Aussies’ true test still to come
23 Jul 2011
SIMON BORCHARDT says the Wallabies did what was expected of them in Sydney’s glorified training session.
After last weekend’s embarrassing defeat to Samoa, the Wallabies were reluctant to talk up their chances against a Springbok B team. However, with seven first-choice players returning to their starting XV they were always going to be heavy favourites to kick off their Tri-Nations campaign with a win.
The Wallabies made three handling errors in the opening three minutes, before Quade Cooper took advantage of some poor defensive work from Morne Steyn to break away from inside his 22 and set up Ben Alexander’s try. Three minutes later, Will Genia exposed the Boks’ weakness on the blindside and Digby Ioane stepped inside Gio Aplon to score.
Cooper’s first-half performance wasn’t flawless, though. He kicked out on the full after a promising attack down the left touchline, knocked on inside the Boks’ 22 when another try was on, and sent a pass into touch.
But the flyhalf was back to his best immediately after the break when he went through a hole between Wynand Olivier and Juan de Jongh to set up James O’Connor’s try that briefly opened the floodgates.
The Wallabies’ scrum was impressive, apart from the third one when they were penalised for an early engagement. They comfortably won their own lineout ball and put pressure on the Boks by contesting theirs.
With the Bok attack being so predictable, the hosts’ defence was able to spread out and keep them out with relative ease, before conceding two tries in the final 20 minutes.
Robbie Deans will be disappointed that his team didn’t go for the jugular and push the score past 50 or 60, although they probably would have had he not emptied his bench with 15 minutes to go.
The Wallabies will be relieved to get the win after what happened last week, but the fact remains that it came against a second-string Bok side and means little in the greater scheme of things. Their two matches against the All Blacks and the return fixture against the first-choice Boks in Durban will tell us a lot more about their World Cup chances.
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16 Comments
23 Jul 2011, 13:54 pm
Very diplomatic article
23 Jul 2011, 14:07 pm
@BULLET(BULLET)-1: My brief was to focus on the Wallabies (:
23 Jul 2011, 14:12 pm
The Cooper breakout was about sending Pienaar (not Steyn) the wrong way, and Pienaar having no cover defense in the inside channel.
23 Jul 2011, 14:15 pm
Funny how your brief iwas to focus on the wallabies!!
The depth of the Boks…are the Bok 2nds **** or are they as good as the first team?
If the boks have good depth then they are in trouble!!!!
23 Jul 2011, 14:24 pm
The Wallabies executed brilliantly with almost every statistic against them (territory, possession, lineouts etc). What they did was a) defend, b) boss the breakdowns, c) keep their discipline, d) exploit their attacking opportunities.
The attacking electricity of Genia, Cooper, Beale, O’Connor et al is fantastic to watch. It’s fast, intelligent and skillful. By contrast (even with Aplon Mvovo and Basson) the SA attack was ponderous, predictable and error-strewn. The SA attack got more interesting when Wallaby legs got tired and the Wallabies backed mentally, but especially when Lambie came on.
A functioning back row, plus Lambie for 80 mins, plus a little more accuracy would have been the formula for success today. Beyond that SA also showed frailty at #9 and #15.
23 Jul 2011, 14:32 pm
@funkyzoo(funkyzoo)-3:
ffucck pienaar and steyn! but more pienaar than steyn, in this game. jeezuz ******!
23 Jul 2011, 14:36 pm
@funkyzoo(funkyzoo)-5:
it was more than that. 9, 10, 2, at times either 1 or 3, also 11, 14, 15, 12, 13, 4, 7, 8…have i left anyone out?..oh 5
23 Jul 2011, 16:40 pm
@he’s not the messiah. he’s a very naughty boy!(i_love_u_bakkiesbotha)-7: You also left out The Head Coach.
23 Jul 2011, 17:25 pm
The reason why the boks were so ridiculously bad today was because Peter De Villiers continuosly picks the same players who he is affectionate towards instead of rewarding consistent form. He also picks quotas and is of the belief that himself as a person cannot get anything wrong and that he is always right.
Players such as John Smit, Elton Jantjes, Adrian Jacobs, Flip Van Der Merwe, Deon Steggman, Morne Steyn, Ruan Pienaar, Wynand Olivier, Werner Kruger, Alistair Hargreaves, Odwa Ndungane etc… should not be anywhere near this tri-nations squad on form. However Peter De Villiers decides that he is right resulting in players who have played consitently well for 2 seasons lose out on a chance to prove their worth in this Tri Nations:
Such as; Steffan Terblanche, Peter Grant, Sarel Pretorius, Jano Vermaak, Waylon Murray, Anton Van Zyl, Rynhardt Elstadt, Dewaldt Potgieter, Joshua Strauss, and Deon Fourie.
The game today seemed to highlight the lack of depth in quality in South African rugby in terms of having a “bok-b” side. However if you look at the choices that Peter De Villiers has made ever since the beginning of his tenure as coach you notice he has favorites. Take Adi Jacobs for example… why on earth is he in the bok side? on what form or good showings? he has been out with injury and when he did return his places were occupied by both in form Meyer Bosman and Steffan Terblanche… again with Wynand Olivier… why not pick Robert Ebersohn or Johan Sadie, Doppies La Granje etc.. who have played more consitent this season. Odwa Ndungane? What did Gerrard Van Den Heever, Lionel Mapoe, or Rayno Benjamin do wrong?
And Morne Steyn is picked continuosly because he can goal kick? Today he kicked 2 penalties: BRILLIANT…. what effect did it have on the game exactly? Peter Grant has been the most consistent goal kicker of all the super rugby sides for the last 2 years. Not to mention that Peter Grant has a better attacking ability than Morne Steyn, therefore meaning that surely he should provide back up to Butch James and be the fly half that was given the chance in this Tri-Nations? Instead he is playing in Japan and South Africa Rugby is not using some of its best resources..
As for the forwards I wouldnt look to much into the performances of Werner Kruger or Dean Greyling as they were new to the side and were not playing infront of the likes of Matfield, Burger, Bekker and Smith etc…
Overall todays match showed the lack of innovative thinking that De Villiers has and it also highlighted that some players dont belong in the jerseys at the moment because they havent played tough enough to earn that and they are not consistent. Until the changes in players are made and a different game plan is implemented then the Boks will not outclass the Wallabies or the All Blacks… imagine if todays Springbok side had been competitive enough to maybe force a shock win against an almost full strength Wallaby team.. it would have sent so much confidence through the springbok team compared with being battered by 39 points.
23 Jul 2011, 20:02 pm
It was without a doubt the coaching team to blame for the embarrassing display.
The team had exciting game breakers like Aplon, Basson and Mvovo but the fetchers at the break down weren’t there. No back up with 2 players pushing over like the all blacks. What was a fine player like Danie Rossouw doing at flank and not lock? The mind boggles that the 3 coaches should be paid at all for such outdated concepts.
24 Jul 2011, 01:16 am
Aplon can’t tackle. And he can’t kick. But he can run very well.
So, why isn’t he a winger? There you don’t do muck kicking and you only rarely tackle, but you have to be a good runner (which he is).
A fullback who can’t kick and tackle is just as useless as a lock who can’t jump or a prop who can’t scrum.
Aplon’s being played out of position.
Dan Carter, Quade Cooper, Morne Steyn — spot the “odd man out”.
24 Jul 2011, 01:20 am
Simon, A couple of things which in reading a lot of the comments disturbe me a bit, This Bokke team is now referred to as the B Team, I thought the pre game hype was that it wasn’t the B Team, these players are the form players of the super competition. I think most of SA actually expected this team to win, I think this team gave it a red hot go and competed well across the park, sure they made mistakes. No one in Aus begrudged the Samoan’s victory, we knew we had work to do and we fixed it. The Bokks played with dignity and were not thrashed by any stretch of imagination. The French last year, they were thrashed.
24 Jul 2011, 08:48 am
FACT – Wallabies have won FOUR of the last FIVE outings against the Boks
24 Jul 2011, 09:58 am
@vindicated(vindicated)-13:
and deservedly so. however the south african in me still think boks have more chance of winning the web ellis
24 Jul 2011, 12:34 pm
@SAussie/QldRed(SAussie)-12: I for one certainly didn’t expect a SA win and the general vibe was that we “might cause an upset”. That translates into our heads said we won’t but our hearts said we might.
24 Jul 2011, 20:02 pm
@SAussie/QldRed(SAussie)-12: that France match was str8 jokes, a real car crash for les bleus
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