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, 14:19 pm
You’d have to say that the referee was appalling. The truth is that Beckham is smarter than any referee from the Bleatingish and Oilyish Isles.
7 Oct 2012, 14:28 pm
Looking at our backs:
9 Pienaar: Too slow to get the ball out, allows the opposition defence plenty of time to get into position. Kicks too deep, giving away posession.
10: Goosen: Very young and inexperienced, overawed by the occasion. Needs more time. Needs to sort out his place kicking.
11: Hougaard: Not an international standard wing, not enough of a team player.
12: JDV Past his best, suspect defence, poor passing at times and no creativity in attack.
13: Taute: Looks like a loose forward in the backline, not a centre, crash ball attacker, made some good tackles but also missed some crucial ones. Not quick enough accelaration off the mark.
14: Habana: Looking for work, desperate for ball, good on attack, but dropped an important last pass, took the wrong option coming in. Leaves holes in our defense by running up looking for intercepts, needs to stop that.
15: Kirchner: Predictable, fairly dependable, but no great fullback. A stopgap at best.
How many of the above players would make the AB side? That answers the question on why we were beaten yesterday. With plenty of ball and territory we still made it look difficult to score tries.
The AB’s made it look ridiculously easy.
7 Oct 2012, 14:47 pm
@mako-402: Jantjies also played for a good part of the game.. did you notice.. How did you rate him??
7 Oct 2012, 14:47 pm
when these morons going to REALIZE where the cookie actually crumbles.. or crumbled?
Meyer is NOT cut out for international coaching.. I want to see which Meyer disciple is still alive and boosting this twats credentials after that goddamn disaster yesterday.
Warned you LOUD and clear when he started out he was a wrecking ball looking for a china shop to get let loose in.. So he has gone from a 90% Bull-Shark selection with Kankowski, Daniel, Coetsee, Spies and Potgieter in the back row, to a better forward selection against Australia but then he CANNOT see the writing on the wall in his back line selections already when last week it was screaming out that the sh’t was going to hit the fan this week.
Where are all these Meyer disciples creaming their pants about this last white hope about to hit skid row.. ?? Where are you.. lift your heads up out the goddamn sandpit because this moron is NOT about to rescue your dying legacy.. he’s already killed it DEAD.
7 Oct 2012, 14:53 pm
@fitz1ella-404: Skop, I think our work is done here… lets move on to sort out the Syrian and Iranian crisis .. big kak happening there
7 Oct 2012, 14:54 pm
Jantjies didn’t do any better than any of the other backs.. another deer caught in the headlights not knowing which way is left or right or forward or backward, or straight or skew.
Meyer fck’d up already last week when he took forever to introduce Jantjies and De Jongh..
This week he makes a worse call.. leaving Goosen on for almost 10 minutes while the player is CROCKED beyond repair.. Meyer STILL reckons miracles actually do happen if you pray to J.C. in heaven hard enough.. his brain goes into outright freeze mode while he watches his last white hope Goosen hobbling around.. and he CANNOT get his brain to realize that its do or die time.. so he rather freezes up and dies.. that is the easier option when the reality strikes you between your dumb fck deluded irrational eyes.
He leaves De Jongh on the bench till AB’s are gone bolted down the road and outa sight .. THEN he reluctantly allows De Jongh on after JdV, and Taute and his other darlings have already allowed in 4 tries…
If that isn’t brain dead imbecilic inefficient religious idiocy.. then I don’t know what is.
7 Oct 2012, 15:00 pm
This feels like the battle Cuito Cuanaval… The twats will come back in a weeks time and claim that had the beating of the AB’s but decided to withdraw from action because they have long term objectives of winning the war rather than a single battle
7 Oct 2012, 15:01 pm
hmmmm
very disappointed in yesterday’s performance
7 Oct 2012, 15:03 pm
@youknowwho-405: the Yanks the biggest idiots on the planet.. they go after Saddam Hussein.. their own CIA created stooge who put their stupid noses out of joint on the premise that Hussein was building nuclear weapons of mass destruction, and they enter a fake ideological war that they can never ever win.. meanwhile leaving the door wide open for Iran to actually employ a path of national nuclear armament right next door.
Now the Yanks and Russia don’t know exactly how they ever going to attempt to disarm this setup.. staring down a barrel of nuclear holocaust if anyone is ready and willing to pull the trigger first.
7 Oct 2012, 15:03 pm
meyer & his apologists can bleat all he wants about caps & experience but it doesn’t wash when he leaves de jongh out of the starting line up & plays taute…he had a choice & he chose the ‘big & strong’ part-time centre rookie player over the guy that has shut down numerous attacking threats for the Stormers in midfield.
7 Oct 2012, 15:05 pm
It was very embarrassing the way our defence crumbled yesterday and the Blacks were able to score almost at will!
it defies logic how HM can appreciate the need for combinations in the forward pack but completely disregards this for the backline!
we lack cohesion on attack and do not showcase any trust to the inside man to make his tackle! this highlights a lack of trust in our defensive system but also a lack of understanding amongst the players.
7 Oct 2012, 15:06 pm
@fitz1ella-406: Skop, Jantjies played with a heavy heart knowing that he was brought into the team and onto the park by a reluctant coach. He still managed to be one of the better backs without doing much. He also knew that His captain did not want him there. In that context he done quite well. Did you see JDV take the touch kick penalty away from him
7 Oct 2012, 15:09 pm
for me the worst part actually is that defense is about attitude and NOT size.
All and sundry explained that Taute’s elevation to starting line up ahead of JdJ is due to his size advantage etc. forgetting he averages 4 knock on’s per game and plays mostly as a fullback. he’s a good player with potential but should not have started ahead of an experienced centre who partners the incumbent centre on provincial level.
there would’ve been more backline cohesion, especially on defense, with having had 3 Stormers in the backline so that there is a combination like in the forward pack, but no HM went for size and Taute was found wanting of various occasions on defense. its not the players fault, but the coach who keeps on making very bad selection calls!
7 Oct 2012, 15:10 pm
@youknowwho-412: why did JdV take the touch kick away from Jantjies? that pissed me off alot, players take the lead from the Captain and that was a panic move if ever there was one
7 Oct 2012, 15:17 pm
Meyer must fckng learn and learn it good that the last white tribe in Africa is gevrek mors dood… If he cannot get the reality sown between his frozen brain dead numbskull irrelevancy then he must fck off out the job and give somebody with balls big enough to take it on.. because he has shown in no uncertain terms that he does NOT have the correct credentials when it comes to pass of HOW to win when the going gets a little rough.
I warned loud and clear before this game that Pienaar and Kirchner were going to blow it.. I also said Taute must either play full back or wing and De Jongh must start… Hougaard has to play 9 or not at all… And Habana must go back to 11..or out.
If Meyer wanted to put NZ under pressure his back line with the players he had available should have run on like this
Taute
JdV
Mapoe
De Jongh
Habana
Goosen
Hougaard
Pienaar, Lambie, Kirchner / Jantjies
His BIGGEST mistake yesterday was not playing De Jongh.. he was forced to play Jantjies ahead of his worst nightmare that Goosen was going to get crocked which he did.. He then takes 8 minutes too long to bring Jantjies on and only AFTER a runaway unnecessary try does he consider he has to do something drastic..
He then leaves De Jongh on the bench till the 76th minute..after AB’s have waltzed in FOUR uncontested tries
This moron is WAY out of his league and his rugby philosophy is shot to ribbons garbage.. he CANNOT actually see through his brain dead deficient eyes exactly WTF is unfolding before them.
7 Oct 2012, 15:17 pm
@AiDoc-398: All Blacks coach Graham Henry hailed Rolland as the best in the business.
“Alain Rolland is the best referee in the world,” he told reporters. “He’s got a real feel for the game and he’s a player’s referee. They like playing under him because he’s got that feel.”
7 Oct 2012, 15:18 pm
It sounds as if WP are not in a hurry to sign Jantjies?!
7 Oct 2012, 15:20 pm
@fitz1ella-409: The illuminati need the WW3 to start before the US elections.. The next few weeks could be crucial to the world.. Obama is still not trusted by the Illuminati even though he has proven himself to be one of the most murderous US Presidents ever. They see a democratic victory as a fatal blow to their plans and will risk setting off WW3 to achieve their aim of a 500million world population controlled by them..
That is my conspiracy theory for the day
7 Oct 2012, 15:20 pm
@Transformation-410:
JDJ should have cracked the nod against Australia the week before. He and JDV are a settled centre combo, who had a excellent defensive record with the Stormers.
His also non-white ffs, so HM is fulfilling his transformation objectives.
7 Oct 2012, 15:22 pm
I also disagree fundamentally with players with potential bolting into the starting line-up. FFS JdV started his Springbok career on bench and also on wing. this is to protect the player to the step up from International rugby and allow them enough time to express themselves.
Why did HM not bring on Jantjies against England , for at least 20 minutes , so that he could be back up to MS? Obviously he wanted Goosen as back-up but you need to develop depth and belief in players at international level. This way Jantjies would’ve been the starter after dropping Steyn and Goosen could be brought in off bench, also for 20 minute cameos to be introduced to
international level.
Jantjies and Lambie had been in the international setup for over 2 years and know how different it is mentally and the step up required. the fact that the Goose missed 2 kicks he would ordinarily make at S15 level speaks to me less of his capability but of HM messing up his selections to starting a players in crucial position of 10 who is very young,very new to pressure rugby, and had just come from injury.
7 Oct 2012, 15:23 pm
the same can be said for Taute, watching him play for the Lions is such a marvel. he has huge talent and potential but is NOT the finished article. JdJ should’ve started as there would’ve been more defensive cohesion in backline and JdJ is known to have shown the step up in attack at international level. taute also just came back from injury and would’ve been given 2 20 minute cameo’s off bench.
it just defies logic how we can mess this up so astronomically and its not that difficult.
7 Oct 2012, 15:24 pm
the same can also be said for dropping Brussouw completely out of 30 man squad. this is some1 who has never lost to the All Blacks, granted Louw is the current favoured “fetcher” however if he had been injured we didnt have any1 playing to the ball as effectively off the bench.
is the message we really want to send to our players that a Brussouw is not even viewed as a top 10 flanker in the country?
its so simple so that we dont have to hear stupid reasoning coming from Meyer that “We showed a lack of experience”…. YOU HM are showing a lack of experience and know how ito what is required from a coach at International level DAMMIT!!!
7 Oct 2012, 15:26 pm
@papaown-414: Jantjies was considering going for posts and JdV stepped in to get Pienaar to put it into touch ..
The real destabilizing treatment was already sewn last weekend when he reluctantly brings Jantjies and De Jongh on for a 4 minute last ditch cameo against Wallabies after all the precedent had been well and truly set that this was purely a camouflaging window dressing exercise to show some kind of acceptable compromise.. Its now a situation where Meyers actual modus operandi has to come face first into the mirror because Meyer’s lack of any real rugby credentials and capacity for building a composite team ethic has been shot to hell as far as I’m concerned.. better they get this moron out now before he goes from bad to worse and sets the tone into retrograde like Streauli did… Meyer is heading down the Streauli path and sticking his brain dead head deeper into the sand of his own denial.. I cannot see him with sufficient realization to lift it out again.. not this dude.. he’s set in his thinking and its BACKWARDS.. .
7 Oct 2012, 15:33 pm
@Big Hit-416: How did he manage to penalise the winning team so dispoportionately. Surely a team that does not play by the rules should eventually end up losing and surely the No 1 ranked team for the last century cannot be a team that constantly trangresses. There must be something hugely wrong with the game if this is the case???
7 Oct 2012, 15:37 pm
@fitz1ella-423: very disappointing.
i must disagree though with allowing Jantjies to go again for posts. Jantjie’s does not have a range like the Goose or MS (“when they are kicking properly”) and as a captain you need to be aware of your kicker’s range.
the 3rd kick that was taken by Jantjies i knew was too far and beyond his range, why couldn’t JdV ask him to go for touch? this for me led directly to the hitting of posts in his 4th attempt . So it was a good decision to go for the line out just didnt see why Pienaar was asked to take the kick
7 Oct 2012, 15:37 pm
the same thing happened with Goosen’s 1st kick. i am not a believer in giving a difficult kick to your kicker as the 1st kick, if he misses it ruins his confidence for the rest of the game, look at how people said Pienaar didnt have BMT if he missed his 1st kick, its so stupid.
the reason Peter Grant had a 90% kicking ratio was because if the kick was out of his range, Stormers would go for a line out and they’d win a penalty from the ensuing lineout through a collapsed maul etc. boom Grant kicks it over and the rest of the game he is on song.
its honeslty not that complicated guys
7 Oct 2012, 15:39 pm
Meyer is an awful coach. Just awful. Credit Todd Louden for the Bulls success in SR after Meyer failed miserably in his first couple of seasons. His Leicester Tigers stint another dismal failure. He’s been all over the place as Bok coach- stepping into every single booby trap and making every mistake in the book (and managing to invent new ones) . After yesterdays performance the players will be under no illusions. They know they’re coached by a bunch of rugby bums far out of touch with the cutting edge of the game; even the three muskateers Divvy,Muir and Gold were superior to this lot.
7 Oct 2012, 15:39 pm
Any word on Goosens injury?
7 Oct 2012, 15:40 pm
Brussouw and the Polish guy are the best players you don’t pick. Imagine Obama, I mean Habana, playing for the MIB? He’d have 1400 tries by now. The same number of field goal attempts missed by the 2005 Bleating and Cheating Lions.
7 Oct 2012, 15:40 pm
@youknowwho-418: this isn’t some little tin soldiers and Nixon coming.. if they wanna play double jeopardy with this set of circumstances there ain’t going to be no winners at the end of all the saber rattling
7 Oct 2012, 15:41 pm
@youknowwho-424: i was actually ok with the reffing, 1 or 2 errors in not allowing our attackers time to place the ball after being tackled but in general i was happy.
especially with the fact that he was bold enough to give the Kiwi’s a warning and follow through on that warning. i cannot actually recall the last time an All Black player received a yellow card
can any1 bring out this stat to show us the last time the All cheats received a yellow card
7 Oct 2012, 15:46 pm
Great start by Sri Lanka……
7 Oct 2012, 15:48 pm
@papaown-425: Yip I also knew it was out of his range.. Jantjies shouldn’t have gone for posts beyond 50 mts. .. 45 mts is about the extent of his range.. Pienaar could have gambled at a 50 mt plus kick
Actually if it was me as coach I would not have started Pienaar at 9.. not this game and none of the previous games.. Hougaard would have been my No.9 throughout already from last year at the WC where FdP should have been put to pasture with Smit and Spies already.
However under yesterday’s circumstances and Goosen goes down.. Hougaard should have immediately been played at 9 and Pienaar at 10.. Pienaar should have been Bok 10 since 2009 not Morne Steyn.. that is exactly where the wheels came off at fly half back then already and not just recently.. Jantjies can fill in at 10 at test level but then the game style has to be such that he can contribute in a crunch type gain line attack or defensive situation.
De Jongh was the missing ingredient in the back line yesterday.. De Jongh has been the missing ingredient for some time already.. but nobody really wants to recognize it and least of all the dumb deluded whiter shade of pale coach.
7 Oct 2012, 15:56 pm
@fitz1ella-433:
SA would have lost anyway whatever they did and whoever they selected. The AB’s are just better.
7 Oct 2012, 15:59 pm
Gayle all out of sorts against the spinners.
Out he goes and the game might also be over as a contest.
7 Oct 2012, 16:09 pm
410 quite correct transformation in a nutshell, but even worse it’s not only his defence but his attacking ability which is totally being squandered and that is ACs fault too – you cannot defend for 50mins bo matter how good or organised your defense is – by all means jet them work on defense but for godsake attack – you can only win by scoring points. Unbelievable **** after that opening 30 mins where all over them – what fo they do, defend, kick-chase territory kak.
7 Oct 2012, 16:12 pm
Jantjies is kak compared to goosen and dejong -dejong got some serious class , jantjies look like jelly baby pumped full of creatine , one knock and he tata , mind u goosen starting to look that way – real shame that goosen got some serious talent.
7 Oct 2012, 16:15 pm
434 sacriledgeous RobbieZ
7 Oct 2012, 16:21 pm
After a few hours of meditation, weed and acid i have found the answer to SA rugby’s problems
Get a coach who can coach and who has the ability to select the best players to implement his gameplan.
Amazingly simple isn’t it
7 Oct 2012, 16:23 pm
@Big Hit-416:
No longer. Now he rates with Whiney Barnes
7 Oct 2012, 16:26 pm
All or nothing now for WI – Samuals 3×6 in one Malinga over.
7 Oct 2012, 16:26 pm
Agendas going on left right and centre here. Meyer is a slow learner but we will come right. JdJ should have started. Goosen would have come off permanently earlier IF the ref had permitted – the ref at one point refused Goosen permission to go off and Jantjies to come on.
Think people are being overly emotional. We lost to a superior side.
7 Oct 2012, 16:27 pm
@cab-438:
Even “divine intervention” would not have helped them.
7 Oct 2012, 16:29 pm
We need skills coaches at provincial, super and national level. Get Mallett and Wayne Smith in to co-ordinate, and what about former players like Michael du Plessis, Carel, Gerber, Mordt, Geysie Pienaar, Paulse, Hennie le Roux; get them involved throughout the structures again.
7 Oct 2012, 16:30 pm
Inside edge, fark.
7 Oct 2012, 16:34 pm
Bull dust its Meyer’s head in the sand deficiency that gives these AB’s this invincible status
If this Meyer twat would open his befuddled eyes and recognize where he’s playing it emphatically wrong he could have easily beaten AB’s yesterday, Goosen or no Goosen.
Goosen is showing how brittle he is, he’s getting injured almost every second game now which is a great pity because he sparks the back line like no other fly half in the country.
But this is how Meyer should have started yesterday.
Taute
JdV
Mapoe
De Jongh
Habana
Goosen
Hougaard
Pienaar, Lambie, Kirchner/Jantjies
And he would have stood a far better chance than he did.
If Goosen went down Pienaar to 10 but Hougaard must always start at 9 never 11 and Boks would take the game to AB’s. The way Meyer is going about this fiasco he’s shooting in the dark hit and miss hoping his second guess hunches prove successful. He don’t have a goddamn clue in hell, and his holy gdamn disciples still think he does. He’s worse out of his league than Pdv ever was.
7 Oct 2012, 16:36 pm
@cab-437: please substantiate your notion that Jantjies is “ka k”?
He put over his kicks, bar 2 with 1 out of his range, and he gave a try scoring pass to Habana in the bread basket that Habana dropped.
That’s not a ka k in Every1′s humble opinion, bar yours!
7 Oct 2012, 16:39 pm
and to all those idiots blaming Habana for the try i hope u realise that him running up out of the line is part of the defensive structure.He has been instructed to do this to shut down the deeper laying outside backs.Its a kak strategy and only works if ur timing is spot on.
U cant even blame the defense and backline coaches bcause in reality there is only one coach heyneke kak meyer. Its his ideas and he has the final say.
7 Oct 2012, 16:43 pm
Skop, you’d go against the ABs with Jdv at wing, where he is now too slow, Hougaard who is in worse form than Pienaar, a new centre, Taute who is like a deer in the headlights, etc. We’d have been slaughtered far worse than we were.
Goosen needs time to develop into his body and he will. He needs to be managed carefully.
No, we needed someone like Willie at fullback, JdJ in place of Taute and for Goosen not to have got injured while making the tackle.
Outta here.
7 Oct 2012, 16:44 pm
@saru1983-448: Exactly.
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