SPRINGBOKS

Meyer Praises fit, gutsy Boks

Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer on Saturday applauded the fitness and never-say-die attitude of his team in defeating Australia 28-10 in the Rugby Championship at DHL Newlands.

The Springboks scored three tries in the last ten minutes to seal a bonus point victory.

“We played great rugby at times in the first half, but their defence was great. We became a bit frustrated because of that, but in the second half the fitness levels and impact from the bench was massive for us; I told our conditioning coach Basil Carzis as much afterwards,” Meyer said.

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“We wanted to make our country proud and hopefully managed that. We battled at times, but I have to say that our captain led from the front and came through for us tonight.”

Meyer was very pleased with the added effort the bench brought to the Springboks effort.

“They were all huge in their contributions and I have to thank them. It was good to see that my decision to have some experience on the bench worked out for us.

“The team also refused to give up. They sprinted back to our line after the third try, wanting to get that fourth one and we managed that. We scored some great tries when we finally managed to break them down.”

Meyer was worried about a possible rib injury to Duane Vermeulen.

“We had a lot of injuries this year and could not really build momentum because of that. That is why I am so pleased with the next group of guys who stepped in as we now have a nice depth to our squad.”

Captain Jean de Villiers, who scored a brace, admitted this to be a personal highlight.

“I always dreamt of having my kids on the field with me and that was made possible today. To finish the test match with a very late try that secured the bonus point which concluded a massive team effort, was equally pleasing.

“This was possibly a top ten test for me,” he said.

De Villiers is looking forward to next week’s final match against New Zealand.

“We will take all the good from this match into next week. We came so close to beating New Zealand in Wellington and I think we can be very competitive next weekend at Ellis Park.

“We did not play badly in Perth and Wellington. We did many good things there. Tonight was an improvement on that and next week we have to step up again. If we continue this, we can beat NZ next week.”

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ALL BLACKS

Steve Hansen finds no faults with All Blacks

Steve Hansen is generally difficult to please but, other than a head knock to Brodie Retallick, the All Blacks coach cut a satisfied figure after his side clinched a third successive Rugby Championship title in La Plata today.

It’s common for Hansen to pick out a specific area of weakness, moment in the match or player who could improve post match. After the 34-13 bonus point win over the Pumas though, he found no immediate faults.

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Two tests in the rain had frustrated the All Blacks. They hadn’t found their attacking groove since pasting the Wallabies at Eden Park.

On a dry track which encouraged running rugby and in a hostile atmosphere they cut loose, scoring four tries and having one more disallowed. Forwards ran like backs and then there was Julian Savea – the big wing proving why he is the world’s most lethal finisher with several displays of Lomu-esque power.

“We’re very happy to win the trophy again and happy with the way we played,” Hansen said.

“You work all week for your game structures and skills to be shown on the park and we showed a great array of skills and the type of game we want to play. The Championship is an outcome because of those things going well.”

Richie McCaw, who equalled Sir Colin Meads’ record of 133 matches for the All Blacks, believed securing the trophy would allow his men to simplify their game-plan against the Springboks at Ellis Park next week.

“It’s nice not to have to worry about bonus points or different permutations,” he said. “It will be a normal South African All Blacks test match and everything that comes with that. That’s exciting. We want to go and play well and win.”

Hansen praised Beauden Barrett’s control and ability to bounce back from a goal kicking perspective – slotting all six from the tee – in his second test start at firs five-eighth along with the strong contributions from Keven Mealamu, who stepped up after Dane Coles flew home for the birth of his first child mid-week, and Nathan Harris’ efforts on debut.

“We know he’s a good player,” he said of the veteran hooker.

“What it shows is Coles, who is not here, has been playing particularly well to keep him out. He’s reinforced the fact he’s a good player to a lot of people who may have had doubts about him.

“The young guy came on and did well, too. I was pleased with him. You don’t get too many bigger tests from a scrummaging point of view. He only had two or three but he did well.”

In Malakai Fekitoa the All Blacks now also look to have a player more than capable of covering both midfield roles at test level. That’s no mean feat, either. Thrust into the foreign second-five position, Fekitoa made smart defensive decisions, varied his option taking and was a threat throughout with ball in hand.

“It was a great start on that part,” assistant coach Ian Foster said.

“This week he trained really well. He was calm as the week went on. He was really clear about what he needed to do and I was delighted for him. His communication was really good. He was single minded about his ball carrying and he added some other nice touches – some nice passes and kicks that perhaps we hadn’t planned on but were very good.”

Retallick left the field in the 53rd minute after a blow to the head which may force the workaholic lock to sit out the tournament finale against the Boks. Cory Jane also tweaked his hamstring in the warm-up and was therefore not injected from the bench.

“We’ll see how he comes through the next day,” Hansen said of Retallick.

“If he passes all the tests he’ll be fine and if he doesn’t then he won’t be playing.”

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WALLABIES

Blame laid at foot of Wallabies bench

Angry coach Ewen McKenzie blamed his bench for letting down his gutsy starters after the Wallabies wilted when history beckoned against South Africa at Newlands.

Australia were on the cusp of their greatest win under McKenzie, leading 10-8 with 11 minutes left, but unravelled through a loss of composure and a string of errors in Saturday night’s gripping Rugby Championship clash.

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South Africa pounced, storming home with three tries, to retain the Mandela Plate and Test rugby’s No.2 ranking with a flattering 28-10 victory.

Extremely proud of his starting team’s efforts, McKenzie pointed the finger at his bench players who failed miserably in matching the impact of their Springbok counterparts.

While the likes of Schalk Burger, Bismarck du Plessis, JP Pietersen and Pat Lambie were match-winners for the Boks, the Wallabies reserves delivered most of their biggest errors.

Ben Alexander, James Horwill, Scott Higginbotham, Kurtley Beale, Rob Horne and James Hanson were all guilty of costly mistakes.

“I actually felt for the players who set the game up, I thought they did a really good job,” McKenzie said. “That’s probably going to get lost in the final scoreline unfortunately.

“I thought we showed a lot of character. That’s why the finish is hard to take.”

McKenzie bluntly said his bench should have been more composed.

“They’re all pretty experienced players,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any reason not to expect that you’re going to maintain composure as you go along.”

But the Wallabies were also guilty of failing to make the most of their attacking chances in the first half, particularly with some aimless kicking, when ahead 10-5.

Big centre Tevita Kuridrani and tireless flanker Scott Fardy led the way for the underdogs dreaming of ending a 22-year drought in Cape Town.

As good as their defence was for 70 minutes, Australia couldn’t contain the home side once five-eighth Lambie slotted the clutch field goal after 29 absorbing phases for an 11-10 lead.

Newlands then erupted when favourite son Jean de Villiers, the Boks captain in his last home city Test, crossed for his first of two counter-attacking five-pointers.

“To let in three tries at the end was a really disappointing finish and probably an unfair reflection on the contribution the team had put in across that 70 minutes,” McKenzie said.

The coach now has an unpalatable 1-1-6 record in matches against the Boks and All Blacks.

Rubbing salt into the wounds, Matt Toomua (concussion) is unlikely to play Argentina in Mendoza next weekend while forwards Rob Simmons (head knock) and Ben McCalman (shoulder) are also in doubt.

Seen as easy meat by the local press, Australia’s maligned pack had stood up by gaining parity at the set pieces and winning the breakdown battle.

The Wallabies took their five-point lead into the break thanks to a brilliant Adam Ashley-Cooper try.

Quick hands by Toomua and Israel Folau put Kuridrani into space and he busted through Bryan Habana and Handre Pollard before superbly dishing off to Ashley-Cooper.

“I thought he (Kuridrani) was outstanding,” McKenzie said. “He knocked them around. He bounced them backwards and made inroads.”