Boks burst Poms’ bubble
27 Nov 2010
SIMON BORCHARDT reports on the Springboks’ 21-11 win against England at Twickenham.
All the talk this week was how England had finally turned the corner under Martin Johnson, while the Boks were going backwards under Peter de Villiers. That may still prove to be the case, but on Saturday it was the visitors who dished out all the punishment to record their seventh consecutive victory against these opponents.
The Bok pack was immense, dominating the collisions and set-pieces, and while Bismarck du Plessis was named Man of the Match it could have gone to any of the heavies. The Bok backs were less impressive, making too many handling errors and lacking penetration on attack, but it didn’t matter as England were a shadow of the team that smashed the Wallabies two weeks ago.
In fact, South Africa should have had the game wrapped up by half-time, instead of being level at 6-6.
With the rain and snow staying away, the Boks signalled their intentions by running the ball inside their 22 from the first kick-off. They continued to play with width and used the kick-chase just once in those 40 minutes.
Up front, England’s scrum struggled at first, conceding two free kicks and a penalty for early engagements, the latter which Morne Steyn kicked to make it 3-3.
The Boks were outstanding at lineout time, getting quick ball off throws to the back on three occasions, with Victor Matfield, Pierre Spies and then Juan Smith used as the jumper. England’s problems in that area were compounded when Tom Croft was injured at the end of the first quarter, which meant they had just two jumpers up against the Boks’ three.
South Africa should have scored a try on the 20-minute mark after a horrible mistake from England fullback Ben Foden, who chose to run the ball out of his 22, got into trouble, and threw a panicked pass over the deadball line. The Boks attacked from the resultant 5m scrum, and a few phases later Matfield reached for the tryline and lost possession, when he had men on his outside. Soon after, the Boks tapped a kickable penalty only to give up the ball again.
South Africa also let themselves down with the boot in the first half, as Morne and Frans Steyn hit the upright and Morne missed a straightforward drop goal just before the break.
England must have wondered how they were still in the game at that stage. They had been awful, knocking on four times in the first 10 minutes, conceding eight penalties to the Boks’ four in the half and having had just 23% of the ball between the 25th and 35th minutes. When their backs did get possession, they failed to make it count, and Toby Flood’s tactical kicking was poor.
The hosts had more possession in the second half, but the Bok defence stood firm.
Morne Steyn’s third penalty put South Africa back in front, and as the game entered the final quarter, a lineout drive resulted in a try in the right corner for Willem Alberts, who is fast becoming the team’s super sub. Lwazi Mvovo then sealed the win with 10 minutes to go when he stepped inside off his wing and beat two England defenders to score his first Test try.
Foden’s interception in the final minute gave the scoreline some respectability for England, but he and his team-mates will know that they were lucky to get within 10 points of their opponents and have work to do before next year’s World Cup.
While the victory will be satisfying for the Boks, it doesn’t change the fact that they have had a poor year. But at least they’ll go into 2011 with realistic hopes of turning things around.
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1,171 Comments
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28 Nov 2010, 17:34 pm
some guys here just want to be presidential. they want to have a legacy, something to be remembered by. like…
clinton- cigars
berlusconi- railing coke of a models wicket
bush- uhm?
blair- W’s puppet
sarkozy- hot wife
JZ- making babies
in the world of keo u pick the most contentious, and drum it in everyday/
players used for blogging legacy:
plod
fdp
spies
28 Nov 2010, 17:38 pm
@goyougoodthing2(goyougoodthing2) : cant see how a f a r t can be an irritant to a f a r t?
28 Nov 2010, 17:41 pm
@Slumtown(Slumtown) : Maybe it’s like magnetism. You know, 2 norths repel each other.
Maybe a GrandFart Master has issues with mixing theirs with others. Like taking a Pinot and mixing it with a Cab…
28 Nov 2010, 17:42 pm
@Slumtown(Slumtown) :
Sure, they’re all good players, I agree, but where is that innate ability to break lines, support the ball carrier and ability to offload? Who are the players who really spark excitement when on attack? Somewhere, the system is stifling the ability to size up or read a situation and act on it in the knowledge that other players will be actively supporting him and in a position to continue the attack? WP/Sormers did it a couple of times, but it’s the exception rather than an integral part of our play.
28 Nov 2010, 17:45 pm
@goyougoodthing2(goyougoodthing2) : @Slumtown(Slumtown) :
f arting on a f art is not disrespectful at all, however its more solid parent would say, pooping on poop is as insulting as it gets.
28 Nov 2010, 17:58 pm
@goyougoodthing2(goyougoodthing2) : Well then good for him.
@mainland(mainland) : Dis hom!
@Slumtown(Slumtown) : Yes, but even at his most lucid he’s hardly the wise scibe telling anyone they didn;t already know. It just seems like it compared to the usual kuk.
28 Nov 2010, 18:00 pm
@goyougoodthing2(goyougoodthing2) : Or in your case, Cab with coke
28 Nov 2010, 18:19 pm
@David(David) : Yeah I hear what your saying.
28 Nov 2010, 18:21 pm
Just saw this review of the match and had a good laugh:
The opening exchanges were so bloody that they made England’s great win over Australia look like a volleyball match. This was a true Boer War.
There was nothing fancy about South Africa’s performance; in fact their set moves were largely shambolic.
But they fell back on the fundamental values of Springbok rugby: pound after pound of braii-fed, Veldt-bred muscle, slamming into tackle and charge until the opposition no longer know what day it is.
The pounding they inflicted on England in the first half left Johnson’s men with so many bashed heads, dead legs and bruised ribcages that you might have expected to see a field hospital erected on South Africa’s 22-metre line. It wouldn’t have interfered with play much, as England hardly managed to reach that far up the field.
Pretty accurate assesment I would say and the MAIN reason we won yesterday – NOT because our dimwit coach all of a sardine became a Graham Henry clone or a Robbie Deans of rugby. Tactics were not much different from before except for less kicking.
28 Nov 2010, 19:18 pm
@ET(ET) : Philly Steak 909. Thanks for this. I was very worried actually.
Do they ever show Leeds games by teh way?
28 Nov 2010, 19:18 pm
@David(David) :
The Test referees are the man factor today in decided the results
It was only last week The Boks lost to the Scots – who surely have a stronger Tight Fives than the Poms and possibly of that of the Boks – Under Dickinson, but under Irish referee the Boks destroyed the Poms despite their shambolic scrums and their frequent off sides at the rucks.
Australia was whacked by the Poms under the Rolex collector Craig Joubert as the referee, from there the Wallabies went on to effortlessly destroyed the Frogs in Paris!
does it all make rugby sense?
28 Nov 2010, 19:39 pm
@mainland(mainland) : What about if it’s a girlfart? They are rare we know, but surely you wouldn’t want to disrepect such a rare thing with a manfart?
29 Nov 2010, 00:32 am
It appears that now England have joined the New Zealand/Australian/Irish-conspiracy to
S A V E
K R U S T Y !!!!
29 Nov 2010, 01:10 am
@Black Panther(Black Panther) : hehehehe
good to see messrs Johnson and co received the “save krusty” email..
you know Johnson spent time playing in NZ as a youngster, thats when we indoctrinated him to the ABs and POB being all omnipotent..
we have bleddy agents everywhere I tells ya..
29 Nov 2010, 01:23 am
Well done Bokke, belted the bejeesus out of England.
29 Nov 2010, 04:14 am
Well done Bokke well done Pops for predicting the win
I was right getting Adi in and Fatsteyn back where he belongs at fullback
So what is an acceptable win ratio for rugbys biggest playing nation…
Best so far is 64% me nothing short of 100%
29 Nov 2010, 04:20 am
@KevinRack(KevinRack) : good win for your boys Kevin, they really turned up on the weekend… it was good to see from a neutral standpoint, probably their best performance all season…
they were in a similar situation as the ABs at Eden park, and responded in kind too…
29 Nov 2010, 09:26 am
Great win by the boks. Dominant performance. What this tour proved (besides Scotland game which the guys werent up for) is that we have a pack that can beat any pack in the world. This bodes well for next year. We have our platform now just to use it with the backs.
29 Nov 2010, 13:32 pm
@iori Yagami(iori Yagami) :
hmmm.
Bodes well for the boks…lost to scotland, wallabies and ABs and all this bodes well for the bokke.
Wallabies have beaten the boks, ABs, France (six nations champions) and you say we are not title contenders!!
Things that make you say HMMMMM!!
30 Nov 2010, 14:13 pm
The boks will be serious contenders for the world cup without a doubt. The coach is rubbish and a flyhalf who is more than 1-dimensional (Ruan Pienaar perhaps) would certainly help but the return of Brussouw – a genuine world class fetcher should bring them back to the field after a trying 2010.
God help the other teams if they manage to find a flyhalf…
1 Dec 2010, 22:14 pm
1169. wallabie.(wallabie.) :
And in response things that make you say Hmmmmph?
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