White-hot Boks thrill
29 Sep 2012
RYAN VREDE reports on a 31-8 victory for the Springboks over Australia at Loftus in which they produced the type of performance they hope will become commonplace.
The Springboks were good, but hold your unbridled praise. The result was not unexpected. This was the weakest Wallabies side the Springboks have faced in their last nine encounters, and at a venue they have never won at. The measure of these Springboks will come against the All Blacks in a week.
The Wallabies were never in this one, a brutal and organised defensive effort blunting their ambitions. It is in this facet of play that most Test matches will be won and lost. That the Wallabies scored once (through a slipped hit) gives me more joy than the bonus-point the Springboks earned.
And they could have and should have won by more, six missed kicks and host of squandered try-scoring chances ensuring that the scoreline flattered the Wallabies.
However, it would grossly remiss not to applaud this win, particularly since it provided reasons for optimism in some key areas.
Flyhalf Johan Goosen will have better Tests, but he certainly isn’t an impostor at this level. His tears during the anthem humanised the kid many what to believe has supernatural ability. He showed his rawness with two hooked penalties, too lateral a running line and poor option-taking at times. But he also stirred hope of a bright attacking future with a couple of linebreaks and generally slick play. He doesn’t have Henry Honiball’s defensive punch and will be targeted by their opposition, but he isn’t a defensive liability and his attacking skill makes up for what he lacks there.
Then there’s the Boondock Saints – Francois Louw and Duane Vermeulen – who hunted in tandem, both outstanding at the gainline and on the deck. They lend the Springboks an air of menace and mongrel, with their efforts amplified by an industrious and highly effective pack.
What else? Ruan Pienaar looked composed and sharp. Andries Bekker was influential at the lineouts and in general play, Jaco Taute was impressive defensively in the most difficult channel for this discipline, and Bryan Habana reconfirmed that has left the fraud he was under Peter de Villiers behind him with a throwback effort.
And their much-maligned game plan? The tactical kicking was poor…when they did kick. This was a wholly different approach from the Springboks, a more expansive one than we’ve become used to. This doesn’t, however, herald the start of a bold new era from Heyneke Meyer’s men. The Wallabies allowed them to play in this manner. The Blacks will demand a tighter approach. They are some way off mastering either, but there are signs that should encourage.
Their rolling maul is unmatched by any team in the game, and it was from this platform that they opened the scoring, with a touch of tactical intelligence (two decoy runners) creating space for Zane Kirchner to score in the corner. Pienaar had taken over the goal-kicking responsibility from Goosen and duly banked the touchline conversion.
The Springboks were in business again seven minutes later after Habana finished a disjointed move that went right then snapped left. Pienaar’s conversion attempt struck the post and the teams went down the tunnel with the hosts leading 14-3, Kurtley Beale’s penalty all the Wallabies could muster in the face of an immense defensive effort.
The Wallabies huffed and puffed after the restart but the Springboks killed their ambition superbly, first Louw peeling off the back of another unstoppable rolling maul to score, then Habana catching them napping with a quick lineout feed to Adriaan Strauss, who drew a defender and offloaded to put the winger away.
The Springboks’ defensive intensity and precision tapered off in the closing stages, allowing the visitors to breach their tryline, but they never seriously threatened a comeback. With time nearly up the Springboks launched another expansive assault, this time Louw finding Habana with a left-pass most elite scrumhalves would be proud to boast.
The Springboks will believe this performance is a good example of what they can achieve when things click, and they’ll be right. But there is a sterner examination ahead in the form of the world champions. For now, however, they deserve to be lauded on the strength of this showing.
By Ryan Vrede, in Pretoria
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174 Comments
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29 Sep 2012, 19:10 pm
Don’t say the W word!
29 Sep 2012, 19:10 pm
First
29 Sep 2012, 19:10 pm
Bugger!
29 Sep 2012, 19:14 pm
Hougi is the quota
29 Sep 2012, 19:15 pm
We need to sort out our goal-kicking… Bring in a specialist.
29 Sep 2012, 19:18 pm
The Boondock saints indeed
Vermeulen and Louw were utter ball scavenging and bashing poetry in motion.
29 Sep 2012, 19:19 pm
couldn’t resist bringing PDV into this now could u Ryan
29 Sep 2012, 19:22 pm
heard from an inside source it was actually the senior players and matfield who coached the team this week
29 Sep 2012, 19:26 pm
Racist headline
29 Sep 2012, 19:28 pm
@Dawn-9: I think Ryan has forgotten that Jake isn’t the coach anymore.
29 Sep 2012, 19:29 pm
Louw was massive.
29 Sep 2012, 19:29 pm
@saru1983-8: Ok mate, that’s my comment of the evening
Brilliant.
29 Sep 2012, 19:37 pm
seriously though whats with the head line ?
they weren’t even red hot considering the errors and missed kicks and butchered tries so i assume it has something to do with race.
29 Sep 2012, 19:39 pm
Good to see Bryan and Ruan back to there best. Pity Meyer didn’t bring on Elton a bit earlier when the kicking went awry
29 Sep 2012, 19:43 pm
The Boks aren’t white-hot yet – but they are playing much better. Keep Goosen, Flouw and Vermeulen on the park and they will get there.
29 Sep 2012, 19:43 pm
@RugbyStudent-4: this is a match in which one might have expected Hougaard to excel, however he was not good.
29 Sep 2012, 19:56 pm
Boondock my g*t!
And whatsup with that headline Ryan? I bet you were happy this chump coach of yours took 75 minutes to introduce some non-white-hot players.
Get your head out Goosens *** and take a break from jerking him off to think before you report something next time
29 Sep 2012, 20:00 pm
Congratulations boks. Good win.
What I enjoyed was the boks trying to speed up the game in the second half. It was exciting to watch; and it is the way to put away teams on the ropes, as the Aussies were.
29 Sep 2012, 20:00 pm
Well done Boks, much better. Though this was a very weak Wallabie side depleted with injuries, so have to wait until next week against the ABs to see how far we have come.
29 Sep 2012, 20:10 pm
@boktillzero-13: now we have adjectivists objecting to the lyrical prose… in how many colourful languages should i tell you to get a life
29 Sep 2012, 20:12 pm
@boktillzero-13: i did see the smiley yellow sunshine
29 Sep 2012, 20:14 pm
nice revenge for Louw…great job by Vermuelen…
With all due respect bye bye Spies and Morne
29 Sep 2012, 20:18 pm
Louw was huge .. div had his best game in a while but i’m still not convinced. I’d prefer Louw as el kapitan.. div is a great guy but he comes across as his masters puppet
29 Sep 2012, 20:36 pm
This coach going to fck up a few careers.. he already almost decimated Hougaard to a goddamn nonentity utility f’ng wing and stuffed his natural scrum half game to sh’t..
next he’s going to fck up Goosen and possibly Jantjies and De Jongh too..
What were they thinking giving Pienaar carte blanche with every goddamn kick whether it was a line kick or a place kick after already 3 tries to zip up.. where is the confidence boost to the kid Goosen who can nail them from anywhere on the park..now he goes in against AB’s cold with Pienaar taking the damn FdP general position.. they going to Fck Goosen’s confidence already I can smell it filtering through the negative cowardly tendencies again..
NEXT WTF was Meyer afraid of at 35 – 8 up with 10 or 15 to go and he STILL deliberates about bringing on Jantjies and De Jongh..waiting to get out the 22 .. then waits some more and FINALLY allows the pair of them 4 minutes of game time AFTER the horse has bolted for Aussie already 30 minutes ago..
Is he THAT much of a goddamn coward or was it purely that supremacist garbage seeping through his dumb brain again?
Hougaard must either play 9 or not at all.. Pienaar might have taken some pressure off Goosen.. BUT Pienaar is not doing ANY favors to either of Goosen or Hougaard. or Jantjies for that matter..
Taute was poor.. de Jongh should have come on at least 20 minutes earlier.. and keeping both him and Jantjies chomping at the bit to get on for 15 minutes when there was ZERO chance of losing that game was either sheer goddamn cowardice or else a totally biased and insecure damn favoritist cockup by HM
29 Sep 2012, 20:38 pm
@Lorenzo-22:
Yep, bye bye to Morne and Spies indeed. Although we hardly sent these aussies to the abattoir and I think we should have.
Much improved though. Nice to see the abdication of a truly dispensable gameplan. Don’t think this coach had anything to do with it though
29 Sep 2012, 20:38 pm
@fitz1ella-24: agreed
29 Sep 2012, 20:58 pm
Well done boks
Just imagine if we had had this team vs Poms and last 4 games in this tounament
Things look very promising
Plus dispite what Jdv said we kept ball in hand and used it well
29 Sep 2012, 21:02 pm
@fitz1ella-24: Yeah Skoppie
Agree about Pienaar
he should have stuck with Goosen and build the confidence
Hougaard to 9 would be another improvement
But still it was good
Yes and dont have Jdj and Elton get up and then only let them come on 4 min to go?
But today the players made the decisions
F Louw was great
Vermeulen gaining in confidence
29 Sep 2012, 21:08 pm
Flouw was damn good – Vermeulen damn good. All the forwards damn good why cause there were no bully cowards there to spoil things.
Goose can only get better and so can the evolution to a great team.
Heineken keep this team together now and let them settle.
29 Sep 2012, 21:11 pm
@fitz1ella-24: Grumpy old wankers like you will never be happy. Even if we smash the Aussies to kingdom come, with fast, running rugby, with a fantastic new flyhalf, with a lock pairing that made the Aussie lineout sht itself, with a loose trio that completely dominated the rucks and the collisions, with the world’s best winger getting a hat trick… you’ll still find it within your miserable self to only comment on the negative. Who the fck needs ***** like you anyway. Get lost.
29 Sep 2012, 21:16 pm
Would love to see this 26 Man squad on the EOYT. Resting senior players after this year would be ideal…..
15. Patrick Lambie / Zane Kirschner.
14. J.P. Pietersen.
13. Jaco Taute / Juan De Jongh.
12. Jean De Villiers (c).
11. Francois Hougaard / Lwazi Mvovo.
10. Johan Goosen / Elton Jantjes.
9. Ruan Pienaar / Sarel Pretorious.
8. Duane Vermuelen / Keegan Daniels.
7. Marcell Coetzee / Arno Botha.
6. Francois Louw.
5. Juandre Kruger.
4. Bakkies Botha / Eben Etsebeth.
3. C.J. Van Der Linde / Patric Cilliers.
2. Adriaan Strauss / Schalk Brits.
1. Coenie Oosthuizen / Gurthro Steenkamp.
29 Sep 2012, 21:16 pm
@RL-29:
Yes I agree was nice to see
I think we had faster ruck ball with allowed us to run
Add to that a running 10
I would like to see quicker service from a 9
Taute was fine tackled well
I think Jdv is better suited at 12
Kirshner has been a very solid and run well with the ball at times
Alberts was a bit quiet Possibly better off the bench
maybe switch to Coetzee starting
good to see Elton getting on maybe a bit too late but how can you take off Goosen
29 Sep 2012, 21:21 pm
@katman-30: fck you boertjie up shitcreek… who the fck little runtcunts like you think you are… you gonna start calling in the riot squad soon to get all the racists out the auditorium or what pissarse little fckface runt
Of course it was an improvement .. anyone with any modicum of ommon sense could have told you AND your dumb fck coach WHERE he was going wrong SINCE game ONE.. how come it takes your brain dead coach 7 games to recognize what so damn obvious was missing from the beginning
leaving Jantjies and De Jongh on the sidelines watching their broertjie boertjie boeties with ants in their pants for a measly little run on cameo of 4 minutes was outright disgusting and COWARDLY if not pure unadulterated insecure supremacist tendencies all over again to say the very least… but of course little Verwoerdian arsecreeps like you would be MORE than happy with the reinstatement of the status quo.. wouldn’t you just piece of two face little pseudo arse broerdertjie from the wrong side of the enlightenment tracks.
29 Sep 2012, 21:32 pm
Oh good, the Boks managed a win!
Congratulations and enjoy the sweet smell of success……I think it may only last for one week!!
29 Sep 2012, 21:33 pm
@fitz1ella-33: Didn’t I tell you quite clearly to fck off?
29 Sep 2012, 21:36 pm
@carol-34:
Hi Carol
Maybe not
This time we are playing at home
A much improved team now with Goosen
Kicking needs to improve and hard to think we will have 3 game with bad kicking issues in a row.
ABs may be in for shock
29 Sep 2012, 21:36 pm
Those perky Kiwis might be a bit of a challenge!!
29 Sep 2012, 21:38 pm
When Kirshner got injured maybe put Taute at 15 and then bring in Jdj?
Sorry Guppies Lambie not playing that well
29 Sep 2012, 21:39 pm
@CoachPete-36:
Hi Coach, funny old Loftus would be a fun place to have watched that game.
I have never seen such chaos as I experienced at Loftus. I would give the staff 3/10 for crowd management!!
Bet the Aussie fans were quite amused!
29 Sep 2012, 21:41 pm
@carol-37: Fck ‘em. They travel as well as Julian Assange. This game is ours.
29 Sep 2012, 21:41 pm
Well done Boks. Good performance.
29 Sep 2012, 21:41 pm
Fracois Louw is such a boss.
29 Sep 2012, 21:43 pm
@Spiesisworthless1-42:
he is a Bishops boy with brains and skills
Unlike spies and potgieter
29 Sep 2012, 21:43 pm
@CoachPete-36: Argies will soften the NZ pack up and SA should finish them – provided they have a goal-kicker.
29 Sep 2012, 21:44 pm
@carol-39:
yeah and the empty seats ??
A test at Loftus not a sell out?
29 Sep 2012, 21:45 pm
@Big Hit-44:
We have one. Goosen
HM should have stayed with him
29 Sep 2012, 21:47 pm
If every player in SA was selected for being the best in his respective position we would see a much different team in terms of personnel and purpose. Why select players just to accommodate their inclusion without them being the best in their position, @ national and provincial/club levels.
Jdv and FSteyn should be vying it out for the 12 jersey, not forming a coalition. Taute could wipe the floor with niknaks @ fullback but neither have anything on Lambie. The same should be said for every position across the park.
I felt for Jdj and Elton. Standing on the sideline looking like token from south park. And the funny thing is they are the best in their positions in this country.., on form and ability.
29 Sep 2012, 21:48 pm
@CoachPete-43: Now Meyer needs to bring Brussouw through as cover and interchange to keep em fresh. What awesome openside options we have.
29 Sep 2012, 21:51 pm
I hate to generalise about nations, but the Americans make such a godawful sports crowd. The Ryder Cup is the most amazing team sports event, but the way the Yanks whoop and holler and shout their inane little “get in the hole” after every American shot, and wildly cheer every European shot that hits a bunker or lands in the water make one want to smash their fat little faces in. I’m sure there are cool Americans too, but probably not more than a hundred or so.
29 Sep 2012, 21:51 pm
@katman-35: you want to keep your supremacist antics coming fuckface keep it coming you little white runt with your clear as daylight jacaranda infused jaundice screaming through every post you spawn.. come tell me to fck off over here runtcunt I kick that two face broerderbond snout of yours straight through the back of your broederbond scrum cap…piece of supremacist garbage gone wrong.
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