Robbie Deans and the Wallabies pulled off a tremendous victory in Durban. The Springboks had been humiliated 0-19 a week before by the All Blacks in Cape Town, and everyone was certain that a backlash would follow directly.
The African press had been brutally honest and reasonably measured after the All Black thrashing, many giving credit to New Zealand for their precise dissection of the Bokke based on better ball skills and better adaptation to the new laws (the most damning headline was Blunderboks).
But a major correction was expected against Australia, and when it didn’t happen the newspapers used every insult they could find.
It didn’t give credit where it was due.
The Wallabies beat the Springboks to the breakdown, supported the ball carrier in greater numbers, ran straighter, tackled more ferociously, made far fewer handling errors and disrupted South Africa’s normally clean set-piece ball.
Although beaten so soundly in all these departments, and therefore meriting some criticism, the Springboks’ error-rate was all that rated a serious mention by the African writers. Little of significance was printed about how Australia had played.
But New Zealand’s rugby public sat up and took notice.
Many of the most complacent kiwis had expected the Wallabies to come a major cropper in the Republic, with the Springboks forcing a three-way tie at the top of the Tri Nations table, and only the Johannesburg and Brisbane fixtures remaining.
Now they looked at Australia with genuine respect. After the All Blacks’ masterclass at Newlands it was certainly less comfortable for their fans to revisit how dreadful more or less the same team had been in Sydney.
Also, the regret in some quarters that a former New Zealander had rebuilt the Wallabies (so quickly after their 2007 season-long debacle) was increased and therefore the Deans psychological factor, that plays so strongly in the skittery New Zealand sporting psyche if not the All Blacks themselves, was too.
Particular attention should be paid at least to the way the Australians defused the Springbok ferocity and played their own game plan instead of being disrupted by the constant off-the-ball niggle. The All Blacks have often struggled with this, as witnessed by the difference in performance between their tests in Dunedin (lost 28-30) and Cape Town (won 19-0).
Both times they faced a front-page Springbok resume of such negative tactics but their response at Carisbrook was flighty and hot-headed, while at Newlands had been was sure and composed.
That they coped in such different ways and to such dramatically different effect cannot be explained solely by the availability of Richie McCaw for the second of these tests, unless the psychological edge he brings is just as significant as his skills at the point of play are.
And if you ever needed an illustration of how a mental edge can be significant, you only needed to wait a week.
Springboks 53 Wallabies 8, Ellis Park
Springbok pride had been stung, and they came to Johannesburg with bitter revenge on their minds.
That’s how it’s supposed to work on the Dark Continent, and the press had been particularly vicious after the 15-27 loss at Durban because the expected backlash from the previous week, after the 0-19 loss to New Zealand in Cape Town, had never eventuated.
The Springboks had spent a long second week like caged animals, being tormented and taunted with barbs and insults in true South African style, so that whoever was blocking the light when their cage door was opened would be torn apart.
The Wallabies were just the vessels containing the blood that Ellis Park needed to be soaked with.
The Springboks were, by any criteria of measurement, magnificent. They dominated every area of play and by the eightieth minute were sublime.
Turning the tables on any Tri Nations opponent is hard enough, but in successive weeks and by a record margin made one for the history books.
The Springbok habit of running hot and cold week to week is no new phenomenon, of course, but if the scale of victory emphasised that, it was no big story compared to the one where an integrated South African side’s unpopular new style finally bore fruit.
Wing Jongi Nokwe scored a record-breaking four tries, injuring himself in the acting of grounding the ball for his fourth.
I don’t care which style of rugby you prefer, old-fashioned or new-fangled both are vindicated by a winger scoring four tries in the same corner.
Loosehead prop Tendai Mtawarira not only destroyed the Wallaby scrum, he tackled and stole possession like a test class flanker.
In a country where most of rugby’s hard core up until this test match regarded these two and others of their colour as token selections, their barn-storming performances were a much-needed tonic for the advocates of change.
Coach Peter de Villiers, saddled with the same unfortunate pigmentation as Nokwe and Mtawarira, and therefore receiving less patience than some of his equally unsuccessful white predecessors, bought himself a stay of execution.
You may happily believe any South African who claims not to harbour these prejudices, but laugh in the face of any who claim those prejudices have been completely removed in the South African rugby environment.
Meanwhile some fools, whose knowledge of test rugby is about as deep as the puddle I left last time I relieved myself outside, have suggested that Robbie Deans was boxing clever, knowing they could lose and still go into the Brisbane test with the Tri Nations resting on its outcome, that the Wallabies didn’t try their hardest.
As Bart Simpson once said: bull honky.
Deans may have used the opportunity to rest some key players, having earned that luxury the hard way, but no test side can afford to take a fifty point thrashing anywhere without it undermining team confidence.
Let alone with the All Blacks next up.
I found such suggestions about as ludicrous as the Wallabies found them offensive.
New Zealand has rotated test squads in recent years, and found out the hard way how easily the policy can backfire in big matches.
For the Wallabies, having less international quality depth, it doesn’t have to be a big match to get bitten by such a strategy and against the Springboks in South Africa, it may have been a little ambitious.
Deans, however, was in a position to roll the dice.
He did so and lost, but it was the first major test drubbing he has suffered and he has never been scared to try things.
In Super 12 and 14 he has successfully rotated more squads at altitude than any other coach. Who can blame him for the odd high risk, high reward gamble at test level, especially with impunity?
All Blacks 101 Samoa 14, Yarrow Stadium
Just because no-one really believed Samoa were a serious threat, that was no reason to doubt the All Blacks when they said they weren’t taking their opposition lightly.
Taking underdogs lightly is usually the first step on the way to an upset, and the All Blacks know this better than anyone because very few of their losses aren’t regarded as upsets. They had to put on an accurate and stable display against Samoa in New Plymouth, and let the scoreline take care of itself.
The main risk apart from overconfidence was from injury. Because the long gap between Tri Nations fixtures potentially left the All Blacks short of a gallop, there was no benefit in only giving the second fifteen a run.
This was a chance to solidify combinations, and that meant putting world class players in harm’s way.
The typical Islander tackling style involves a lot of brawny forearms and harder-than-average skulls flying around the contact area at mouthguard height. But there is never anywhere to hide in test rugby, regardless of the opposition, and players are defined as world class not just because of princely skills but also their durability.
In Test rugby, durability is what demographers call a preferred value attribute.
Every time a team of Islanders plays New Zealand there is talk beforehand about extreme physicality and the danger of injury, but more often than not the toll is no worse than a broken nose (Andrew Mehrtens via Fiji’s Nicky Little in Wellington 2002) or a bleeding head (Leon MacDonald, same match, when his “lead with the cheekbone” technique was still being refined at international level) and the real casualties are usually among the All Blacks’ opposition.
Most of their starting fifteen carted off with limbs still spasming, after crushing, early-season, fired-up All Black gang-tackles.
Such was the case here, and the Samoan tacklers also seemed to injure themselves more than their intended victims.
The only All Black injuries were to Mils Muliaina, the fullback taking a bang on the knee early but carrying on until half-time trying to run out the bruise, a shoulder knock for lock Anthony Boric, and a smack on the jaw for wing Anthony Tuitavake, a la MacDonald.
As preparation for the biggest test of the year, the risk of injury was realistically faced by the top side, and well worth taking.
With Robbie Deans and the Wallabies knowing that only eighty more minutes remain in their season, and with slippery conditions likely, Brisbane could not be a more hostile environment for New Zealanders in general and the All Blacks in particular.
The All Blacks will need to do some more work on their lineout, that’s for sure. The rest of their drills were almost flawless, until the bench was emptied at least, and rhythms were upset.
But if the New Zealand throwers, jumpers and lifters struggled for accuracy against Samoa, they will definitely need to improve to face the Wallabies.
While the Australian lineout was one of the worst-performed areas of their thrashing in Johannesburg, that poor performance can be seen as an aberration considering their usually faultless display, and they probably won’t repeat it.
The All Blacks, on the other hand, have had lineout inaccuracy as a creeping disease since the last few years of Sean Fitzpatrick’s tenure.
Their neat lineouts against the massive Springboks at Cape Town last month, while pleasing, were less familiar in recent times than the typically ugly display they managed against Samoa.
Front-of-the-lineout ball will suit our purposes just fine, surely. If they can arrest an almost bloody-minded tendency to go long unnecessarily (wanting to give Wayne Smith’s strike moves an extra yard of room, a yard they shouldn’t need in order to work), and not over-correct by resorting to sneaky short throws, they can set a platform stable enough for Dan Carter to unleash his arsenal from.
But there’s something far more important than lineouts in play here.
With the Tri Nations trophy and Bledisloe Cup on the line, not to mention the risk of a Graham Henry-coached side losing a test series to one coached by Robbie Deans, Brisbane has that familiar look about it, of a test where mental strength will be the deciding factor.
We’ve won many tests against Australia with our lineouts in disarray, but very few when our minds aren’t right.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.
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