I had the head line all ready to go in my head, “The Springbok empire strikes back!” It was not to be though. The outcome was decided by certain external forces; Irish refs.
The game was virtually over in the first three minutes when Danie Roussow was yellow carded. A very questionable yellow card at that. I watched the game with my dad and little brother on Saturday night and like me and many other Springbok faithful, they were not happy. The game is being refereed on a week to week basis with different laws being applied by different refs.
Zero consistency. Last game at Eden Park the Springboks were let down by terrible execution of tactics and ill discipline that saw them lose a man early. From that point they were forced to play catch up rugby. Saturdays game was much the same, except the yellow carding was a complete farce and left an ugly scar on what should have been a great rugby spectacle.
De Villiers pulled no punches, calling for greater consistency:
“We have played six games this year and in the six games we’ve had six different types of plays on the ground. It’s frustrating,” said de Villiers.
“We’ve got the same skill we had last year when we won the Tri-Nations. We’re so used to playing the new laws in the Super 14 and now in the six games we’ve played they are different. I don’t like to prepare guys to cheat and it seems to me that’s the only way going forward if you want to be on top of those kind of things. That’s 70 per cent of your game,” he added.
Richie McCaw could vouch for the less than happy Boks coach after he was given three “final warnings” and an “official warning” but was never sent off.
Its hard to say how the Springboks played on Saturday night, because we are once again not able to judge them on a full fifteen man performance. They were far more improved in the lineout and were very solid in the scrums to round off a stark improvement in their set piece.
Handling was an issue in the slippery conditions but again, the most disappointing aspect of the Springbok game was their defence. Normally the best defensive side in the world, they missed tackles and leaked like a siv. This was highlighted by the ease of which Isreal Dagg slipped through the tackles of Pierre Spies and Schalk Burger to score an impressive try in his first Tri-Nations outing.
The Springbok attack was also more improved, particularly toward the back end of the first half and the second half. So what went wrong?
Poor refereeing aside, the Springbok brains trust made poor selection decisions, again. The area of greatest concern, which I highlighted in my match preview, was at 9 and 12. Ricky Januarie was slow to the break down and often ran when he simply should not have. He lacked vision and appeared horribly unfit. When Ruan Pienaar was introduced the Springbok attack came on in leaps and bounds.
Morne Steyn had more space to operate in and the Springbok backs were able to make telling runs which even led to the Burger try.
Why did Pienaar not start? Your guess is as good as mine. Had Pienaar started it could have been a totally different game.
The other trouble spot for the Springboks is at number 12. Wynand Olivier is very good at Super 14 level, but the swap from a blue to a green jersey is just one step too far. He had no impact on the game what so ever and you seldom heard his name.
Jean de Villiers would be the obvious answer to problems in this area, but he has been suspended for a dangerous tackle on Rene Ranger. De Villiers pleaded guilty to the charge and was only given two weeks due to his immaculate disciplinary record, conceding only one yellow card in a career spanning more than 10 years. De Villiers will likely call on Juan de Jong as a replacement.
Where to from now? The Springboks will play the Wallabies in Brisbane this week on Saturday night. Brisbane has not been a happy hunting ground for the Boks in the past, but that has to change if they are to have any chance of defending their Tri-Nations title.
John Smit said after the Wellington test that away points are gold in this tournament, and Brisbane is another opportunity to snare a few.
The Wallabies have not exactly been a force to reckon with in in recent times, but they are always difficult to beat in Brisbane.
The Springboks I am sure will turn up in force and hopefully a couple new selections will see them play with new spirit and vigour to keep their Tri-Nations defence alive. My early prediction, 45 – 10 to the Springboks, four tries to one.
Check back later in the week for my final prediction, which might be influenced by squad selection.
Jack
Guest
Sorry, will not be checking back later in the week. This was a waste of time article. Most of this ramble (except the bias) has been reported in the normal rugby media. e.g. Why tell us who Dagg beat, when it is on video and mentioned in every match report. Cub reporters we dont need. Schalk as always played his heart out with another non-stop effort. Expect the 'Boks to dropkick for points more when they get back home. Could be a cracker game at Lang Park. Cheers
Elliot Lodge
Roar Pro
Firstly, you all seem to miss the point that you were dominated by a far superior team. I in fact watched the game trying despetely to see the saffa perspective on the refereeing but failed to see anything. Discipline is one South Africas problems and the sooner they realize it the better. Admittedly, the sin binning of Roussow was on the harsh side, but in front of the ref he gave Mr Rolland a chance and he obliged. Most people seem to be missing the fact that the referee's missed two definate yellow cards to the Boks over the space of the two games. Botha and De Villiers (horrible spear tackle) have been duly punished by the judiciary and had the incidents been noticed by the refs, the sin bin total could curently be four.
Stash
Guest
Bookie your embarrassing yourself. Your boys got beaten by a better team on the day over 2 games. Everyone in the world knows this. We all saw the games. Yellow cards are not the sole domain of South Africa - up to you guys to sort out your discipline and if you guys have a reputation for play of the ball - that's probably because it happens. It might interest you that sports teams with dark uniforms get more penalties than teams with light colors. Human nature mate... but we're not all going crying into our cups of tea about it. The all blacks are the toughest team in the world to beat at home and have been for decades. Your boys can't just rock up after a domestic competition and expect to win a game without sweating blood. Whatever happened to the "excuses are for losers" mantra from John Smit.
Behind Enemy Lines
Guest
Bokkie, can you give us some examples of "different laws being applied by different refs"?
Happy Hooker
Guest
The alleged "inconsistency" of referees didn't seem to worry the Awl Blicks too much, did it?
Hayden
Guest
So much crap in this article I don't know where to start. I second all of the above posters. I don't recall PDivvy spitting the dummy while the Boks were winning. Seems the refs were OK then. They just got served by a far better team. Deal with it. 2009 was an abberation. For a brief moment in time the laws suited knucklehead neanderthals.
Peter K
Guest
As a neutral the 2 games have showed that the AB's are head and shoulders above everyone else in class. Easily and deservedly the no 1 in the world. They also show that the boks are still masters of thuggery with the headbutt and eye gouge. Also PDV is correct in one thing or was it Matfield or Smit or all 3. The AB's ARE the best cheats in the world, in particular McCaw. That does not make them no 1 ie they would of won anyway but it sure makes it easier. Before AB supporters jump up and down yes every country cheats but the AB's are easily the best at that as well.
Lee
Guest
I am sorry Bokkie but this kind of article gives all us Bok supporters a bad name. Even if there were inconsistencies with the reffing(and I am only thinking of the yellow card), the Boks played poorly. They looked like they had no interest in winning the game or even fronting up to the ABs. Silly tactis arising from questionable selections, playing players out of position, generally some questionable coaching. Maybe instead of reading into Div's excuses, the article should have been along the lines of: 1)Why were the players so flat, particularly the senior players? 2) Why favour a kick/chase approach, that favours having less possession despite the S14 showing that under the new law interpretations it is desirable to keep the ball. 3) Why favour a kick/chase approach when it relies on 1)accurate kicking 2) opposition making mistakes 3) converting said mistakes into points, when you are missing your most accurate kicker/best playmaker. 4) Why pick JDV on the wing? 5) After picking JDV on the wing, why pick Olivier in the mid-field, when Juan de Jongh has shown more promise in 4(?) games for the Boks than WO has shown in 30. Maybe we are all under-estimating PDV, maybe it is part of a greater plan...I doubt it, but I can hope.
sp8s4me
Guest
This is great for Aussies and Kiwis. While the African camp continues to blame the refs and turns a blind eye to their inept performances, they are setting themselves up for a Robbie Deans engineered ambush next weekend.
Trevor DeAngelo
Guest
Bokkie, Of course he deserved the yellow card.Check out the magnified http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN24J4cuquc We don't need that crap in the game and you have to question Danie Roussows intelligence doing such a stupid thing in front of the ref and for bothering to do such a dumb thing regardless of whether the ref was a round or not.vStop using excuses - even when 15 Springboks are on the park you can tell they are struggling with the new rules and with the speed and movement that the ABs give the Ball.
Ben S
Roar Guru
'The outcome was decided by certain external forces; Irish refs.' This really takes the biscuit. Even Mark Keohane is giving up the ghost. For two matches in a row SA played 70 minutes with 15 men. For a side that had high expectations of returning home with a victory the Springboks were poorly coached, poorly selected, and they played terribly, showing a lack of fitness and confrontation. NZ were infintely superior, and that's that.