Coach Ewen McKenzie took 73 minutes to correct his monumental selection blunder for the Wallabies to snatch a 24-23 last-ditch win over the Boks at Patersons Stadium in Perth last night.
That’s when McKenzie took Kurtley Beale off the bench to replace Matt Toomua, with the Boks leading 23-17 and looking home and hosed.
Beale immediately injected life into a lifeless Wallaby backline, with the exception of Israel Folau, and did everything in his power to make things happen.
But he was the Lone Ranger. But once Beale appeared, suddenly pivots Nick Phipps and Bernard Foley had a spring in their steps, as did Tevita Kuridrani, Adam Ashley-Cooper, and Rob Horne.
Folau had a grin from ear to ear. His play-maker was back in his rightful spot.
Three times Beale handled in general play before he held back a pass to centre partner Kuridrani that won the game.
With three minutes left on the clock, in order, Foley, Beale, Kuridrani and Folau swept the ball along the backline to send Horne tearing for the corner.
Boks 23-22. With 90 seconds left, Foley calmly threaded the conversion between the posts, just as he did in the Super Rugby final, but last night was a whole lot closer. Wallabies 24-23.
One thing for sure, Beale won’t be wearing jumper 23 anymore, 12 is his number as he proved so conclusively for the Waratahs to claim their first Super title in 19 years.
But last night was a win the Wallabies didn’t deserve. The Boks were the better side, aided and abetted by a litany of mindless penalties given away by the Wallabies throughout the game.
But who cares, any Wallaby win is gratefully accepted, ugly or not.
Had the Wallabies been switched on, they would have added two more tries.
Late in the first half, with the Boks leading 14-11, Toomua grubber kicked for Ashley-Cooper. The bounce was perfect as Ashley-Cooper dived over the line, but of all people, he knocked on with a try right underneath him.
He can’t and won’t pass the ball, but he has the safest of hands, and that’s why it was such a shock when he spilled the simple chance.
The second ‘try’ was ‘scored’ by replacement prop Pek Cowan late in the second half, which would have been his first in international rugby.
But Irish referee George Clancy had pegged Wallaby lock Rob Simmons taking out a defender, and the try was disallowed with the Boks leading 23-14.
Amazingly, Simmons avoided a yellow card. Bok winger Bryan Habana wasn’t as fortunate, copping an unfair yellow for an alleged high tackle on Ashley-Cooper.
It was hardly the way for Habana to celebrate his 100th Test cap.
But Simmonds’ rubbish rugby was endemic as teammates kept giving away stupid penalties in the line-out, scrums, rucks and mauls to keep trigger-happy Clancy working overtime, and keep a smile on South African faces.
On the brighter side, the Wallaby replacements were positive. Cowan did a great job replacing the injured James Slipper.
Former skipper James Horwill, replacing Sam Carter, gave away a penalty at his first play, but after that settled into making his mark, as did Scott Higginbotham, replacing Wycliff Palu.
That was a change for the better, Higginbotham is normally a real liability as a loose cannon.
But the success story of the night was Kurtley Beale. Better late than never, coach.
JB
Guest
I never saw him miss one either, how quickly his form his forgotten, oh yeah and he was playing concussed
Squirrel
Guest
Give Foley half the chance as qc and you will have a complete 5/8
Magic Sponge
Guest
great analysis the backs were fantastic, forwards wtf, agree 4,5,6 axed
Crazy Horse
Guest
Give Beale a holiday next week and give Godwin 20 minutes at 12 off the bench. He can also play 10 if required (where he played for the Australian under 20s).
Phil
Guest
David,for god's sake get off the Beale lovefest.He did exactly what he was selected to do ie provide a bit of sharpness to the attack as a late sub.Also,your criticism of AAC dropping the ball over the line,did you not see Willie Le Roux get his hand in to knock it out?A great bit of defence,although Le Roux does not live up to all the hype about his game and makes more mistakes than Izzy,who cops criticism for his errors.
Kuruki
Roar Guru
"So David is being silly by basing something on one game" No. 8 minutes. Beale had already been dropped prior to that 8 minutes because he failed to spark in the two previous tests. "aswell as the last 2 tests in which the backline clearly gelled more in that formation" Clearly gelled in the rain in Sydney and in a 30 point thrashing at Eden park? I clearly didn't see the same games you did. "I understand your opinion but I dont understand your tone or belittling of Davids reasoning when its better thought out than yours tbh." Maybe you should skip back through 80% of your comments then ask yourself the same question.
Kuruki
Roar Guru
One game? Did you not watch the two tests before that?
Bfc
Guest
I see David is still riding the TAHs bandwagon...The momentum swing coincided with the introduction of Higgers/Horwil/Hodgson/Cowan. Beale was not the game changer...it was (as is usually the case in rugby) the forwards. For David to say that Toomua ought to be dropped is baffling. He threw the pass that led to Izzy's try, did a lot of tackling and cleaning up scrappy ball...that took a lot of pressure off Foley. Beale would have done none of those things. Neither Foley or Toomua had 'great' games but they did the job (despite dodgy kicking in general play...) and deserve to keep their spots. I suggest Higgers should be considered for a starting spot as even though Palu is makng the effort he no longer has the physical impact. A win is always welcome, but we were a bit lucky, and the Boks were so one dimensional.
John
Guest
I don't believe any rugby games should be played on any oval grounds.
Nigel Imrie
Guest
Time to lay it to rest for sale of building our combinations for RWC, if EM risked everything to play KB at ten then continue the experiment with him at twelve, I am not a supporter of this as I am a Toomua man but the rugby mad fans are calling for KB to be included somewhere, put him in at fullback and move Folau to wing, the Boks highlighted Folaus weak kicking game on the weekend. Folau on the wing with Speight on the other would put AAC on the bench and that is not bad either.
Hoy
Roar Guru
Ok... So again, why would Beale get to start the next game? As I said in the other thread, he passed the ball three passes before the try. That doesn't make him the great player you scribes are making him out to be. Why would Simmons get a yellow card? The Wallabies were not defending a try, they were attacking, and they lost the try. Fine penalty. To call for a yellow there is madness, almost akin to binning Habana, and penalising Vermeulin for fine tackles. "Better late than never"? Really? Late is late. A game is time limiting. Late is just as good as never. We lost two games... Thanks though, for coming late...
George
Guest
Maybe we are just sick & tired of tests against the Boks - We want a Bledisloe Test match played in Perth.
PeterK
Roar Guru
ESPN Rugby. I did not see him miss one tackle. Please indicate specific time in game where he did. He had the highest work rate of the aussie pack actually. Maybe focus on weak locks and no 6 first.
44bottles
Roar Guru
Godwin would have been in the Wallabies back line a lot sooner if it hadn't been for his constant injuries everytime he seemed to come close to being selected.
44bottles
Roar Guru
RT, I thin that's because when he does it with the Brumbies, he's leading a fast rush defense, whereas it isn't quite so fast with the Wallabies so he ends up rushing up faster than everyone else.
44bottles
Roar Guru
I watched it again harry. It was on offload in contact while falling that went to a players waist, not his knees. I understand people want to bash Toomua, but jeez.
44bottles
Roar Guru
Ra, just saying as a Crusaders fan, evertoo many cooks ruin a dish. There are too many playmakers and no runners in the midfield.
Mental
Guest
Thanks Keith. I often wonder what game you watched because it really seems to be the game I watched.
Peter Hughes
Roar Rookie
Where do you get these bogus stats? I saw Palu miss 3 tackles, make 5 other errors and do more more than a few ineffective runs & a couple of tackles in between. Extremely low work rate for a No 8 A passenger for 60 mins.
onside
Guest
Good news Crazy Horse,thanks for the info.