Saracens 24 SA 23
17 Nov 2009
Keo.co.za brought you live commentary from the midweek clash at Wembley Stadium.
80 mins: Saracens work down the clock as they run the ball through the forwards to cap off a great comeback. Hougaard stands in the pocket and kicks the ball into the stands. The home team celebrates as the disappointment is clear on the South African players’ faces. South Africa lose their third successive European tour match. Saracens win 24-23!
75 mins: Hougaard’s persistence with kicking a drop goal pays off as he finally slots his fifth attempt and Saracens get a one-point lead with five minutes remaining. 24-23 to Saracens!
70 mins: South Africa make a host of changes at a crucial stage of the match. One wonders if this is a wise decision, considering Saracens are within reach.
69 mins: Saracens reduce the deficit to two points as Hougaard converts an easy penalty attempt. 23-21 to South Africa!
62 mins: South Africa try! The Springboks steal a Saracens lineout and gather possession. The ball is then passed out wide for the counter-attack, and Nokwe runs in at the corner for his second after good interplay between the back three. Pienaar misses the conversion but South Africa regain the lead. 23-18 to South Africa!
61 mins: Saracens win a penalty as they out-scrum the South African pack. However, Hougaard continues his average performance with the boot as he misses target. This could prove costly.
60 mins: The next quarter will be a big test for South Africa’s character as momentum is clearly with the Saracens.
59 mins: Hougaard kicks his third ambitious drop goal attempt, but the fans boo as the pivot fails to clear the cross-bar again.
54 mins: Saracens try! After a marginal call from the referee, the home side is awarded a scrum close to South Africa’s try line. Inside centre Brad Barritt gets the ball at first receiver and runs through the dismal South African defence for his side’s second try. Hougaard kicks the extras. The score is level, 18-all!
46 mins: Saracens try! Replacement No 9 Francois Hougaard’s kick from the scrum is charged down by Ernst Joubert. The No 8 then dives on the loose ball for the first points in the second stanza. 18-11 to South Africa!
42 mins: Hougaard takes an early drop goal attempt, but his kick goes wide.
Half-time: Saracens 6 South Africa 18
39 mins: Saracens are awarded a penalty on the stroke of half-time. Hougaard kicks the three points and the referee blows the whistle for the end of the first half. 18-6 to South Africa!
38 mins: South Africa try! After a good up and under from Earl Rose, Ashley Johnson contests well and Saracens fullback Michael Horak fails to claim possession. Jongi Nokwe then gathers the loose ball and touches down under the posts. Pienaar adds the extras to extend the lead to 15. 18-3 to South Africa!
33 mins: Although a solid performance thus far, South Africa are struggling to hold their own in the scrums.
29 mins: South Africa try! South Africa build good momentum into Saracens’ 22. The ball is passed through the hands and De Jongh shows good strength to break through three defenders for the opening try. 11-3 to South Africa!
18 mins: South Africa rule the lineouts as the home side struggle to win their own throw.
17 mins: Saracens are penalised and Pienaar gives South Africa the lead. 6-3 to South Africa!
15 mins: Some impressive and aggressive South African defence swings momentum to the visitors’ favour.
11 mins: Wian du Preez makes an early appearance off the bench as he replaces the injured Van der Linde.
10 mins: Heini Adams and CJ van der Linde are already receiving medical attention, and Juan de Jongh and Adriaan Strauss take big hits, this is proving to be an intensely physical encounter.
3 mins: After the restart, Neil de Kock kicks a poor clearance and his team-mates are adjudged to be offside. Ruan Pienaar slots the penalty and levels the score. Score is level 3-all!
1 min: Derick Hougaard kicks off and South Africa claim the ball cleanly. The visitors decide to run and Jean Deysel sets up the breakdown, but the flank is penalised for holding on. Hougaard gives Saracens the early lead. 3-0 to Saracens!
Saracens – 15 Michael Horak, 14 Noah Cato, 13 Kameli Ratuvou, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Michael Tagicakibau, 10 Derick Hougaard, 9 Neil de Kock, 8 Ernst Joubert, 7 Justin Melck, 6 Wikus van Heerden (c), 5 Hugh Vyvyan, 4 Mouritz Botha, 3 Richard Skuse, 2 Ethienne Reynecke, 1 Rhys Gill.
Subs: 16 Schalk Brits, 17 Carlos Nieto, 18 George Kruis, 19 Andy Saull, 20 Kevin Barrett, 21 Alex Goode, 22 Rodd Penney.
South Africa – 15 Earl Rose, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Jongi Nokwe, 10 Ruan Pienaar, 9 Heini Adams, 8 Ashley Johnson, 7 Jean Deysel, 6 Dewald Potgieter (c), 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Alistair Hargreaves, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Heinke van der Merwe.
Subs: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Wian du Preez, 18 Danie Rossouw, 19 Davon Raubenheimer, 20 Francois Hougaard, 21 Meyer Bosman, 22 Riaan Viljoen.
588 Comments
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17 Nov 2009, 23:39 pm
What lost us the game? The scrums?
17 Nov 2009, 23:39 pm
Apart from our starting 15 I think our players are over-provincialised and dont entirely gel in such a small space of time.
17 Nov 2009, 23:40 pm
BJ Botha!!! BJ Botha!!! BJ Botha… kom help samblief ou swaer!!
Ons manne kannei skrum nie.
17 Nov 2009, 23:40 pm
**** Muir (I’ve said this all along) is a useless coach. Good luck to the Lions next year. Muhahaha
17 Nov 2009, 23:40 pm
Gosh the boks have now technically lost there last 4/5 games, maybe the tag of greatness should be put on hold until next year
17 Nov 2009, 23:40 pm
I dont like losing but I dont mind when beaten by a better team…we are just not good at all and we mustnt think that we are the greatest when we clearly arent..suck in some himility boetjies..it sucks but its true!
17 Nov 2009, 23:40 pm
Next time arrange a dirt-track match against the Liverpool School of the Blind U19A.
17 Nov 2009, 23:41 pm
The word embarrassing springs to mind.
17 Nov 2009, 23:41 pm
Embarrassment x3. Listened to this on BBC radio. Commentators say Sarries beat the world champs. Makes me cringe. How cheap is the Bok jersey? This is bad, bad, bad.
17 Nov 2009, 23:41 pm
#340 kaksioek: Very much so, I’m afraid.
17 Nov 2009, 23:42 pm
I agree, Muir seems to love to Sub players havinga good game, Adams was getting the ball out quickly and no getting charged down, Francois Houggard, stay on the wing buddy.
17 Nov 2009, 23:42 pm
#354 TheTackler: nah they’ll be too good for us!
17 Nov 2009, 23:42 pm
Great game, congrats Saracens, and nice to see huge crowd.
First Munster last year, then Leicester, now Saracens – huge games!
17 Nov 2009, 23:42 pm
Nope, the Boks have only lost there last test match against France.
Before that they beat the ABs.
And if your team is England, we been hammering you for a while now.
17 Nov 2009, 23:43 pm
That was the words from the media not the coach, still on our way from the pit to the palace
17 Nov 2009, 23:43 pm
Tackler!
Are you not South African?
17 Nov 2009, 23:43 pm
#351 WP_:
Boet I’m thinking we need to fire our scrum coach!!!
17 Nov 2009, 23:43 pm
One thing that occurs to me, Tickles: How bad must the AB’s be to lose three in a row to the Boks?
17 Nov 2009, 23:43 pm
Was I wrong about Francois Hougaard being the dodgy selection instead of Earl Rose??
17 Nov 2009, 23:43 pm
This WP is the punk *** rubbish calling his own players rubbish. This Viljoen is class the next Frans Steyn, was hardly given a chance coming on with 5 min to go. The one that killed the momentum was Hougaard with that dom doos Bulls style scrum half kick the ball in the air trash again. Taking Adams and Bekker off killed the bok’s. Hougaard killed the bok’s with his skop from the base kak.
17 Nov 2009, 23:44 pm
francois hougaard was kak tonight, where is Tacitus that is always saying he is better than Adams?
17 Nov 2009, 23:44 pm
Poor Earl cant be MOM now.
Why do we kick it out for a Sarries linout after Hougaards last missed penalty instead of running it the fck up ??
Like giving the game away.Go down fighting for fk sakes !
Kiwi teams never do that,even at the half time whistle they always try get those last few points that make all the diffs in the end !!!
Hey Tackler !?
17 Nov 2009, 23:44 pm
Tackler don’t support PDV
17 Nov 2009, 23:44 pm
Hougaard lost us the game. Bloody Blue Bull.
17 Nov 2009, 23:45 pm
What a load of kak. Ref was piss poor at the breakdown. But this was simply unacceptable from a team playing in green and gold. This whole tour is unforgivable. Heads must roll.
17 Nov 2009, 23:45 pm
#364
Do we have a scrum coach? The law of averages means we should win another scrum sometime next year. Italy are going to pump us again in the scrums.
17 Nov 2009, 23:45 pm
You will never win a game when your scrum goes back like ours did (and has been on this tour).
Yes the ref was on crack sometimes but FFS boys we should be putting 50 past these club sides.
17 Nov 2009, 23:45 pm
yessus now the recriminations are going to fly, thick and fast.
actually Italy now becomes a must win.
can u imagine?
17 Nov 2009, 23:45 pm
well done Wynand Olivier – Derrick Hougaard was having a carnival game until your tackle – Hougaard got it, you didnt
Game changing tackle, you Muppit
17 Nov 2009, 23:45 pm
That freaken ref almost jumped out of his pants when Hougaard nailed that drop goal
17 Nov 2009, 23:45 pm
My ratings
Front row.. beyond Kak
Potgieter.. Quota
Deysel…Quota
Bekker.. 7/10
Johnson…7/10
Adams…7/10
Pienaar 7/10
WO…Quota
De Jongh…Super Star
Jongi..7/10
Ndungane…6/10
Earl Rose…Super Star
Hougaardt… Beyond Kak
17 Nov 2009, 23:46 pm
#358 pillsbury27: I agree, I blame the loss scarely on him. First the chargedown try(shoudl have gone other side of scrum), plus his slow service haltered the Boks forward momentum.
Overall good individual efforts, team cohesion and the setpieces were the major concern.
17 Nov 2009, 23:46 pm
364
I dont think we have one mate! If we do have one he’s utterly useless!
17 Nov 2009, 23:46 pm
This was not a bad Bok side (when you look at the line-up). WTF is wrong. Don`t we have any decent backup players? Poor coaching (Muir)?
17 Nov 2009, 23:46 pm
#359 allamapstieks: Play the U19B team then. Or the Manchester Cerebral Palsy School U16As?
17 Nov 2009, 23:46 pm
#367 skopskiet:
I think Heinie Adams was injured – that is why he went off.
Having said that, the stupidity of the coaching staff probably cost us the match.
Why all the changes during the last 10 minutes when we were ahead by 2 points???
17 Nov 2009, 23:46 pm
ALLAMAPSTIEKS,
No, scrums were poor, but that never lost us the game. Essentially, we did not have anywhere near the best players on the field, or the second best for that matter.
1) Heinkie swopped to 3 after 10 minutes. Wian Du Preez came on and was largely invisible.
2) Strauss played reasonably well, subbed for Maku
3) CJ injured after 10 (Thank goodness) Heinkie got exposed as a tight head (cause he is a loose head)
4) Hargreaves played a good game with good steals in the line out, but hardly a force as an international/provincial lock.
5) Bekker played okay in the first half. Was subbed by Rossouw who was pedestrian/absent in the econd half.
6) Deysel was good
7) Potgieter was good
8) Johnson was better than average, but nowhere near the impact of the previous game.
9)Adams was good before Hougard subbed him. Hougard was poor and our backs could not get going in the 2nd half and we surrendered a 12 point lead.
10) Pienaar was good when his pack were going forward and he was getting good service. This dissappeared in the 2nd half.
11) Nokwe was good on attack, limited opportunities.
12) WO had a decent game, but Barrit is a better 12
13) De Jongh was reasonable. Good try, but not too much else to rave about.
14) Ngudane – not much to do
15) Rose – good game.
Essentially, once again, the Sarries wanted the game more, they had some great players too who had a few points to prove (Van Heerden, Britz, Barrit, Melck) Sarries was more motivated.
Brendan Venter was also very gracious in the interview
17 Nov 2009, 23:46 pm
#366 XhosaKid:
Earl had a good game, is a 1st XV Bok, nope, never will be.
But he was 1 of the better players out there tonight that’s for sure.
17 Nov 2009, 23:47 pm
so katman the safas beat the “japies” a little less arogance from sa. would be nice! consider getting a foreign coach, the time has come.world champs without playing nz. oz. or france.
17 Nov 2009, 23:47 pm
and that castrogiavani italian stallion is going to be chomping?
was this the same backline that lost to leicester?
17 Nov 2009, 23:47 pm
Again the difference is Ruan Pienaar’s goal kicking that cost us the game but I enjoyed the 1st half.
Earl Rose is very good and anyone doubting him has the same kak in his head like the ref had tonight. Some improvement today but the Wooden Spoon is still on the cards
17 Nov 2009, 23:47 pm
#378 Langenhoven: Peter Div .. Biggest Quota
17 Nov 2009, 23:48 pm
#382 TheTackler: Nah they will nail us.
17 Nov 2009, 23:48 pm
Supersport panel expressing unhappiness with the ref. Lol!
This will help the younger players build some character
17 Nov 2009, 23:48 pm
#382 TheTackler:
I’d go for the Council Flat XV myself.
17 Nov 2009, 23:48 pm
357 Sbokvel
Doesn’t mean BBC are right…they rubbing it in.
Everyone knows its not the Boks…but then again ,they can crow coz it was a relatively strong SA side !
17 Nov 2009, 23:48 pm
#378 Langenhoven: I rate Deysel had a strong game. Ashley Johnson looked out of sorts at times, especially his decision making except for some deft handling.
I think Adriaan Strauss Played well as well.
17 Nov 2009, 23:48 pm
#382 TheTackler: Again: How bad must the AB’s be to have lost three in a row to the Boks?
17 Nov 2009, 23:49 pm
Venter tried to bribed the white players with Saracens contracts… Bekker was the only one to tell him fkoff.. Pienaar was late for the meeting
17 Nov 2009, 23:49 pm
#365 kaksioek: NZ are re-building – SA are peaking….but when SA will need to rebuild things dont look good – best option for 2011 is Aussie’s for WC number 3
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