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, 10:05 am
We were beaten good and sold! No excuses will change the poor playing style we have become known for. The coaches change but our style of rugby stays the same… Same old same old…
7 Oct 2012, 10:06 am
sold = solid…
7 Oct 2012, 10:09 am
Yes it was a square beating, not so sure about the fair bit, but one cannot complain – I am in awe of cheater mccaw.
7 Oct 2012, 10:12 am
Cabbie, McCaw the best ever nobody gets near him over so many seasons, he’ll take us to the promised land in 15′.
7 Oct 2012, 10:12 am
This job is just too big for HM.He is way out of his depth.Good leadership is about making tough decisions.His big opportunity was when he took over but he took the safety first route and hoped that what worked for the Bulls would work against the best international teams.Not surprisingly it did not and he is now stuck in a hole which will get harder and harder to get out of.I just don’t think think he has the intellectual ability to do the job.And like many who don’t have enough upstairs for a task,he surrounds himself with people who also don’t have the ability and cannot challenge him.I’m afraid that it’s going to be a long and depressing downhill path with HM in the drivers seat.
As a simple example of his lack of imagination,or perhaps his arrogance,why on earth did he not give Lambie at least 30 minutes on the field yesterday? There was nothing to lose and so much to learn,plus the whole country wanted it.Instead he gave his Blue Buddy Flip a lot of game time at the expense of one of the better performers of the day,Etsebeth.Very difficult to understand!
7 Oct 2012, 10:13 am
@cab-300: don’t know who the idiot is that gives him face shots – better to stand on his ankle dig the studs in deep or twist his foot in his boot 180 degrees to eina. Dig your knee into his lower back if you see his cheating and slowing down our ball. Guranteed he will stop his cheating real quick.
7 Oct 2012, 10:14 am
304 NZinCn
you are in fine spirits this morning I see – mccaw the best ever cheat for sure – I’m hoping when he’s done he’ll be paid a fortune to start a mcCrookery academy in SA – how to cheat and still look like a choirboy – what me ref?
7 Oct 2012, 10:17 am
RL – maybe but I dunno why the boks get so upset and try take him out, rather than trying to learn from the master (cheater).
7 Oct 2012, 10:18 am
My favourite is a short knuckle punch to the the side of the patella – Boks must end McCheat cause with age the blows hurt more and take longer to heal.
I misss u Bakkies Botha
7 Oct 2012, 10:20 am
Strongs Garth
That’s a lot to deal with
7 Oct 2012, 10:21 am
Cab the greatest ever the debate is over, he’ll still be riding your boys in 15′.
7 Oct 2012, 10:21 am
Actually fitzy and now mccaw are my favourites -gdam these 2 are miles ahead of the rest at what they do and take for their team against the Boks who literally want to decapitate them by the end of the game such is the Bok frustration -but does it deter mccheat? No chance, he luvs it, I can wait for his autobiography – ‘Fagan had nothing on me: the artful dodger reveals all’.
7 Oct 2012, 10:22 am
At least talk sense and don’t carry on about provincialism. If you knew meyer you would realize everything is about him- not about anyone else. Funny that he hasn’t relized that the AB loosies weighed in at 104, 107 and 108 repestively and not 114,119 and 120. maybe that’s why they beat us to the ball all day long. Ask Alberts. The man is obviously hurting from being called to run into brick walls all day long. Same with Vermeulen, and Flo never carried yesterday. He passed as soon as contact was imminent. Granted, he did make a couple of steals, but then I could name ten loosies that would do the same playing in that team if that is all they focused on. Heyneke , big is no longer better.
7 Oct 2012, 10:22 am
“304
NZINCHINA Says:
October 7th, 2012 at 10:12 am
Cabbie, McCaw the best ever nobody gets near him over so many seasons, he’ll take us to the promised land in 15?.”
AMEN!
7 Oct 2012, 10:22 am
RL you’d better take DC out at the same time as he’s good enough to beat you on his own.
7 Oct 2012, 10:24 am
Jeepers but this nils oke smaaks to suck kiwi d icks.
7 Oct 2012, 10:24 am
Dawn please use your own material.
7 Oct 2012, 10:26 am
Fern your boys took one in a rse last night.
7 Oct 2012, 10:27 am
@318 so you have something in commom with them then
7 Oct 2012, 10:30 am
Yip 2015 a great poosibility, he’ll be about 74 then, I’d prob pick mccaw if he was crippled and only had 1 finger such is his trickery.
7 Oct 2012, 10:30 am
Fern not all is lost you finally got a win against Aus.
7 Oct 2012, 10:32 am
@NZINCHINA-321:
And a draw against Argentina.
7 Oct 2012, 10:32 am
Ok better go seem to have drawn out the worst.
Yip it’s a pretty great team and they all getting the plaudits and cups and records they wanted and probably deserved, but I still recon 2011 mightve been v different with Bismarck selected, not too mention alberts and houggard.
7 Oct 2012, 10:33 am
McCaw the greatest ever… you can call him what you like but to me he’s the king.100 wins is an amazing achievement.cheater or not,it is what it is.Respect
7 Oct 2012, 10:35 am
Katman. Atreides and Brumbies Boy.
Who has egg on their face now?
(Sorry people, only they will understand).
7 Oct 2012, 10:35 am
@NZINCHINA-315: like your cheats took out the Goose.
7 Oct 2012, 10:36 am
Hello Caner, smiles all round today mate it doesn’t get any better thumping them in their house.Gear, Read, DC so many great performances right in the heart of enemy territory.
7 Oct 2012, 10:37 am
@cab-323:
Bye cab, always a pleasure to see you around.
7 Oct 2012, 10:38 am
@NZINCHINA-327:
You’re gonna have to go back to calling Aastralia your greatest foes.
The Boks are ‘rebuilding’ again.
7 Oct 2012, 10:39 am
RL you pinned the hopes of a nation on a 20 year old kid who’d played 5 mins of test football.
7 Oct 2012, 10:41 am
wow, congrats to the Kiwi’s. Great team at the top of their powers. to the Boks, you started well, huge dissapointment for Goosen, would have loved to see him at his best. At least Elton got some game-time.
HOWEVER: I am truly disgusted at a large portion of south african rugby “supporters”
the depths to which some will stoop to stick the knives in seemingly has no limits. Last week we beat Australia, the team is looking better than it has in ages.
then we were loving things. kinda.
yet now everybody must be fired immediately, it is demanded. last week Habana was a rugby GOD, this week he is washed up.
JvD showed incredible skill and instinct at times, and good leadership. But he must retire immediately. too old.
Lambie must replace Kirchner right now, and guess what. After the next game if the Boks dont beat whatever opposition by a 100 points he will walking the plank too. to be replaced by the next big thing, whoever that may be.
If we run the ball then the criticism is no structure. if we play tight there is no creativity. PDV had no discipline. HM is too disciplined.
Concede a try because of brilliant opposition move and our whole defensive system must be changed, coach muct be fired and we need a new kit. because the jerseys are teh suck and hinder tackles.
We need fetchers because we have carthorses that only defend. now we have 3 players that play to the ball and their backline is killing us.
HM is playing “nenderthal stampkar rugby” What the hell does that even mean? I think it means someone heard someone else say something and regularly just vomit it out because it kinda fits with their anger and negativity.
Let me predict something, if HM gets fired (and he wont) then the next guy will have 2 games before this same lot of “supporters” are accusing him of playing the wrong style of rugby with the wrong players because he is a brainless idiot.
Its the same with Super Rugby and its the same with CC. provincialism clouds judgement but its deeper than that. and its ugly. its vindictive and has very little to do with facts.
7 Oct 2012, 10:41 am
@NZINCHINA-327:
Very intense game for the first 3/4.
Best performance by NZ this year. IMHO.
Boks just slipped away little in the last quarter. But they should still be very optimistic about the future.
7 Oct 2012, 10:42 am
329 that wont happen but I can’t see Meyer changing much so you have some niggle for sure.
7 Oct 2012, 10:44 am
Cane they need some backs who can score tries and they’d win so many more games.
7 Oct 2012, 10:44 am
@roobarb2-331:
You nailed it.
Get a job with Keo.
7 Oct 2012, 10:45 am
Tacitus
That was the first 40 stats for your forwards then the all blacks started to throwing the long passes that threw confusion Habana breaking the line on defence open up a vacant lot on the outside not smart rugby by the bloke !!!FITNESS LEVELS LET THEM DOWN!!
7 Oct 2012, 10:47 am
Donkey de Villiers left his best games behind in 2007. End of. He is washed up and slow. I said that after the Asstralia game.
7 Oct 2012, 10:49 am
feck these dirty cheats
teachers pet of the irb
7 Oct 2012, 10:50 am
@peachy-336: If he stopped the move he’d be a genius.
its a thin, unforgiving line.
I’d rather hm try things than sit back afraid to make mistakes. back his instincts and abilities.
when he was playing safe he was losing his place in the team.
7 Oct 2012, 10:50 am
Aaaw China
It’s a compliment!
Your stuff is so …. Biblical!
7 Oct 2012, 10:51 am
Fern were you tempted to throw yourself in the dam late last night?
7 Oct 2012, 10:51 am
I’m off for a bit, to read comments during the game……………………………………………………….
I’ll Be Back.
7 Oct 2012, 10:55 am
Ok Arnold
7 Oct 2012, 10:56 am
Well done All Blacks and their supporters here. ABs were just far too good for this Bok side. Boks have a lot of work to do. We sure as heck missed Frans Steyn yesterday and JPP. Our biggest loss was also losing Bissie at the start of this series. Still though with our game plan we just not going to get anywhere far. Our defence was just useless yesterday as well.
7 Oct 2012, 10:58 am
Meyer really should have gotten the Stormers defence coach.
7 Oct 2012, 10:59 am
@Fern-316: LOL. I understand, it’s just pure frustration, so I’ll skip that.
7 Oct 2012, 11:00 am
If the Boks kicking was as it was a season back we would have been at 28-26 at one time…and had the mental edge to push on through. But noooooo….
7 Oct 2012, 11:08 am
@roobarb2-331: I said last week we could not take much out of the Boks win against the Wallabies. That was the weakest Aussie side we have played for years. Also rememeber for 18 min of that game Aussies only had 14 men. No way could we actually think we were brilliant playing such a weak side. Said we had to wait until we faced the ABs this week to really see where we were at. We are no where right now. Boks need a lot of work to do.
7 Oct 2012, 11:18 am
@Puma-348: When was the last time we took any joy out of watching a rugby game?
there is always a caveat, a “but”
i prefer watching school rugby these days. less negativity, more enjoyment.
7 Oct 2012, 11:18 am
Really feel the Springboks should have played a tighter game after gaining a 10-point lead. After being 10-0 ahead there is absolutely no point in throwing the ball around. Play for territory and go from set piece to set piece as the All Blacks proved yet again they are unstoppable from broken play.
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