 – South Africa 1, so its the decider.
28 Aug 2010, 19:40 pm
@Washier(Washier)-37:
Duh! No.
In an international one is playing against the best that the Oppo has to offer, not 7 good players. BB managed to suck in players becuase of their forwards play leaving gaps in the oppo defense. At international level its’ Manno-a-maano’ so the players don’t get sucked in and the backline has to produce. WP and BB backline alone don’t cut it when they have opposition. Very simple really.
28 Aug 2010, 19:43 pm
@Zandberg Jansen(Zandberg Jansen)-41:
Frans Steyn – 7
JP – 7
J Fourie – 7
J de Villiers – 3
Habana – 3
Steyn – 3
Hougaardt – 8
Spies – 2
Juan – 9
Burger – 6
Flip – 2
in’VICTER’US – 8
Jannie – 4
Smit – 6
Steenkamp – 7
Butch – 9
Chili-man – 3
CJ – 5
Row’sou-8
28 Aug 2010, 19:44 pm
Not a perfect performance by any means, but we showed great heart to come back from the fiasco that was the first 10 minutes. That really impressed me.
Contary to what has been written by some on this blog, I thought that Pierre, JDV and Morne had much improved games. the trend comtinue. Francois Hougaard has proven me wrong in my skepticism of his ability to transition from 11 after not playing 9 for so long. He was great, both in broken play and behimd his pack. He really has an infectious energy.
Smit had an improved game from previous weeks. Well done Captain, lots to still do, but you put in a lot of work today.
28 Aug 2010, 19:44 pm
Ja, but what about the cement through the straw…. hehehehe!
28 Aug 2010, 19:45 pm
@permelsy(permelsy)-36: For the first forty minutes.. Yes. After that they thought the game was won and stopped playing. An old adage about rugby and 80 minutes comes to mind…
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