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.
@ NZINCHINA: well said China. Fully agree bud.
@ ryecatcher: I think you under-rate yourself Rye. Experience counts. Ask Victor?
I absolutely agree with the sentiment that constructive criticism in life is one of life’s necessities. Oupa played okay without shooting the infrareds out. Schalk made a hellava difference. But then this would have showed regardless of whom he replaced. I wish Oupa well and hope he takes his opportunities and improves. Damn, we are going to need the likes of him if those pathetic quotas kick in.
@ NZINCHINA: also true. Steady Eddie saved his arse. For that appointment alone, I’ll give Jake credit.
@ MacroBok: Heyeke will be relieved.
@ ryecatcher:
88
Oupa Schmupa 😆
I watched the recording again, The Oupa made a total of 5m in 6 carrying attempts, of which 2 ended in a turn over, his long over due subbing no doubt started the Boks resurgence.
@ Tassies:
92 Tyhanks pal.Feel better now after my rants whih are never meant
to be personal. Only realistic.Love the Boks you see.
Regards Rye
@ ryecatcher:
96 whith = Which
Good night all
@ ryecatcher:
96
Hi Tassies.Love your nic.Jerepigo a close runner up.
Regards Rye
@ Charo:
89.Lets please take a rain check on Stokers Armks.
Haven,t forgotten. Will happen.But only if Helen joins us.
Kind Regards
Rye
@ MacroBok:
75 Don’t you mean “Day of the Jakkals”Good book.
Nogal tweegat jakkals.
@ ryecatcher:
Frederick Forsyth.Faction.Attempted assasination of de Gaulle.
Algerian resistance.OSS
OK know this is pompous
Jake White is respected over these ways… His game plan maybe limited but effective when implemented to the nth degree… Only thing in the game of Rugby… things don’t always go your way and that’s when you need the creativity and flexibility to change course..
@ Te Rangatira:
Over here loyalty is very highly esteemed by many, if not most.
Loyalty & genuine humility (say, as shown by our captain, Jean de Villiers) may very well be sine qua non for being worthy of respect.
@ Angostura:
103 Sine qua non.Well done.A classical education.Totally ruined
howevwer by a penchant for chocolates with cognac.
Regards.Rye
@ Angostura:
Yeah…. Loyalty is the key to any relationship… and it’s a big thing here as well… As for humility…well the people I remember with fondness are indeed the humble ones…
Per Mike Greenaway in this morning’s The Mercury:
“The sudden departure of Jake White as Sharks Director of Rugby has led to informed sources confirming there was growing discord between White and his back-room staff as well as with the players” …
“It is understood that Gary Gold, the former Springbok assistant coach under Peter de Villiers, could be the front runner to replace White as the Super Rugby coach, while former All Blacks coach John Mitchell could also be in the running.”
White’s allegedly dictatorial coaching style won him few friends in the Shark Tank …”
“Sharks chief executive John Smit will be determined to get it right this time and appoint a coach who will take the Sharks into a new era in which they will play a brand of rugby that will win matches and also put bums on seats in Kings Park.”
“In just over a year Sharks players have subjected to four different styles of play from four different coaches – John Plumtree, Brendan Venter, White and Macleod-Henderson – with a fifth believed to be on the way …”
“Gold is a highly experienced coach, renowned for the enterprising play of the teams he has headed, including leading English club Bath.”
“Interestingly, former Sharks captain and legendary Springbok lock Mark Andrews reckons the Sharks should look no further than Mitchell” …
“Andrews says the attractive and effective rugby being played by the Lions in the Currie Cup is the legacy of Mitchell, who taught Lions coach Johan Ackermann the ropes …”
@ ufo: Baie goed gestel, as mense wil kla sal hul kla.
So het sommiges gekla omdat die Bulle in die 80ste tot die 83ste minuut van die superfinaal in 2007 die beste was …. toe dit werklik saak gemaak het. 😉
Wat is die gesegde, dit is nie hoe jy begin nie maar hoe jy klaar maak wat werklik saakmaak.
Bulle moes dit op die harde manier leer in die CB finale van 1990, 2005 en laasjaar met super semi-finaal op Loftus. Ander spanne moet daardie les elke jaar leer maar … hulle leer nie 😉
As iemand iets weet van toetsrugby, sal hul erken dat dit ‘n baie goeie klipharde toets was. Die Aussie het baie beter gespeel as wat ons verwag het. Tot en met die 70ste minuut het ek gedink die Aussies gaan wen omdat hul so skitterend verdedig het.
Natuurlik is ons nog nie waar die AB is nie, maar ons beweeg in die regte rigting.
Sal die volgende lostrio wil sien Saterdag as Duane uit is:
Marcel, Burger en Whiteley
107: ek verwys na ufo se post by #18
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