Springboks (10) 13 / 6 (3) Los Pumas (Final Score)
The South African Springboks and Argentinian Pumas did battle in The Rugby Championship at
Lotus Versveld, Pretoria at 17:05 SA Time (15:05 GMT, 12:05 ARG Time).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & M-Net on TV in SA.
*******************
Scorers:
Springboks:
- Penalties – Handré Pollard (1), Morné Steyn (1)
- Drop Goals – 0
- Tries – Ruan Pienaar (1)
- Conversions – Handré Pollard (1)
Los Pumas:
- Penalties – Nicolás Sánchez (2)
- Drop Goals – 0
- Tries – 0
- Conversions – 0
Teams:
South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Damian de Allende, 12 Jean de Villiers (Captain), 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Marcell Coetzee, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Lodewyk de Jager, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Eben Etzebeth, 20 Teboho Mahoje, 21 Francois Hougaard, 22 Morné Steyn, 23 Jan Serfontein.
Argentina: 15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Horacio Agulla, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Juan Martín Hernández, 11 Manuel Montero, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Martín Landajo, 8 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 7 Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 4 Mariano Galarza, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Agustín Creevy (Captain), 1 Marcos Ayerza
Replacements: 16 Matías Cortese, 17 Lucas Noguera Paz, 18 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 19 Matías Alemanno, 20 Leonardo Senatore, 21 Tomás Cubelli, 22 Santiago González Iglesias, 23 Lucas González Amorosino.
Date: Saturday 16 August
Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Kick-Off: 17:05 SA Time (15:05 GMT, 12:05 ARG Time)
Expected weather: Partly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of rain, a high of 23°C and a low of 10°C
Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant Referees: Steve Walsh (Australia), Marius Mitrea (Italy)
TMO: Simon McDowell (Ireland)
@ IAAS:
Howzit IAAS.
Hope you well.
Never rated Marcel Coetzee. Probably my blue and white tinted glasses giving this subjective point of view but always felt he lacked the mongrel required, especially at the highest level.
@ Tassies:
Look, if he is selected as a springbok, he should play like one, there should be no excuses that he is still young etc, because you also say “if you are good enough you are old enough”.
Nama just desperately wants him to fail, also wished the same for QdKock, but that has not worked out well for him 😀
@ Jeraldjay:
Coetzee has had a very good season, but it makes no sense to play both him and Louw, they didnt compliment each other well, Louw did his job, and Coetzee was left with his finger.
510 @ Tassies:
The scrums could be a combination of a few things,
1. Arg are really well coached, and will put pressure on everyone this year in the scrums.
2. Beast, Bissie and Jannie are overplayed, I think Strauss will play in Arg and maybe even Malherbe… Apart from that the Lions front row will destroy everyone this year and might get a chance on the EOYT… Or maybe the Lions scrum coach is just superior to everyone else in SA.
@ MacroBok:
No.
@ Tassies:
Been on this round about for years.
“The coach is crap” and “he should select player A and not player B”.
With HM their appears to be some direction at this stage of his tenure and not helter skelter like his predecessors.
But he needs to beat the AB’S this year…
@ Tassies:
Hi tassies. Lyk goed die kant.
Ek sou eerder wou sien dat hy eers op provinsiale vlak ontwikkel word voordat hy toetsrugby speel. Wees nou eerlik. Wat het Pollie al bewys op senior vlak om hom ‘n Bok te maak?
@ MacroBok:
Where did I wish that on QdK? I said, and I still stand by it, that he should not be considered as an opener for the test team.
You are sucking things out of your thumb now.
490 @ ufo:
Of course UFO, it’s a difference of opinion, we agree to disagree 😆
You are right, my pre match expectation was based on a typical Highveldt winters day, hard field and sunshine.
The weather was atrocious, but I feel, so was our play.
Are our line outs so dependent on Matfield that when he withdraws they fall apart?
I honestly feel we could have and should have done much better, because yesterday was the easiest of all the RC games, it’s just going to be more difficult from here on in
Regarding Pollard’s play yesterday.
The criticism against him wasn’t a personal attack and it wasn’t directed at his general play, no one stood out in general play.
The points that were raised during the live blogging was directed at his out of hand kicking, ie, drop directly out, charge down where he hung on just that second too long etc.
These are things he will fix as he realizes that there is less time in test matches, but it wasn’t unfair to mention it.
MB, if Lambie was 10 and he got charged down or made kicking errors, you would have been first in the line to mention it 😀
The fact that HM subbed him so early vindicates that he was also not completely satisfied with him?
We all know he will have a huge future with the Boks, and, I’m sure all Bok supporters hope he dominates world rugby for many years to come, it’s only in our best interest, but he can’t be protected game, if he errs, it will be mentioned, and then knee jerk reaction shouldn’t be the first response.
@ nortierd:#519
Well said.
Been interesting reading all the comments since the match and the views of all the bloggers. It seems that generally, we are all in agreement. The weather played its role, but it was the same for both sides. The Argies played the conditions, we didn’t. In normal conditions we probably would have put a much bigger score past the Argies.
In the other match, also in poor conditions 2 top sides played the conditions, and the score was tied.
And here in lies the problem for me. We have the players, we have the coach, we have the back room staff, but we cannot adapt to the situation. When the weather changes, we stick with the same game. When the opposition read our game plan and counteract it, we don’t change. When we are not executing the game plan properly we still continue unabated. Like programmed robots.
Far to often we are being found out. Yesterday, it was the weather. If we can’t adapt, we can never expect to improve. Of course we’ll keep winning matches, and when we do, we will all forgive, forget and wax lyrical again, but the feeling won’t last.
This isn’t something new. I believe Jake coached thinking out of the Bok side, PdV continued, and we’ve seen no change so far under HM.
When you watch the other top sides, you can see them thinking on their feet. With the Boks it’s monster, monster, monster, crash, crash, crash and kick, kick kick. Oh yes, and the the odd set piece move that has either been played to death, or is far too easy to read, so what do we do? Do it again!
@ nortierd:
Handre, didnt have a great game, his defense was good and his goal kicking was pinpoint, had JDV gone for goal more we would have stretched the lead a bit more, drop kicking was also extremely difficult in those conditions as both teams struggled with it and Pollard should probably test the bounce of the ball a bit more so he could get a higher trajectory.
But to imply that he is useless and target him when so manly stalwarts, bissie, jdv, jannie, bakkies, lood, eben were anonymous during the game as far from ready does not make any sense.
I agree that Morne would maybe have been better suited, but then how could anyone forget that weeks of planning were essentially cancelled out 5 minutes before the game. and don’t tell me that is english conditions, in england it would be wet an entire week before the game, to give players a chance to play in those conditions. And yes Arg also had to play in those conditions, but they still lost, and apart from threatening in the last 2 minutes they never looked threatening.
@ Just For Kicks:
Good post, we are too predictable.
519 @ nortierd:
Anyone can get charged down, and with the rain you might not be able to run the extra step you are used to…
BUT at this level a flyhalf should be able to kick with his left foot as well, and that is worrying.
Then again kicking with the “wrong” foot could put you off balance in dodgy conditions… I dont know.
@ MacroBok: the most sensible comment so far. If I were the teacher you’d get the lollipop. 😆
look there were a bunch of things playing into this performance, not the least of which were the conditions. Those conditions were damn close to that semi we squeaked it in the ’95 WC. Not conditions you really want to play rugby in. Ask JdV?
The Arg front row are notoriously good. Its their DNA. However, in post Os years we’ve looked decidedly second rate in the front row department. Not in general play but at scrum time. We haven’t enjoyed the services of a decent TH in years. Yes, Jannie has his moments but generally he gets owned when they pack down against just about anyone. Beast seems to be not much better. Problem is; the back-up cupboard is bare. Maybe we should be giving that Lions front row an opportunity to see what they’re made of on the big stage. I’m not buying Malherbe just yet.
522 @ MacroBok:
I haven’t seen any implication that Pollard was useless.
Bear in mind, the comments made during the game as it happened was spot on, this is no after the fact attack.
I’m not critical just on Pollard, I’m critical of the whole team after yesterday and feel it was a disgraceful performance against a bunch of palookas, but, that’s just me.
Others feel proud and rate the Argies.
Different strokes for different folks.
Imo we got out of jail against a bunch of also rans, the same way we snuck past a Welsh team we should bury.
Weather notwithstanding, this was a home game, and we usually easily beat them at home then struggle in Argentina.
So this time we struggled against them at home, so I have trepidation about the away game.
And, I’m saying it here, we will not beat Aus this year and the AB’s.
If this was the “marker” we laid down, then it’s not going to get easier
522 @ MacroBok:
“And yes Arg also had to play in those conditions, but they still lost, and apart from threatening in the last 2 minutes they never looked threatening.”
Of course they should lose, are you implying that the nr. 12 team in the world should beat the nr.2 team away?
Only in soccer, it should not even be considered that we should lose to Argentina
@ nortierd: Howzit Nortie. you well?
I don’t think we can use yesterday’s performance to measure the future. Yesterday was a most unusual event to say the least. I stand to be corrected but I can’t think of a single player on the day, who was outstanding. That must pretty much say it all. You could not play a normal game of rugby in those conditions. Forget the sodden pitch. What about the sheer volume of water(and hail) raining down on the players. Pun intended. Hell man, that couldn’t have been fun. The other international’s playing conditions in Sydney were tame by comparison.
@ nortierd:
What? lol during the game you were targeting Pollard, not guys like bissie who were losing lineouts consistently.. you were generalizing it all to one player.
“Weather notwithstanding” What the hell does that mean? haha “lets completely ignore the atrocious weather”?
Sorry Nortie, can’t simply ignore it… Our tactics were wrong, simply cant ignore the weather, it was there, had we gone for goal it would have been easier as well.
@ nortierd:
They did lose.
nortierd wrote:
That has pretty much been the opinion since a shocking Super Rugby campaign.
531 @ Tassies:
Hi Tassies, I’m good and you?
Two minutes into the game, we score a nice and easy try, then for the next 78 we fall around and look pathetic.
Not good enough in my books, but maybe I underestimate the might of Argentina, you know, the team who lost against a second string Scotland side in Argentina 😀
I know some are happy with a win, but of the two sides walking off the field, you must ask yourself, who was the most satisfied?
If Argentina lament the day they “could” have beaten us at Loftus and we are “pleased” that we won, then it’s a sign that we embrace mediocracy.
MacroBok wrote:
Congrats, you giant slayer you
At least you, UFO , Jean and Heyneke woke up feeling AWESOME this morning. 😉
nortierd wrote:
At least we are not being all emo about it
MacroBok wrote:
Emo? Emo?
Jeez boet, as I said yesterday, you and Ben would have even been thrown out of SharksWorld for being too emo
@ nortierd:
Its is funny how you mention how UFO, and me are the positive ones?
539 @ MacroBok:
The founding fathers of the “glass is half full club”
My application for membership to the “glass is flokken kurkdroog” club is pending…..the President, a certain Nama, is still considering it
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