Williams sparks pride-salvaging Lions win over Boks
By Luke Phillips, 5 Jul 2009 Luke Phillips is a Roar Pro
- Tagged:
- British Lions, Martyn Williams, Morne Steyn, Rugby Union, Springboks
A sparkling Shane Williams double helped the British and Irish Lions claim a comprehensive 28-9 victory in the third and final rugby Test against South Africa at Ellis Park on Saturday.
The Springboks had already won the first two Tests, 26-21 and 28-25 in Durban and Pretoria respectively, for the overall series win to avenge their 1997 defeat to the Lions.
But a much-changed home side lacked the cohesion and structure of the past two weekends and were dominated in set-piece and open play, where Martyn Williams shone for the visitors.
Winger Ugo Monye scored a third try for the Lions, also showing a rejigged midfield and front-row through injury, with Stephen Jones claiming three penalties and two conversions.
Morne Steyn hit three penalties for the Springboks, who will no doubt still go into their Tri-Nations campaign with some confidence.
“We were very conscious of putting up a good performance,” said Lions skipper and lock Paul O’Connell.
“A very proud moment. A very important win for the Lions. It has been a very tough week mentally for everyone. We dug deep.
“We are under no illusions that we didn’t win the series but it (lap of honour) was a way of saying thank you to all those fans who spent a fortune on coming out here to watch us.”
Lions head coach Ian McGeechan said: “I am highly delighted. This is massive. They (the Lions) picked themselves up.
“The dressingroom last weekend was not one I wanted to be in. There was so much sadness. They are an outstanding group of players. I think we have been the best team in four of the six halves of rugby we have played in the Tests.
“The disappointment is that we could have been 2-0 up coming here or at least one up. So it is a slightly secondary satisfaction this victory brings. This is definitely my last Lions tour.”
Springbok captain John Smit said: “We had a wonderful series but would have loved to complete a whitewash so we’re disappointed.
“We just were not in the right frame of mind today. The Lions wanted a victory and they succeeded.”
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Darryl SA said | July 5th 2009 @ 3:31pm | Report comment
Well deserved win by the Lions. They definitely showed up and looked hungry for the win. Well done to you!
Very disappointed by the Springboks. Showed no hunger for the ball, dozens of missed tackles, watching the ball rather than trying to get to it, and for all the talk of how important the Lions series win was to them, showed scant respect for that and the Lions tests in general with this last game. While many NH’ers might disagree, the Boks are a better team than the display they put on yesterday and to a man they should all be ashamed of the lack of commitment they showed in the breakdown, in the tackle and in general concentration. I’d much rather have had a 3-0 history making series win than a Tri Nations win this year, so the wholesale changes made to a team that was just beginning to gel was just stupid.
But well done to the Lions. They can forever be proud of this game that’s for sure. And for the record, that Simon Shaw citing is silly, as was his yellow card. There was no premeditation in his knee going into du Preez – that was just an unfortunate incident where he fell and du Preez was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Rugby is fast descending into citing silliness. Soon there’ll be no difference between union and league.
True Tah said | July 5th 2009 @ 6:36pm | Report comment
I think PDV set a dangerous precedent by leaving his best players on the bench, he should have kept his winning squad from the previous week and gone for a 3-0 sweep…he has cheapened the myrtle green jersey IMO.
van der Merwe said | July 5th 2009 @ 9:04pm | Report comment
The myrtle green jersey has already been cheapened many times before, Tah… Evidently, Peter figured that he could throw on a bunch of his favourite prospects and still win merely by showing up at Ellis Park: cockiness is definitely one of his virtues. The back three were the obvious weaklings, but given BOD and Roberts’ absence, I find it strange that Steyn and his midfield failed to gel. Presumably, we can attribute this to the Lions’ rush defence and Pienaar (who seemed to run about five steps backwards before passing) putting them under even more pressure when he came on. I certainly hope this is the case…
“While many NH’ers might disagree, the Boks are a better team than the display they put on yesterday and to a man they should all be ashamed of the lack of commitment they showed in the breakdown, in the tackle and in general concentration.”
Granted players like Ralepelle, Muller and Kankowski showed that they aren’t up to international standard, and forward coach Gary Gold doesn’t really adhere to the fundamentals of tight forward play, but a display like the one Brussow delivered certainly doesn’t warrant such a disingenuous statement. For me, in terms of officiating, the most frustrating aspect of this whole series has been the manner in which the Lions’ forwards have been allowed to play the ball on the ground. It almost defeats the point of having a specialist burrower like the above mentioned player.
katzilla said | July 5th 2009 @ 10:39pm | Report comment
Yeah this game showed a few weaknesses in SAs bench players, much like the June tests did to NZ.
Ralepele got twisted like a pretzel in the scrums, best to have 2 props on the bench and have Smit play hooker should Bismark go down.
I didnt think Kankowski was too bad, was quick and tackled well.
What SA were lacking imo was the agression at the break down, but understandable without Burger or Botha there.
It definately played a role in the impact that Brussouw had and you could tell it was frustrating him.
Full Credit to the Lions though, i dont think ive ever cheered so hard for a Lions try then when Monye got that intercept.
Fiery stuff and the Lions have nothing to be ashamed of, they did far more then most expected of them.
Maybe a half dozen of the Lions players would do well in the 3N.
Would be great if each team from the 3N could pick up one player from the Lions following the tour
NZ would take Stephen Jones in a heart beat.
OZ probably Shaw in the second row
SA probably Kearney.
Wow that was totally off the subject – sorry.
pothale said | July 5th 2009 @ 10:52pm | Report comment
Interesting one, Katzilla.
If the Lions tour was a mobile shop window, who would people want to pick for their teams/squads?
For Ireland, I’d take Jamie Roberts, Simon Shaw, and Euan Murray.
Darryl SA said | July 5th 2009 @ 10:59pm | Report comment
van der Merwe,
Nothing disingenuous about it. Brussow himself admittedly had a good game, but as a team they were very poor. I honestly felt that the Springboks were finally starting to gel in the second half of the second test. The Boks erred by not playing any rugby until the first test, and you could see that in the static look of the backline and open play which seemed to kick into gear in the second test. So why the wholesale changes? PdV said something about giving the youngsters a chance to play the Lions. Nonsense! That’s what the warmup games are for. If he’d let the Boks play in their provincial teams they’d have had that chance.
To me, a Lions test series is such a rare event that it should be given the full respect it deserves, and you should give it everything – for all 3 tests! You can’t honestly tell me they did that yesterday? The Lions did, and more power to them for that. They put on an excellent display of rugby and the Boks looked woeful. Very disappointing. PdV had a chance to put his name down in history as the first Bok coach to whitewash the Lions in SA and he threw that away for reasons I don’t follow. Arrogance perhaps? Who knows?
Knives Out said | July 5th 2009 @ 11:32pm | Report comment
I fail to see how the SA jersey has been undermined. Aside from the injuries to Jenkins, A. Jones, Roberts and O’Driscoll, McGeechan said that he had to make other changes simply due to mental fatigue. SA had won the series and with the 3N coming up it made sense to look at other options for the 3N. That is the pragmatic nature of professional rugby. I recall that the Lions made a host of changes for the 3rd test in 1997. I would suggest that it’s good for team spirit too.
Stash said | July 6th 2009 @ 4:11pm | Report comment
Wow… I’m amazed that anyone would think that the Springboks will “no doubt still go into their Tri-Nations campaign with some confidence.” The second test should have been the wake-up call for SA – whom were very lucky indeed to take that one after the final whistle. Why on earth would they be confident after a record defeat inflicted on them by a team glued together with any players that were still standing. Shane Williams would not have been on the field if injuries didn’t dictate so.
One must think that the Boks would have been looking to secure their first Lions whitewash – and would be thinking about refining their first team ahead of the Tri-nations (though many supporters were impressed by the squad before the game).
The Springboks went from looking dangerous – to looking very exposed on several fronts. It appears that without a small number of key players, the Boks are wanting. New Zealand will be relieved ahead of their trip to SA.