Leicester Tigers (16) 22 vs Springboks (11) 17 (f/t) – Game Thread & match summary

Published 6 November 2009 | By grootblousmile

Tonight saw the 1st match on Tour for the Springboks End of Year Tour 2009.  The Springboks took on the Leicester Tigers at Welford Road. The Tigers were full value for their win by 22 / 17 against a lack-lustre Bokke side which was scrummed to bits and taught a lesson in forward domination.

The Bokke started well, taking an early penalty and thereafter scoring a good try after a deft little kick from Earl Rose, for Nokwe to pounce on over the goal line.

From the first scrum however, the Springbok front row battled, then absolutely crumbled in subsequent scrums.

It is clear that the wrong front row players were taken on Tour, no doubt about it! Where was Wian du Preez, Adriaan Strauss and WP Nel when the Bokke needed grunt up front? Not on Tour, is the easy answer!

At Blindside flank Davon Raubenheimer was absent… in the ground-ball battle it was clear that the Bokke loosies were the wrong combination. The only credible loosie was Ashley Johnson, he was everywhere, did everything.

At scrumhalf, Heini Adams was slow, at flyhalf Ruan Pienaar had a nightmare with sub-standard tactical wawareness and kicking.

In the backline nothing much happened simply because the Bokke never got front foot ball.

In the last vestage, Earl Rose was one of the better players in the Bokke lineup.

Take nothing away from the settled Tigers, they played what was in front of them, monstered the Bokke in the scrums, clearly won the ground-ball battle and played it cleverly.

The lesson which should be learnt from this is simple, the best Dirt-Tracker Bokke side was not taken on tour…. The Cheetahs front row was needed, an abrasive lock like Sykes was missed, a true fetcher was required, Francois Hougaard needed to start at scrumhalf, Jacques-Louis Potgieter was needed at flyhalf…..

No need to speculate about players out wide, the ones on the field never saw the ball, because the battle was lost up front!

If ever it was’nt evident before, Ruan Pienaar has slumped to a sub-standard player and continuing with him in the pivot position is pure folly.

Scathing comments from me, but true, I’m afraid.

 

Points:

Tigers: 5 Penalties & 1 Conversion Ben Youngs, 1 Try Lucas Amorosino

Bokke: 4 Penalties Ruan Pienaar, 1 Try Jongi Nokwe

 

Teams

Leicester Tigers: 15 Scott Hamilton, 14 Lucas Amorosino, 13 Andy Forsyth, 12 Manu Tuilagi, 11 Johne Murphy, 10 Aaron Mauger (captain), 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Brett Deacon, 7 Ben Pienaar, 6 Geoff Parling, 5 Ben Kay, 4 Calum Green, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Mefin Davies, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 George Chuter, 17 Dan Cole, 18 Tom Armes, 19 Dan Hemingway, 20 James Grindal, 21 Greig Tonks, 22 Lote Tuqiri.

South Africa: 15 Earl Rose, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Jongi Nokwe, 10 Ruan Pienaar, 9 Heini Adams, 8 Ashley Johnson, 7 Dewald Potgieter, 6 Davon Raubenheimer, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Danie Rossouw, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Chiliboy Ralepelle (captain), 1 Gürthro Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Heinke van der Merwe, 18 Alistair Hargreaves, 19 Jean Deysel, 20 François Hougaard, 21 Meyer Bosman, 22 Riaan Viljoen.

Date: Friday, November 6
Venue: Welford Road, Leicester
Kick-off: 19.45 (19.45 GMT, 21.45 SA time)
Referee: Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
Assistant referees: Roy Maybank, Robin Goodliffe
TMO: Andrew Turner, Graeme Hughes

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