What a sham
30 Aug 2010
MARK KEOHANE, in his weekly Business Day column, says Saturday’s match at Loftus wasn’t Test rugby.
The Sydney Morning Herald’s statisticians had the Springboks missing 40 tackles and the Wallabies 26. Scrum.com had the two teams missing ‘only’ 18 and official broadcaster of the Tri Nations Test in Pretoria, SuperSport, had the two teams slipping tackles 38 times.
A few weeks ago the All Blacks beat the Wallabies 20-10 in Christchurch. Four tackles were missed in the match. That was Test rugby. Saturday’s effort was touch rugby at its best, and in the opening quarter both teams should have worn yellow so cowardly was the attempt to make a tackle.
There can’t be a more embarrassing miss than Wallabies winger Drew Mitchell waving Juan Smith through while some of the Springboks’ first up tackles were clumsy attempts at a cuddle more than a tackle. Maybe there is a bit more love between these two sides given the willingness to massage each other’s attacking egos in an opening 20 minutes in which players from both teams mocked the ethos of Test rugby.
There are those who will think Saturday’s nine tries represented a thriller and one of the great games between these two countries, but I can’t count myself among them. I’d like to think of Test rugby as a contest where one guy runs hard and the other attempts to tackle hard. This was a sham.
Bok scrumhalf Francois Hougaard’s cross cover tackle on Adam Ashley-Cooper in the 59th minute was a quality, but standard, effort in Test rugby. On Saturday you would have thought Hougaard had bought the Mountain to Loftus such was the reaction of his teammates and the shock on the faces of the Aussies. My God, somebody had made a tackle.
Butch James, on for Morne Steyn in the last 20 minutes, then smashed into an Aussie on three thunderous occasions and that was the collective defensive mongrel of a side famed for its intensity on defence. If the four missed tackles in Christchurch characterized the evening, then in Pretoria it was the fact that only four good ones were made.
The attack from both sides was mesmerizing. Then again when you watch the Harlem Globetrotters play exhibition basketball matches, when the opposition make no attempt to stifle their attacking genius, the attack usually is, and it showed that South African players are as skilled as the Australians and even more intelligent.
The Aussies survive on a mystique that they are the most intellectual rugby side on the planet but they played some of the dumbest rugby in the last quarter, whereas South Africa, stereotyped as the dummies of the world order, produced variety and composure to win a match that should have ended 50-all to make the farce complete.
Australia led 21-7 after 10 minutes but all four tries were gifts of love and seemed like a celebration that neither was contending with a black wave of attack or defence. The charity was unprecedented and despite the early advantage the Australians never controlled the game because their set phase vulnerability would not allow for this luxury.
Wallabies hooker Saia Faingaa followed the same path of his predecessors who have bottled it in South Africa when confronted with the imposing lineout presence of Victor Matfield. Australia had lost their primary lineout jumper Nathan Sharpe by the time Faingaa’s hands turned to jelly, but you could have put King Kong in a yellow jersey on Saturday and Faingaa would have missed his target.
In the build-up to the Test I wrote that the only three certainties are death, paying taxes and a Wallabies defeat to the Boks at the Highveldt. I also reminded those despairing of the Boks that whenever a Bok team needs a pick me up look to the Wallabies in South Africa. If only their cricketers were as soft upstairs when they passed through customs at OR Tambo International Airport.
The Wallabies don’t win easily in South Africa and that is why there is so little to be read into this Bok win. Even Rudolf Straeuli’s chaotic tenure as Bok coach produced back to back wins in 2002 and 2003 against a bloody good Australian team in South Africa – an Aussie team that had won the World Cup in 1999 and would beat the All Blacks in the 2003 World Cup semi-final.
There was more intensity in the weekend’s Currie Cup fixtures than in the Test match in Pretoria and that says everything about an international fixture that should be remembered for its betrayal of the values of Test rugby.
364 Comments
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31 Aug 2010, 18:16 pm
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-349: that has been my stance from the get…
31 Aug 2010, 18:17 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-347:
It’s just that, in the industry I work in, safety is EVERYTHING!
It’s all round you. We beat them to death with safety regulations.
Colour codes, cards, sirens, induction upon induction, paperwork, backup procedures, house keeping etc.
I am angry at the police not giving sufficient heed to protocol, and now one of their own is dead.
I hope if anything, this case is a dark reminder and textbook example of what NOT to do, and hope that the best can come of this situation, and that the police pull their socks up.
31 Aug 2010, 18:20 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-351:
Coupled with this, the polices general unprofessionalism and disregard for regulation, sees so many people murdered with service arms.
Their bungling and incompetence has seen justice denied for thousands of law abiding citizens.
31 Aug 2010, 18:22 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-351:
(BTW, this post 353 is why I included the last paragraph of post 306, not to be sensationalist or inflammatory, I was trying to paint the milieu).
31 Aug 2010, 18:25 pm
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-306: Hell, thats an illuminating angle.
31 Aug 2010, 18:30 pm
@WP Till I Die(WP-Forever)-339: Eish, an equally illuminating post. Now this is what you call a debate.
31 Aug 2010, 18:32 pm
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-345: Eish, CSI Pretoria. Good reading…
31 Aug 2010, 18:34 pm
@Taahirah(Taahirah)-335: Eish good response
31 Aug 2010, 18:37 pm
@WP Till I Die(WP-Forever)-339:
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-345:
@Taahirah(Taahirah)-335:
Classy debate, no racial insinuations. Good stuff on an uncomfortable subject…
Hopefully that shuts up the lynchmob…
31 Aug 2010, 18:37 pm
Agree with you Keo, I can’t stand these 10 try games. The AB’s game was one of the best I have seen, outside of a WC.
Close close matches in NZ under Jake rate the same to me. Intense, massive defense, that’s what I love to see
31 Aug 2010, 23:29 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-359:
Reports say that the brother of the deceased metro cop, Taubokong Mohale, shouted at Bees Roux at court yesterday:
“I’m going to get your mother, you f*cking dog”
This is now after his familiy released a statement to the media that they “Hold no grudges against Bees”.
This tells me two things:
1) They released the initial statement in order to appear saintly and in an effort to contrast themselves with Bees and his alleged actions.
2) This tells me something about the attitude with which these men were raised.
Tonight on the news, in front of the cameras we have the exact same Taubokong Mohale saying:
“God, the Big Man upstairs, must see to it that justice is done…..”
I wonder if that entails Taubokong Mahole torturing Bees Roux’s mother to death?
1 Sep 2010, 00:38 am
Keo – agree, our defense was rubbish for the first 30 minutes or so.
But none of the tries WE scored were particularly soft – Jaun’s was a classic switch, wrong-footing everyone and with a great hand-off, Guthro’s was pure power, Spies’ try was persistent phase play with some brilliance from Hougaard, Frans’ try, although a bit lucky was again well deserved and from good play and so was JP’s at the end.
The fact that we were 14 points down so soon meant that for the first time we had to PLAY rugby rather than this non-sense of kicking the ball away at every opportunity and “keeping it tight”. I have always maintained that if we play to our attacking strengths and back ourselves, we can beat any side, even the AB’s. True, to beat the All Blacks you have to defend better than we did on Sat, but I can’t help but feel that we are wasting the incredible talent of JdV, Jacques Fourie, Habana, JP, Aplon etc…
Of course, you need to play with intensity, use the forwards to soften the guys up before you go wide…. But for GOODNESS sake, GO WIDE, use the backs and play rugby that doesn’t bore the average rugby fan to tears. The new law interpretations are designed to benefit teams that play ball-in-hand attacking rugby. Hasn’t the success of the AB’s show us this this season!!!??? So how come you and your team of writers continue with this tripe about playing for territory and focussing on the kick chase.
Yes, the first 20 minutes were a bit ridiculous, but after this it was awesome rugby – because for the first time this year we actually HAD to play to try and win it.. I think it was a classic match, with the result in doubt until JP’s try. Yes, sometimes a tight, intense game is enjoyable, but on the whole I prefer Saturday’s kind of game to the boring game we had in the WC final with no tries ,everybody being to scared to make a mistake and everybody playing conservative, boring rugby. In the group phase we should have beaten the English 50 – 0 , so why the heck did we let it get so close in the final of the WC? Should have killed them again!
Thank goodness for the new law interpretations! At least it is making rugby into the spectacle that it should be. Maybe, just maybe the Springbok team will realise that they can stop playing old style bash-it-up-and-kick-rugby, and rather play the total rugby that PdV spoke about when he started. If we do, we’ll kick serious butt, and the only team that will be able to beat us will be the AB’s on a very good day, especially once we have Brussouw and Du Preez back.
2 Sep 2010, 12:51 pm
@Viking(Viking)-362:
SA Rugby Manual:
1 – “Look for space along the length of the field”
2 – “if you see space… kick into it”
NZ Rugby Manual:
1 – “Look for space across the width of the field”
2 – “If you see space, get your inside backs (10/12) to draw defenders (not try to run through the defenders)
3 – Get your outside backs to utilise it
That is why, even on attack our backs stand still and flat, and when they get the ball they don’t know what to do with it and they are thinking “Why The F.. didn’t Morne kick the ball!!” LOL
2 Sep 2010, 12:55 pm
@Bell(Bell)-363: footnote to point 2 of NZ Manual: *Please excuse Ma’a, he doesn’t always understand the difference between “draw” and “bulldoze”. Much like Francois Steyn, except he can’t kick.
LOL…
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