Last might we all felt that the South African game plan was poor and uninspiring. Perhaps we need to be just a little less reflex and hot under the collar in branding South Africans who support various New Zealand rugby causes instantly traitorous. This article by Rob Houwing , sums up my thoughts of the game too.
Could there be at least some element of such people throwing their weight behind teams from that country because they simply seem to play a more vibrant and joyous game so much of the time?
There is often talk of sides from our country playing to “traditional strengths” ... which to all intents and purposes means trying to pile-drive and/or boot their way to victory.
At the Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch on Monday, day one of the IRB Junior World Championship, hosts South Africa understandably had main-game billing … but ended up being massively eclipsed by the “Baby Blacks” who lit up the preceding game with their enthralling commitment to ball-in-hand play, composure and sharpness of mind.
Yes, it was a bit like pitching up for a highly-touted movie and thinking as you shuffled out that you’d actually preferred the ads and trailers, thank you.
It is true that we may only know just how good the New Zealanders were as their badly beaten opponents, Samoa, advance in the tournament; maybe the Pacific Islanders will take a few poundings not dissimilar to the 63-0 outcome suffered here, and some perspective will be required.
A gut feel by many at this stage, nevertheless, will be that once again the junior All Blacks will be a sprightly crop and the ones to beat if anyone else genuinely fancies the 2012 crown.
South Africa? Sadly they’re instantly and just a little humiliatingly on the back foot, courtesy of a showing of great resolve by an Irish team who theatrically celebrated their deserved 23-19 victory as though it was the highest point of their sporting lives. Who knows, maybe in some cases it will turn out to be exactly that.
Losing captain Wiaan Liebenberg afterwards bemoaned a few decisions that he felt had gone against the Baby Boks at the breakdown, an area which was critical to the Irish success because – often by entirely fair means, mind – they produced some epic counter-rucking.
And although I tend not to like immediate post-match pitch-side interviews with skippers because they are still out of breath and unable to compose their thoughts to the best extent, maybe he could have been just a wee bit more magnanimous, too, toward the winning team from the Emerald Isle.
It was a flustered, imprecise and too often static display by the Baby Boks, so highly touted beforehand because of their supposed infusion of Super Rugby-knowledgeable players. We quickly discovered that this alone is not a passport to triumph.
Poor Steven Kitshoff, the loosehead prop who has been so impressive for the Stormers, had a night to especially forget: he found himself pinged a couple of times at the set-piece and unable to get a good left shoulder going, so much so that at the break he was subbed for the bodily phenomenon that is Ollie Kebble, and the South African scrummage at least recaptured self-respect to an extent.
In fairness, there was always the danger that Kitshoff would enter this tournament weary from so many weeks of gruelling industry in his maiden full campaign for the Stormers; coach Dawie Theron may have a selection poser at No 1 for the fast bounce-back quest against Italy at the University of the Western Cape on Friday.
Theron had said in the build-up that he wanted his side to dominate the collisions and be unerring at the lineout and scrum before the ball would be consistently delivered to the three-quarters.
The trouble was, none of his aims came to fruition on the park … and when a South African team fancying their gung-ho physicality rather gallingly get a taste of their own medicine, as happened, all manner of vulnerabilities and uncertainties can come home to roost.
“It was brilliant from the lads; no one shied away from any contact,” Irish captain Niall Scannell gushed in his own appraisal of the fixture. The hooker’s accuracy in that regard could not be faulted.
Frustration from the 9 000-strong support in Stellenbosch became vocal during the first half, as Bok starting scrumhalf Abrie Griesel – commentators say he is a better player than evidenced on this occasion, which is a relief – eternally botched his tactical kicking (an obsession, sadly) and was later replaced by Vian van der Watt in the 49th minute.
That did seem to bring the backline as a whole to a bit more life, which is something to pick up as a crumb of comfort, going forward in the event.
There was also endless energy from the open-side flank Shaun Adendorff, whilst towering Lions lock Paul Willemse thundered over for a good try, using his 130kg frame to
forceful effect.
But the fact that his less-than-subtle touchdown was the only one the Baby Boks got, with the rest of their points coming from flyhalf Tony Jantjies who did his level best to keep them in the hunt with his accurate boot, somehow indicated the South African inability to woo the audience with positivity.
The Baby Boks supposedly hogged 55 percent of possession. But what to do constructively with the “pill” is something we were better educated in just one game earlier …
Reactions after the game
South Africa coach Dawie Theron: “This is the last thing that we expected, we thought home ground advantage and this is the unthinkable but is has happened. We really got to go back now and really work hard to get the honour back.”
“Ireland played well, for sure, they had a good kicking game and a good set piece and in the end they used their opportunities. They got two tries from charge downs but obviously I think they worked on that and that for them was a point of difference that they really concentrated on. In the end I thought we scrummed well, at times we mauled very well, but on the night not good enough.”
Ireland captain Niall Scannell: “We worked very hard and believed in it. The South Africans put a lot of pressure on us but we came out all right. It was a very physical game. Our focus was on the tackle and to aim at those knees and ankles. Brilliant commitment by the team.”
South Africa captain Wian Liebenberg: “Definitely not the result we wanted. I think we didn’t want to play catch up rugby but they played well, put the pressure on us and made us play in our half and that was not what we wanted to do.
New Zealand co-captain Bryn Hall: “The boys started very well and before the game that first 20 minutes were really important for us and I think we scored four or five tries off that. In saying that there were a couple of periods where I was a bit sloppy, so hopefully just getting that right and hopefully go good from there.
“I guess it could be difficult for some teams (to play for 80 minutes with a big lead), but I like to think that it’s not for us, we kind of want to keep it going and keep it going, so that four to five tries we scored we obviously want to try and maintain it. Unfortunately sometimes it didn’t happen, but we’ll definitely work on that in our next couple of trainings coming up.
“(For next time we need to improve) just being strong at the ruck. I think a couple of times there were opportunities where they counter-rucked us so I guess staying strong in those rucks. I guess just keeping the foot on the floor and keep going so, like I said before, the four to five tries we scored and then there were periods where we let off, so playing really consistent for the whole match.”
South Africa must now regroup and fast with Italy awaiting them on Friday before an absolutely must-win match against England on 12 June if they are to have any chance of making the semi finals and bettering their fifth place finish of 12 months ago.
3@ superBul:
The disappointing thing superBul is that this Bokkie team seems to have had quite a bit of time together preparing before the tournament, playing Argentina etc and so thought they would have been in good shape from their very first game, is it a case of this year not being a good vintage in terms of player resources, remember last year there was Arno Botho, Kolisi and Ezebeth in the pack, thats just 3 very good players I can recall off the top of my head, or are they just poorly coached? Problem is that the England team will probably be even better than Ireland were, they have outperformed the Bokkies over the last few tournaments anyway and I think they won the junior six nations this year.
@ Bullscot:
SA coach actually said they underestimated the opponents, well that what i read in this statement.
South Africa coach Dawie Theron: “This is the last thing that we expected,
we thought home ground advantage and this is the unthinkable but is has happened.
And we thought the players were inexperienced.
The scoreline actually flattered our Baby Boks. We looked clueless at the breakdowns and our lineouts were a total mess. How we only ended 4 points behind is a mystery. More so we could have miraculously won this game had the scrummie not been charged down. How we got that close the mind boggles. We looked like a U9’s playing out there. Ireland were totally superior to us in all aspects of the game.
Now we see why some of our Baby Boks only bloom once they are with their franchises, IT has to be the COACHING. Time for us to get the very best coach for our Baby Boks. I wonder what happens to Mitchell and Spencer after the Lions get relegated? If they out of a job please, please saru contract those two for our Baby Boks. Just imagine what Mitchell could do with our young talent? For for now they are just not coached at all.
When last did our Baby Boks do well? When we had PdV and Jake. Jeez that is a long,long time back. We need to sort it out.
5@ superBul:
hahaha Super, exactly it is the Coach that is inexperienced. He simply has no clue. Time to bring in a better coach. We have the talent, no-one cant tell us we don’t. Just have to look at the Varsity boys playing, they would have thumped this Baby Bok side too. It is in the coaching.
The thing that irritates the crap out of me, is this Pink Bull innovation, where the players form a worm at the back of a ruck, to give the scrummie time and space to kick, and then he still kicks into a charging player. Just clean the farking ruck!!
Bring on Polaard, he can hardly play worse than our Gladiator imitation How bad is that haircut?
The players were clearly unsettled by the physicality of the Irish, and the pace of the game. The Oirish, just played alot quicker with ball in hand. That annoyance, Stinkstert, kept harping on, how the players like Griessel were better than this, well they sure picked a bad day to disprove his theory!
Another year of Junior Rugby wasted!
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