Saracens took on the Springboks midweek team at Wembley tonight. Saracens won 24 / 23 after trailing 18 at half time.
Well, what do you say about a team that leads by 12 points at half time and eventually loses by a point?
Firstly, let me say, I predicted that the best TEAM who played as a TEAM would win and Saracens came through as a TEAM in the second half, a half they dominated solidly. The lack of combinations of players who are used to one another is often the cause of a team losing and it was no different on the night.
I’ll start by singling out Bokke performers in this game and mosey on to those who I felt did not perform:
- Bokke who performed well was Adriaan Strauss, Dewalt Potgieter, Juan de Jongh, Jongi Nokwe and Earl Rose.
- Bokke who were solid were Andries Bekker, Jean Deysel, Heini Adams & Wynand Olivier.
- Bokke who underperformed were Heinke van der Merwe, Wian du Preez, CJ van der Linde, Alistair Hargreaves, Danie Rossouw & Davon Raubenheimer.
- The rest, well they were neither here nor there.
The Bokke handled the first few minutes well when Saracens came at them hard and fared better and better as the first half continued, except in the scrums where their torid tour continued, unabated. Dewalt Potgieter led by example.
Ruan Pienaar did not have a good evening with the boot to the posts but he opened with a penalty and added one conversion from the second Bokke try by Nokwe. The first try however was scored by Juan de Jongh, who showed some good strenght to drive over the try line after the Bokke were camped on the Saracens line for a while. The second try of Nokwe came from a high kick which was well followed up but Saracens can feel aggrieved that the try was allowed because it certainly looked like Ashley Johnson had knocked the ball whilst contesting for the ball in the air.
Ruan Pienaar added a penalty before half time.
At half time Saracens only had 2 converted Derick Hougaard penalties for their trouble.
The half time score was Bokke 18 / Saracens 6
After half time a different Saracens team came out, they dominated every phase, they struck back twice in rapid succession with well worked tries by Bradley Barrit and a charge down try by Ernst Joubert… suddenly the score was 18 / 18.
Derick Hougaard who had a torrid evening with the boot missed a sitter of a penalty to try and put Saracens in the lead, which gave the Bokke the respite they needed to rally and score a good try by Jongi Nokwe, after a sublime long pass wide left by Wynand Olivier to Earl Rose, who cleverly ofloaded to his inside and a final pass going wide again into the hands of the speed merchant, Nokwe. Ruan missed the easy conversion.
With the Bokke leading 23 / 18 the “ghost of bad and multiple mindless substitutions” visited the Bokke coaching staff yet again… sending 4 substitutions on simultaneously… Maku, Raubenheimer, Bosman, Viljoen.
Maku and Raubenheimer were clearly less effective than Adriaan Strauss and Ashley Johnson. Bosman did not do much wrong but the rhytm was suddenly missing. Riaan Viljoen did nothing wrong and tried to ressurect the failing Bokke.
Saracens played a clever game though, they kept possession….. milked the penalties and Hougaard converted one, putting them only 2 points behind the Bokke.
Then Derick Hougaard finally struck gold with a drop goal after missing about 4 previous tedious drop goal attempts. Now Saracens were leading by a point with 4 minutes left on the clock.
In the final minutes Saracens kept possession of the ball and kept it in the forwards, running the clock down untl Derick Hougaard kicked the ball well into the stands to end the game.
Once again I heard moans from commetators about a Referee’s contributions and I shuddered! A good team wins, despite the Referee… and I hate silly excuses!
Well done Saracens!
The Bokke are now a pityful ZERO from THREE games on their tour.
Points:
Saracens: 3 Penalties & 1 Conversion & 1 Drop Goal Derick Hougaard, 1 Try Ernst Joubert, 1 Try Bradley Barrit
Springboks: 2 Penalties & 1 Conversion Ruan Pienaar, 1 Try Juan de Jongh, 2 Tries Jongi Nokwe
Teams:
Saracens:
15 Michael Horak, 14 Noah Cato, 13 Kameli Ratuvou, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Michael Tagicakibau, 10 Derick Hougaard, 9 Neil de Kock, 8 Ernst Joubert, 7 Justin Melck, 6 Wikus van Heerden (captain), 5 Hugh Vyvyan, 4 Mouritz Botha, 3 Richard Skuse, 2 Ethienne Reynecke, 1 Rhys Gill
Replacements: 16 Schalk Brits, 17 Carlos Nieto, 18 George Kruis, 19 Andy Saull, 20 Kevin Barrett, 21 Alex Goode, 22 Rodd Penney
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 (captain), 6 Jean Deysel, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Danie Rossouw, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Wian du Preez.
Replacements: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Heinke van der Merwe, 18 Alistair Hargreaves, 19 Davon Raubenheimer, 20 François Hougaard, 21 Meyer Bosman, 22 Riaan Viljoen.
Date: Tuesday, November 17
Venue: Wembley Stadium, London
Kick-off: 19.45 (19.45 GMT; 21.45 SA time)
Expected weather conditions: Scattered clouds with a high of 13°C dropping to 11°C and a southwester of 21 km/h freshening.
Referee: James Jones (Wales)
Assistant referees: Rob Debney (England), Paul Dix (England)
TMO: Brian Abrahams (England)
Our friend and fellow blogger sent these photo’s directly from Wembley. Thanks Carol.
[cincopa 10518988]
300
Anyhow this is just the Dirt Tracker side. How will our Test side do this week?
Is Bissie and Burger going to play? If not can Strauss and Potties or Deysel fill in there? I think yes those players can but have they played enough with the Test side to gel in quick?
We really miss those 4 players that left. Well Spies is injured.
Adi just never as good as JdV
Kanko never as good as Spies
Burger never as good as Juan at blindside
Zane never as good as Frans Steyn.
I like that centre JdJ. I would rather he played instead of Adi even if he has to play out of position at inside centre. Adi is playing out of position there and is not that good there.
Ed, geluk met daardie 3000 ! Jy doen baie beter as jou span hierdie jaar. 😉
300 – Boerboel. I was one that just thought Rose was not good enough. He never let the team down at all. So now must support him.
Okay cheers all out of here now.
Bad luck to our Dirt Trackers.
Well done to Sarries.
#290 I gather one try was questionable, a knock on was not picked by ref or touch judge.
Laat ek gou my 2000 ste post gooi, soos die Bokke die game gegooi het. So hard soos DH ons try help het , moes hy darem sy eie span ook iets gee toe hy sien ons soek van verloor , die Bok toer is n groot f op
Puma #302 I understand that Marfiled is not going to play against Italy and now it looked like Bekker is injured. Another worry – but let us be happy!
Nag almal, onthou, dit is net ‘n game 😉
Post Number 2000
and goodnight all.
My wallet was toe reg.
Ek sien ons gaan net vit Italy wen op hierdie toer.
1 uit 5.
20% MMmmmmm Back to school, back to reality.
it was darem not THAT bad, they didnt get 42!!
Ruan Pienaar needs to move to the Cheetahs… Where he’ll get played consistently at fly-half and where he’ll get ample opportunity to develop in that position. He’ll also fit right in with the Cheetahs’ style of running rugby. His goal kicking was poor, but overall I was pleased with the way he ran proceedings. The Cheetahs will not take the ball away from the man if he misses kicks. I think it will be a win win win situation. Cheetahs win, Ruan win, and the Springboks win. He reads the game really well. Too bad so sad, he’ll never move to the Cheetahs… As JM Hernandez the headless chicken plays FH for the SHARKS.
Wat de donner man. Ag nee, ek het regtig gehoop ons gaan die ene vat. Het 4:20 vanoggend opgestaan om die game te kyk en toe weer aan die slaap geraak, ook maar flippen bly.
Ek kan nie verstaan hoe die keurders met die ‘span’ kon opkom nie. Die agterlyn het spelers van al 5 provinsies. 4-8 het 4 van die 5 provinsies. Hierdie ouens het nog NOOIT saam gespeel nie. En daar is nie ‘n sterk leier nie. Met alle respek aan Potgieter, waarom is Adriaan Strauss nie kaptein nie? EN waar is oupa Terreblanche? Beter leierskap kry jy nie.
Is Danie Russouw ‘n slot? Nee. Is hy eerste keuse slot by sy Unie? Nee. Is Anton van Zyl (bv) ‘n slot, ja. Eerste keuse, ja. Het hy al saam met Bekker gespeel? Het hy ‘n baie goeie seisoen agter die rug? ja en ja… nou ja. WAT DE F*K IS DIT SO MOEILIK? Bandisu Maku, soos nouregtig, dis nie ‘n grap nie.
Ek se weer, Tiaan Liebenberg. Ten minste is Strauss nou daar, maar hy moes LANKAL daar gewees het. OF KUUN!!!!!!!
Sarel Pretorius, Jano Vermaak, Rory Kockette en Dewald Duvenhage is ALMAL beter scrumhalves as Adams. Jaques Louis Potgieter is ‘n beter 10 as Pienaar. Pienaar is ‘n beter 9 as Adams. Rubenheimer???? WAAR is Vermeulen. En die ou wat Potgieter se flank maat by die Bulle is, hy is ook beter. Hel, al die Cheetah flanke is beter!
NOU WAT DE MOER? Baadjies vir boeties en kwota k*k moet ent kry. Dis nie die moeite werd nie!
314
Waar het jy gesien geen kombinasies sal skielik n kombinasie vorm. Nee stem dis malligheid. Dan glo ek ook BAIE belangrik, kyk na die coaching. Nie soseer PdV sn nie maar die invloed van DICK MUIR. Jammer Lions julle het n dut gekoop.
Die hele 2 jaar kla ons AL OOR DM en GG, Nou ja Dickhead het nou twee verlore teen klubspanne. Die agterlyn se afrigting is ERG poer in sy moer in. Kyk hoe briljant het die Bulle vir WO gebruik, gisteraand het hulle hom nooit in die game gebruik soos die Bulle doen nie, Ruan het hom baie keer oorgeslaan. Alles weens game plan en fatup coaching.
PDV MOET WAKKER WORD EN SOOS JAKE GEMAAK HET MET EJ, VIR HOM N AGTERLYN COACH NADERKRY, selfs Slapchips sal n 100% verbetering wees.
More Super,
Does this mean that outside of the WC and Tri Nations 22 (which were mostly Jakes team) that we dont have backup, or is it combinations or bad coaching?
Tighthead ?
PS, Here in Aus they hate Kaplan (and love him in NZ), and when they tell me that I tell them we hate Dickinson even more, they look surprised, so it was good to see him being dragged over the coals this week.
Grootblousmile….ek dink jy is n bietjie hard op Hargreaves. Hy het dalk nie flashy gelyk nie maar hy was ten minste een van die voorspelers wat nie gedurig in die agterlyn gestaan het nie. As meer van ons voories soos Hargreaves gespeel het sou ons dalk meer balbesit gehad het. Bekker het goed gelyk maar het hy sy basiese job gedoen?
Wian du preez se kant van die skrum was solied en Heinke wat uit posisie gespeel het maar gesukkel. Wian was definitief sover in die toer die beste stut wat nog gespeel het.
Pokkel @318
That being said, none of them have performed up to standard.
313 – VanStraaten,
Look you have a good point with Ruan but he wont move from the Sharks. Also Plum will always assist PdV. If PdV wants Ruan to play FH he will move Ruan back there. Hernandez is NOT a headless chicken, rather a BRILLIANT player. Hernandez can move to play centre if PdV wants Ruan to play FH at the Sharks. Ruan has nerves and it just wont go away when he kicks at goal, remember he was our main kicker at the Sharks. Took all the kicks. So Sharks are giving him all the time needed to kick at posts.
We lost last night not just because Ruan missed some kicks at posts but also because of the stupid brainless changes. Why? As soon as Adams was replaced Hougaard kick got charged down and that lead to a try. There is where we lost the game. Don’t make changes unless you have too. The team was playing well together until all the changes.
Since when is Dewald a #7, and Deysel a #6, and Heinke a #3, and Ruaan a #10????
Rose played very well and might earn a cap against Italy. So did De Jongh, a future world star this boytjie, he is just a little selfish at the moment.
Johnstone is exciting, but too loose and all over the place, too much of a headless chicken, he is our next Hilton Lobberts, ‘boopie’ beginning to show already.
Oh, and less I forget, the ref screwed us and Ruan Viljoen came on too late to save us with one of his monster kicks.
@321
Riaan Viljoen.
318 – Pokkel, First of all Morning to all
I just don’t understand why they selected HvM. He had not played any rugby since April? Stupid selection. That is how you keep a bloke injured when he is not game fit and just has to slot in. Then he is a LH not a TH. He is a great LH when fit. Why did they not select WP. Nel for the Dirt Trackers? He is a TH and proved how well he can play. Stupid selections are going to cost us huge in the future.
322 – Piet, Morning boet.
Good morning all. Press here seriously questioning Bok talent with an eye on the future. Can’t blame them with such poor results. I don’t think it is the end of the world, but close…hehehe
Don’t you think a good coaching team would:
1. Identify the problem areas
2. Develop a plan
3. Stick with the plan.
Too many changes in all positions all the time. Just my stupid 10p worth
A bit of rugby trivia….first time in history that players from one country scored all the points in a match for both sides, howzat!!!!
321 – Piet it was crazy to play Deysel out of position. Why did they not select Stegmann from Bulls? A specialist openside? Because coaches had dropped Brussow from the tests and he was going to play in the Dirt Tracker side? How dumb was that? Only when Spies got injured did they move Brussow back to the Test side. He is the ONE player playing 100% there and jeepers if we never had him last week against France we would have lost by more.
327 – Piet…LOL. 100% correct..hehehe.
They never sang the anthem because it would not have been fair to the saffas in the Sarries team as well…hehehe.
The Bok jersey is supposed to be sacred! Not so?
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