Now that the excitement of the crazy last 10 minutes at Newlands has subsided, maybe it’s time for a reality check for the Springboks and their supporters – regardless of what happens at Ellis Park this coming week, the All Blacks remain top of the southern hemisphere pile and there is still a lot of work to be done before their position will be properly challenged.
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Although a win over the old enemy in Johannesburg will mean that effectively the difference between first and second in this year’s Castle Lager Rugby Championship for the Boks was George Clancy’s debatable decision to yellow card Bryan Habana in Perth, there are still a lot of things the All Blacks just do better.
One of those is the way they deal with Argentina. After the first round game in Napier everyone agreed that the Pumas punched above their weight. But the All Blacks still managed to grab a four try bonus point. The Pretoria game between the Boks and the Pumas was admittedly played in unseasonal monsoon conditions, but it also rained in Napier.
On the three occasions the Boks have visited Argentina in the Rugby Championship era, they have been fortunate to escape with log points and have been subjected to harrowing ordeals. In 2012 the match was drawn in Mendoza, last year they won it late, and this year they won in the final minutes too. In none of those games did the Boks pick up a four try bonus point. The All Blacks have yet to go Argentina and not clinch a four try win.
Whereas the 20 points scored in the final minutes in Cape Town will doubtless obscure many memories of what went before and it was undeniably a rousing, deserved and much needed win, the All Black performance in La Plata later that night was arguably still better than the one produced by the Boks. The Kiwis were playing on the other side of the world and never looked like being challenged, with the win that clinches them the Championship for the third successive year being achieved with some ease, as was the bonus point.
Now the All Blacks have to travel across the Atlantic Ocean, and back across several time zones, before arriving in Johannesburg to prepare for Saturday’s final match of the series. The Boks let it be known last week that they feel they are still disadvantaged in the Championship because they have to play three consecutive games on the road, but what the All Blacks have to do in the build-up to playing the Boks in a stadium that is supposedly the South African fortress is also most emphatically not for the faint hearted.
That they have managed to leave Soccer City and Ellis Park as fairly convincing winners after their two previous visits to the Highveld where they arrived via Argentina is to be applauded. If they do it again, with the Championship trophy safely under lock and key, it will well and truly underline how much better Richie McCaw’s team are when it comes to the southern hemisphere competition.
Note, that doesn’t mean they are better off when it comes to being prepared to retain the World Cup, for that is debatable if you consider sea level venues and softer underfoot conditions in the northern hemisphere winter with the faster track at Ellis Park, as well as the advantage the Kiwis currently should have in the kicking game in the absence from the Bok side of Fourie du Preez.
That said, the way the Boks finished off the last time they played the All Blacks and the way they finished off Australia at Newlands should give Jean de Villiers’ men massive confidence that at last they can make some dent on the aura of invincibility the Kiwis have carried with them since 2011.
The Bok fitness levels for a start have quite clearly improved dramatically this year, with the Boks effectively outlasting the Wallabies at Newlands in the same way that the All Blacks have outlasted them on their recent visits to South Africa.
But the line that the Boks spun afterwards that they always knew they would pull away at the end should not just be glibly accepted. For 70 minutes on Saturday it looked as though the Sunday headlines would be about the Boks’ first defeat to Australia in Cape Town since 1992. With just a bit of luck, and but for some heroic South African try-saving tackles, the Wallabies could have put the Boks away in the third quarter.
Indeed, they might have been more than a score ahead at the break had they better exploited the De Villiers knock-on when the South Africans spread the ball across their own tryline when trailing by five. If ever there was an example of why some say it is imprudent to run the ball from close to your line, that was probably it.
The first half was an odd one in that the Boks seemed dominant, and yet so much of what they did was reminiscent of the title of the Shakespeare play, Much Ado About Nothing. They seemed to be rushing everything, it was as if they were chasing something that didn’t need to be chased, and it led to mistakes that let the Wallabies into the game.
Turning down a penalty in front of the posts when you are five points down also wouldn’t be a good idea against the All Blacks, who are also better equipped and more efficient at punishing misdirected kicks than the Wallabies are, as well as more adept at seizing on handling errors and turning them into profit. There were too many elementary errors, such as failing to find touch from penalties, for the Boks to be totally happy with the performance.
And yet overall the fact it wasn’t perfect is probably precisely the reason the Boks should regard the win as a significant step in their growth. Psychologically they should have gained a lot from closing down a close game – it was close despite what the final scoreline might suggest – where they had failed to do so overseas.
Perhaps that showed that lessons were learned, as De Villiers said they would be. If that is the case, hopefully from a South African viewpoint more will be absorbed from the weekend, for in the middle 40 minutes the Boks conspired against themselves in a way that will play into New Zealand’s hands.
@ Charo:
Schalk britz was part ofnthe team and he said it was their plan with about twenty to go
@ Angostura:
Jake will never go to the wc with a “lesser” team like russia. if he goes it will be of an advisory role. maybe with Japan, who have it in them to surprise a few teams. or argentina.
@ MacroBok:
well 20 is more feasible than 10.
but was this decided on the field or did the whole team buy into it in the build up?
@ Angostura:
wherever jw goes (if a union takes him on), it will be short term no doubt.
i think he is too thick and egotistical to realise that, with every move, he is shortening his career.
@ MacroBok:
the reference to Russia was tongue in cheek
@ Charo:
well its a matter of breaking them down. after minute 60 our ball started speeding up.
I sincerely doubt its a dramatic change from min0-60 where we tried our best to slow the ball down and play with as much static ball as we can. there was no majestic change of gameplan where w kicked the ball for 60minutes and only in the last ten decided to run it.
@ Charo:
Maybe John Smith just manned up and said. “sorry jakes, this isnt working out”
I wonder how much money was spent on the golden hero
There are few possibilities for JW
1 The Wallabies; he has his support in Oz, it’s possible but not likely
2. The Boks; even less likely now that HM picked 2 quota forwards, it seemed his 0;6 record vs the ABs is no longer an issue with SARU
3. Scotland; desperate to make it in RWC 2015
4. Ireland: unlikely
5. England: the sensible option for JW, but Lancaster has his support at the RFU
6. Russia: A one off lump sum and then what?
7. The Argies: most likely option
Maybe JW was employed by the Aus to destroy the sharks from the inside and play his springboks into the ground… now he will take up his job as an analysit for the wallabies?
analyst
where to now fornthe tjarks?
Bmh? dawie theron? P.divvy?
Stonehouse, john mitchell, mallet wont last a month with bissie and jannie around
@ MacroBok:
out of that lot i would take divvy.
not sure that smit would though.
@ Charo:
Me too, with the new saru transformation plan p.divvy is going to become a hot commodity in the next 4 years in the coaching structures of our provinces.. he is not a bad coach either.
@ Charo:
nortie is going to shit himself. he is going to talk aboutThe Day Jake Quit for the next seven years.
Who wrote the Snakes contract, surely any half savvy outfit knowing the Snakes history/reputation would put a clawback clause in his contract. 😯
it would not be beneath SARU to employ Jake as springbok assistant coach
@ MacroBok:
The snake was shithouse for most of his time in charge of the Bokke, the WC saved him from being another hopeless international coach.
@ NZINCHINA:
as ammusing as this is, I believe there is another side to this story.
and yes, overrated indeed.
@ MacroBok:75
nortiemo?
🙄
@ Charo:
nor-tee-e-moo
straight from his french roots 😀
@ NZINCHINA:
In truth, it was not the WC that saved Jake, but rather sneaking past lowly (howzit Nortie!) Tonga, & avoiding Australia & New Zealand on the way to facing a then poor England team in the final. Avoiding Aus & NZ was pure good fortune, & has varkall 2do with coaching skill.
That is the real perspective of JW’s RWC2007 …
noooooooooooo!!
wonder what will happen to poor fransie now? 
@ Angostura:
Yer but credit where it’s due, he still won the thing & we know exactly how hard that is, but from a NZ perspective he lost way too many test matches in between to have kept his job for a full term.
@ NZINCHINA:
yep. No matter how lovers or haters look at it. He is a world cup winning coach.
@ MacroBok:
Yes … & Oscar is an Olympian …
ciao & out
@ Angostura:
and OJ a comedian
@ Charo:
Hi pal.Wondered on this site if Eben was actually playing.JJ intimated
that his energies would be needed for AB,s.
Happy to say that I am not a racist. Watched match twice and each
time Oupa was invisible. His colour did nothing to make him noticeable.
Expecting flak from PC brigade here.”Doing what he had to
do”indeed. Well I expected more.The water boys did what they had to do.”What has become of us if we dare not criticise. e.Expected more. 1 pilfer and one lineout take on our ball.
What a difference Schalk made,and I was critical of him before .
Those who agree with the last sentence must surely agree
with sentiments expressed re Oupa before.They are axiomatic.A test match is not an
arena for trying out players.
I will do what I am expected to do later when I imbibe,
Our forwards seemed a bit intimidated.But then again,what the
hell do I know.
Our renaissance came after 60 minutes and
not in the last 10.(coincided with introduction of subs)
Pollard failed to find relieving touch on 3 (maybe 4 occasions)
Morne was crucified for not finding touch once.
Everything that Lambie did exuded class and yet it seems
that of the non Sharks,only UFO rates him.
Haven’t bothered to read about Jake.Despise the man.
Well now you know how much the match excited me.Go well and
well done Europe in winning Ryder cup.
I take it that you played at Champagne Sports.(Bunkerville)
@ ryecatcher:
yes, played champagne sports.
was lucky enough to be the guest of the owner who also happens to be my neighbour.
i also thought that oupa was too tentative but i hope he picks up confidence – we are going to need black talent when the big quotas kick in.
i was guilty of deeming schalk “passed it” but had to eat my words on saturday – what an impact he made.
lambie – much maligned on this site but still a classy player.
cheers
@ Charo:
Agree oin Divvy.Revolutionary game plans,revolutionary
rah-rah speeches
Regards.Rye
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