Blacklash buries Boks
6 Oct 2012
JON CARDINELLI, reporting from Soccer City, watched the All Blacks punish the Springboks in the latter stages of Saturday’s Test to win 32-16.
Usually you have to wait until the end of a game for the climax, but for the South African fans at Soccer City, the best time to be around was in that period before kickoff, and the 20 minutes thereafter.
The Calabash wasn’t filled to capacity, but then 80 000 people can still make one helluva racket. Picture the majority of that 80 000 screaming the lyrics of Nkosi Sikelel iAfrika and then drowning out the Kapa o Pango, the All Blacks’ special haka reserved for big contests. If you didn’t feel the prickle of gooseflesh in that opening salvo, you must be made out of stone.
And then the Boks played. They clattered into the collisions. They pilfered lineout ball and assaulted the All Blacks’ scrum. They used that set-piece platform to good effect, scoring from a lineout near halfway.
Not many teams score against the All Blacks, and very few do it from first phase. And to go 50m for that five pointer – well it would have to be something special. It certainly was.
From the lineout, the ball flew to Duane Vermeulen who immediately turned his back to the opposition and offloaded to team-mate Francois Louw. Louw then did the same, and the move worked in that the other member of the Bok loose trio, Willem Alberts, was free to hit the gap.
The All Blacks managed to bring Alberts down but not before the big man tossed the ball up for a support player. The All Blacks attempted to intercept this pass, but only succeeded in knocking it further backward and out of reach. Jean de Villiers succeeded in coming through and winning the ball, and then finding the omnipresent Bryan Habana. When the winger rounded the poles, the crowd erupted. It was a thrilling standalone moment.
Johan Goosen had missed two difficult penalty attempts earlier in the half, but he made no mistake with this conversion or his subsequent penalty attempt. The result was a 10-0 advantage for the Boks. Against all expectations, the underdogs had raced to a commanding lead.
But soft moments – a phrase coined by Heyneke Meyer to describe his side’s tendency to lapse – have cost the Boks all season, and it was a series of soft moments that saw the Boks relinquishing this big lead.
The Boks lost concentration in the period before half-time. Bad decisions and unforced errors allowed the All Blacks back into the game, first through a try by Sam Whitelock and then another by Aaron Smith.
Elton Jantjies, on for the injured Goosen, kicked some important goals to keep the Boks in front, but as the two teams headed down the tunnel, you got the sense that the momentum had shifted in the visitors’ favour.
This was confirmed when the All Blacks scored in the first movement of the second half. The kickoff wasn’t claimed and the ball was shifted wide. Kieran Read found space down the right-hand flank and raced 40m before popping the ball to Ma’a Nonu for the try.
The Boks’ defence went from bad to worse. The All Blacks succeeded in stretching them out wide on a number of occasions, and worryingly, the Boks were starting to fall off tackles.
It was an embarrassing moment when the All Blacks cantered in for their fourth try, Conrad Smith scoring from a first-phase move. Having trailed by 10 points at one stage, the All Blacks were now 10 points ahead.
There was no way back for the Boks. Dan Carter, who looked all too mortal at times with some unforced errors of his own, began to find form as the game progressed. He booted a 60m monster of a penalty to extend the lead to 13, and then nailed a drop goal a few moments later to widen the gap to 16.
A 16-point win can’t be called ugly. The All Blacks came to play the Boks on the Highveld, and while they had already secured the Rugby Championship title, they needed to win to keep their dream of breaking the record for most consecutive Test victories alive.
The pressure was on, and when it mattered, they delivered.
The Boks played well in patches, but their effort and precision wasn’t on point in the second stanza.
They will lament the mistakes that led to try-scoring opportunities for the All Blacks, and what amounted to a hiding on the scoreboard will serve as a reminder that while they are rated No 2 in the world, they’re still a long way behind this mighty All Blacks side.
591 Comments
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7 Oct 2012, 20:48 pm
@fitz1ella-495:
Mallett has said so himself. There still seems to be unhappiness between him and SARU. I suppose nothing that can’t be sorted out over a cappucino.
And Jake White will be interested. He always is.
7 Oct 2012, 20:48 pm
@I am a stormer-497: Who been saying this for HOW many years already.. and you and the rest cottoning onto it NOW..??
I told you how long ago.. JdJ must play 12 and JdV 13 and Hougaard must play 9 and Boks would have won that test on Saturday.. Taute or Lambie to 15 ahead of Kirchner also.
@sharks_lover-498: JS stuffed the Boks out his fat arse for his own vainglory ego rampant starry starry eyes … thats how much of a team man that overrated hump of lardarse is.
7 Oct 2012, 20:49 pm
Also i will repeat this once again, JDP is our best TH, again yesterday showed Burger king Oosthuizen to be a penalty machine as he drops his bind in the scrums all the time
And Fransie at 12 is sorely missed
7 Oct 2012, 20:50 pm
@fitz1ella-502: Get over it dude move on, talk about the players there now?? not so??
7 Oct 2012, 20:54 pm
@I am a stormer-501: Boks do not need White another me first f’ng self seeking prick of the worst kind.. they could do a lot worse than ask Mallett to come teach this green idiot how to coach a rugby team though..
Cilliers should have been on bench not Oosthuizen.. Oosthuizen could cover 1 but TH is not his position in spite of what Os been saying..
JdJ is better at 12 than F Steyn.. now let all the Fransie hyper hollerers come tell me whats what..
I would look at Janse Van Rensburg and Marcel Vd Merewe as LH backup for Beast.
7 Oct 2012, 20:55 pm
@fitz1ella-502:
Yeah, I said that JDJ at 12 and Jaque Fourie 13 were a decent combination at the Stormers. they complememted each other.
But I also said JDV at 12 and JDJ at 13 doesn’t work.
floppie wreck agreed and and said that he was thinking about that.
7 Oct 2012, 20:56 pm
502- shuffling your back line doesn’t necessarily equate to perfection. So, no, I don’t think the boks would have won by your account . NZ play a different game , slick, accurate and formidable
7 Oct 2012, 21:04 pm
@KiaKahaNZ-507:
The Boks need to shuffle a couple of players around. JDV at age 30 is reaching the end of his shelf life.
What the Boks need is a player like Conrad Smith. I rate that guy hugely. He makes the backline tick even without someone like SBW.
7 Oct 2012, 21:06 pm
@KiaKahaNZ-507: its not shuffling its what SHOULD have been selected from the beginning of the season already,.. thats not shuffling
Your boys were getting SHUNTED all over the place the first 20 minutes and then we open the barn door wide and never closed it up again..
Gives you a far more grandiose view of the so called superiority of the AB’s but Boks blew it by playing wrong personnel in wrong positions from the word go.
Had we played in your faces with our best 9 at scrum half not on the wing and a decent pair of centers .. not a greenhorn full back slotted in at 13 ..and then a decent full back not a kicking mule, then we would have been competitive from the start and would not have let in 4 soft tries through sheer lack of tackling technique or strategic fallout.
Till minute 20 it looked like you were going to get a hiding.. then our 10 got crocked and the rest of the Bok game fell apart as a result.. a poor selected midfield didn’t help whatsoever, and that what made you look far better than it was.
7 Oct 2012, 21:07 pm
@carol-488:
watching the replay now.
john smit has not once missed his jumper in the lineout.
got through some hard driving as well.
not sure how much rugby knowledge you have?
anyway, despite the bok’s dismal display…..
sharks won……
windies won….
brandon grace won….
manu won……
so not all bad
7 Oct 2012, 21:12 pm
No Springbok team since ’94 would have beaten the Blacks yesterday IMO. We were simply outplayed by a superior team. Period. But this is not to say the Boks were okay. They weren’t. They were poorly prepared and the scoreline underlines this. No major team can expect a quality performance without a reasonably decent backline. Yesterday was more of the same(Dunedin). Pathetic really. Meyer should be embarassed with his efforts to date. I know I would. Particularly with all his criticism of PdV. PdV was a coaching genius compared to this poepol.
7 Oct 2012, 21:12 pm
@fitz1ella-509: “Your boys were getting SHUNTED all over the place the first 20 minutes and then we open the barn door wide and never closed it up again.”
Or maybe hosts were let to play for 20 minutes and then barn door was firmly shut for good.
7 Oct 2012, 21:18 pm
The Bok forwards have been good in the engine room. No doubt about that. Pretty poor at cover defense though. The backline has been pisspoor since the get go under the new coaching team. I don’t believe they have a clue on how to use players 9 to 15. Meyer, as a rugby man, ought to know better and make better decisions than he’s doing at the moment. But I can’t see him improving.
7 Oct 2012, 21:23 pm
@TASSIES-513: me neither I reckon this dude has reached his ceiling in respect of what he can actually fathom is going on in the back line and his assistants are probably less clued up than him..
he is going to need some professional help and fast.. same way White needed professional help when he realized he didn’t have a clue.. so does this moegoe need help NOW.. only it took White almost four years to realize it.. I hope it don’t take this non compos mentis that long because he simply won’t last till then otherwise.
7 Oct 2012, 21:25 pm
@TASSIES-511:
not sure what goes on at training but too often the boks looked like they had gathered for the game that very morning……especially the backs.
even the italians look better trained than the boks.
7 Oct 2012, 21:26 pm
Best centre partnershap would be frans at 12 and jdj at 13 – if frans is injured jdj should go to 12 and it is I been saying that for yonks – jdv got a wee problem but he can either play backup or leftback.
7 Oct 2012, 21:29 pm
the true test will be the performances on the end of year tour. I’m not holding my breath personally. This guys is not up to the task and will take a hammering on his return. We could be looking at records no-one will have thought possible. Starter packs of valium will be required now and dosage will have to be increased to dangerous levels by Dec.
7 Oct 2012, 21:29 pm
JdV outside Frans is 2 stagnant ball carriers doing fokol.. as we have seen already plenty times.. at least with JdJ at 12 it will give JdV room to maneuver on the outside.. and it hasn’t ever been tried.. JdJ with JdV is better than FS and JdV .. but nobody ever seen it happen so it probably never will while this doos is in charge.
7 Oct 2012, 21:31 pm
509fitz1ella
Not picking on you particularly, old chap, though you are patriotically delusional.
Just as a foundation for what follows, I believe that the only opponents that are worthy of the All Blacks are the South Africans. At player level, this comes through as mutual respect and after-career relationships.
Their is a win at all costs mentality in your structure that the slightly unworldly and old-fashioned Kiwis cannot grasp.
Now, the real gap between the teams yesterday was more than a mere 16 points. Somebody in Johannesburg was up to your old tricks with M. Rolland. Was it financial? Or, more likely Andre Watson putting pressure on.
1) can it really be possible that the first offense by SA was after 55 minutes? Penalties 9-0?
2)you know that your “try” wasn’t, don’t you? Habana knew, look at him wait for the whistle in mid-run.
3)did you see those forward passes by your boys, that the three officials didn’t notice?
4
7 Oct 2012, 21:32 pm
White won the 3n in his very first outing and had nowhere near the depth of what we currently have in SA rugby – ie 3 super 15 sides vying for playoff spots. White never drew to Argentina and thumped the ABs at home with one of tge highest scores ever.
7 Oct 2012, 21:35 pm
4) why is your prop allowed to bind on Woodcock’s arm and drag him down?
5)Dagg a yellow card – are you kidding? Entering from the side – are you kidding? What would you be saying if that was done to you?
Labvakar, Nils. Tieshi kur to skaties sitas spells?
7 Oct 2012, 21:35 pm
LoL at tassies 517 – just buy a hottub like grant.
7 Oct 2012, 21:35 pm
Were I the coach, I’d also be looking at a new captain. For two reasons. The midfield simply isn’t working and JdV is part of the problem. Reason two is; I’d have my captain amongst the forwards. The question is who? Part of me says; thank god Spies is injured. Because he’d be Meyer’s man and I’d stop watching rugby were that to happen. My but how our fortunes have plummeted in recent times for me to contemplate that.
7 Oct 2012, 21:36 pm
@56boks-519: yip Habana’s try was off forward pass.. but so was Whitelock’s.. also forward.. go check it again.
Rolland was a little saffa happy but then your offside infringements and McCaw’s lying on wrong side of the ruck needs to get sorted some time or other.. if not now.. when?
We played well below the standard we set for ourselves.. and the tries you waltzed in were soft all four of them.. against a decent organized saffa outfit those kind of tries should and do not happen.. they were far too easy .. and in our own back yard .. seems we opened up the byways and played the game just up your alley.
7 Oct 2012, 21:37 pm
@Fitz1ella……Skop ,you,we were correct in our evaluation of The Meyer from the outset. His stagnant gameplan has inflitrated the Bok to where they been chasing their tails and are still jogging on the spot,kiddies style.I know it is far easier looking at something retrospectivly, but if Meyer had made the right and necessary decisions at the start of his tenure the Boks would be in a far better position teamwise and in the record books.
7 Oct 2012, 21:37 pm
@ fitz1ella. Your forwards could’nt last 30mins. When your forwards start dropping ball, get themselves tangled up, its not due to training or wrong personnel, its called conditioning. Lack of cover defense from your loosies merely confirmed it. All Blacks knew this. So did everyone else.
7 Oct 2012, 21:39 pm
4) is utter bullshit for starters – woodcocks arm was going straight to ground – he was offering nothing for jannie to or coenie to bind on. and he was doing it purposefully with Rolland on other side if scrum – AB scrum got a gong over yesterday, which one v surprining aspect if Bok play tho it’s no longer that important.
Complete one-sided ignorance.
7 Oct 2012, 21:40 pm
@cab-520: White only ever beat AB’s 3 times.. once by 1 point in Rustenburg and got whipped by biggest home margin at Loftus in 2006.. White never beat AB’s away.. something PdV boasted twice and also beat them 3 times in one year..
Whites record against AB’s is nothing to write home about.. 33% win ratio overall over 4 years.
7 Oct 2012, 21:42 pm
@cab-522: Grant? Hot tub? Grantie still around?
7 Oct 2012, 21:45 pm
527cab
Yeah, you are right -Woodcock is over the hill, and 4 was thrown in some what.
Got an answer for the rest of it?
More to the point, do you genuinely believe that Rolland intended to refree that game fairly?
7 Oct 2012, 21:46 pm
@fitz1ella-524:
Fukoff.
All our tires were soft??
This happened in Dunedin as well. You guys said all our tries were soft.
Whats soft is your defense. Our attack has never been soft.
Why do you clowns think everytime a try is scored against you its soft
7 Oct 2012, 21:47 pm
Fitzy’sMarkEllahFitzgerald
in 2004 in whites first 3N, joubert ran in a a hattrick, it was pandemonium, the ABs have never had a bigger score wrapped up against them. I think it was one of the bigges ever and that was with a side ranked 6 in tge world and nowhere near depth currently in SA.
7 Oct 2012, 21:48 pm
@Te Rangatira-525: nothing wrong with that assessment. The coach has tried to impose the Bulls strategy on the Boks and has failed badly. He’s a stubbon ******* so he will likely persist. And will fail. This brand of rugby is not only lousy to watch but is also sadly, losing rugby given today’s rule book. I don’t blame the rules. I hold our coach responsible.
7 Oct 2012, 21:48 pm
@Te Rangatira-525: thanks for the recognition though it don’t help much being slightly right in this case.. it actually sucks a little. Going from bad to worse is not much fun really.
7 Oct 2012, 21:51 pm
@Hurricane-531: Well Hurri you’re right. Our defense was/is soft. We call that a ‘soft try’ caused by ‘soft’ defense. Taking nothing away from some of the AB’s well constructed tries. That’s what you do if you’re a great team. You prise open the defenses, especially waek one’s like ours.
7 Oct 2012, 21:51 pm
56boks
I think Rolland was pretty good to the boks and is generally somehat if a hometown ref but he’s not that bad all things considered.
Woodcock is over tge hill but still a gdam tough ******* and wiley bugger – def old school, great prop. I think Beast actually tore up Franks somewhat …?
Fitzpatrick is right at least 2 of tge AB tries were extremely soft.
7 Oct 2012, 21:52 pm
First try was soft.. 2nd try was soft
third try was soft.. fourth try was soft..
yeah all the AB’s tries were piece of p!ss soft tries against a very disorganized defense .. something no respectful Bok side should ever be proud about .. almost as pathetic as that JW spectacular loss of 7 tries to zippedy do 49-0.. that still takes the cake.. Just.
7 Oct 2012, 21:56 pm
So in summary: The Bok forwards are doing a fine job in the set pieces and tight loose. They are lousy at cover defense. The kicking game has failed. The midfield is pisspoor. The back three are kak on defense. The goal kicking sucks. And the game plan is one of the worst we’ve yet seen. Much to look forward to. Oh, and the AB’s are playing the rugby of their lives. 20 point thrashings to look forward to. How wonderful. Netball anyone?
7 Oct 2012, 21:58 pm
@cab-532: jake white was a **** coach. end of story. kiwi’s were too good.we got beat fair and square by a far better coached and managed team. a team with a rugby playing mindset not a verkraampte fok hulle op mindset.
7 Oct 2012, 22:01 pm
So if you were Meyer what would you do? Well I’d consider taking a package and beetling off to coach Romania or similiar to improve their set piece play. Some chance sadly.
7 Oct 2012, 22:03 pm
Well Jake beat NZ in 2004 at Ellis Park by 40 – 26 but then he also got hammered by NZ at Loftus by bigger margin 45 – 26 two years later.. So his big win against NZ at home gets cancelled out by his big loss vs NZ at home, and he lost one more time at home and all 5 times away.. So his record vs NZ is rather poor by overall standards.
14 Aug 2004 South Africa v New Zealand 40-26 Ellis Park, Johannesburg H
26 Aug 2006 South Africa v New Zealand 26-45 Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria H
7 Oct 2012, 22:04 pm
539 goforthegap
JW was not a **** coach at all. We won the 3n, won the world cup and set up a record of home wins – all this off the back of straulie.
This so-called **** whom you all were saying was going to get exposed then took the brumbies, in his first season in charge, to narrowly miss out on a playoff spot – unearthing some unbelievable local talent in the process.
7 Oct 2012, 22:04 pm
@fitz1ella-537: that 49 nil was a one off Skop. Given the pressure the coach, his staff and team were under, it shouldn’t have been any great surprise. Recall the race quotas and political interference at the time. It must have been pure hell being the Springbok coach at the time.
7 Oct 2012, 22:04 pm
@56boks-519: I won’t make a Watson conspiracy comments but the penalty count was quite something. Fortunately Bok prop replacements are penalty machines so we picked up 3 in 20 mins.
The forward passes were odd too – especially the one that happened a few moments before Dagg was binned, which was american football style. It seems to me JdV has only recently been told he’s allowed to pass the ball but never realised it needs to go backwards.
7 Oct 2012, 22:04 pm
@TASSIES-540:
Well Tassies the first thing I would do is train my team until they need oxygen masks to make them the fittest and best conditioned side in the world.
7 Oct 2012, 22:06 pm
We got beat by a better selected and coached team on the day – the boks and old heyneken can take the ABs if he starts selecting tge right players that have blue and White hoops on their chest and have 85% win record in last 2 years if s15 – unheard if in SA.
7 Oct 2012, 22:08 pm
@TASSIES-538: netball beats the hell out of watching this crud.. at least you might sight a couple frilly knickers peeking out once in awhile .. even ladies hockey or volleyball beats this garbage hands down.
7 Oct 2012, 22:08 pm
@cab-546:
Cab, I
7 Oct 2012, 22:09 pm
@56boks-521: i’ll disagree with you on 5 though. although the forward pass should have meant an AB scrum feed moments earlier, the ABs were warned and it was illegal close to the try line so Dagg deserved a card
7 Oct 2012, 22:09 pm
JW was a decent coach but arrogant personality, who didn’t endear himself to the majority. But there’s no doubt he knew what he was doing. Bringing in Eddie was a master stroke, just when the team needed it and regardless of the excuses by some, won a RWC. That’s no mean feat in itself. No, Jake can stake his claim to being one of SA’s better coaches. Mallett, Kitch, Jake, in that order. Just don’t like the man.
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