Morne Steyn hasn’t played a Springbok Test for two years, so he celebrated his return by booting four penalties and two drop goals to beat the Wallabies 18-10 on his own.
All the wash-up from Springboks vs Wallabies:
» Match report: Wallabies fall short
» Five talking points
» McMahon injures ankle
» What changes should the Wallabies make for Argentina?
» DIY player ratings
» Re-live all the action with our live blog
» Watch highlights from the match
Yet the Wallabies were the best team on the night, but the worst in converting possession and territory into points.
When loosehead prop Scott Sio scored his first try in 23 internationals in the 14th minute, which Bernard Foley converted, for the next 65 minutes the Wallabies couldn’t score any more points.
Yet the men in gold enjoyed 55 per cent possession and 60 per cent territory – go figure.
By my reckoning, the Wallabies left seven tries on Loftus and as frustrating as it was to watch, the Wallabies were their own worst enemy through lack of patience, and lack of discipline.
What a waste.
And when the opposition has a renowned sharp-shooter like Steyn, the Wallabies paid the penalty.
Result apart it wasn’t all grim – Will Genia and Adam Coleman were outstanding for the Wallabies.
I didn’t think Genia could get any better, but he just keeps raising the performance bar with snappy and accurate service, solid defence, and being inspirational.
Having said that, it would be much more beneficial to the Wallabies if he ran more, and kicked less.
He’s a very dangerous runner, sniping either side of set play, or in the loose, while his kicking, at best, is pretty ordinary.
Behemoth lock Coleman is the find of the season, he too keeps improving every game.
For someone who has only been around for “five minutes”, he’s already the lineout caller, while he can be devastating in both attack and defence.
Lineouts?
Still a Wallaby problem, losing three own feeds in 15, and not winning any of the 15 Springbok feeds.
Why it’s so difficult to win own feeds is still mystifying.
It’s also mystifying why coach Michael Cheika keeps Lopeti Timani watching from the stand.
Timani was the loser as the one omitted when Cheika decided on a 5-3 bench.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. When new No.8 Sean McMahon was forced to leave the field with an ankle injury, Timani was the best replacement, but Scott Fardy was the only possibility on the bench.
A permanent place has to be found for Lopeti Timani.
Back to the credit column, and three Wallabies under the pump had better games – skipper Stephen Moore, apart from his lineout feeding, Dean Mumm, and Foley who was the best of the three.
He was dangerous in attack, while his low-tackling defence was right off the top shelf, so he has the No.12 jersey sewn up for the Puma clash at Twickenham next weekend.
Then it’s the big six one after another – the All Blacks, Wales, Scotland, France, Ireland, and England – all away.
The chance to break the Eden Park drought since 1986, and win only the Wallabies’ second Grand Slam since 1984, loom large.
But neither will happen if the Wallabies again gift-wrap a W as they did early this morning to the Boks.
Repeat – what a waste of an 80-minute effort.
Robo 1
Roar Rookie
If you have watched how Dan Carter played,one would think he was not the most skillful 10 in the world as his not able to do the fancy type of footworks that Christian Cullen use to be able to do but that did not meant that he should not have been in the All Blacks team a theory you are trying to put forward here.Carter single handedly won games for the AB because of his super boots which justified his selection and what the coached did was put more skillful players out side him and the same could be done with Mike Haris,but NO our coaches are too dumb to find this out. I mean you are trying to say that Cooper or Beale who have played more games for Wallabies than Haris has skills Haris doesn't have? Really ? Skills such as always passing the ball forward ! Knocking the ball forward,Missing an easy shot at goal! I think you might have been watching a different game to theones I have watched.Just pick any games in the past where Cooper and Beale played in and see the mistakes your so called skillful players poses and you will see that really they should have been only good enogh to play second division football.We are never going to produce a winning Wallabies team if we keep having this kind of players which the results have showed all this years and our coach needs to be sacked and the job be given to the best the candidate from anywhere around the world and not limmited to Ausies only as we just dont have the depth at the moment.I am sure Jack white would be loving his guts out now given the way he was treated by ARU. I am sure Deans might want to give it a go for the second time.At least he was able to beat the All Blacks with his bunch of school kid boys unlike the curent coach who has inherited players with 20 or 30 test experience and even with veterans from Europe with results that no Wallabies fan is happy about.
NDT
Guest
I have said this before about the Wallabies but I noticed this practice is also with the Pumas and on occasions with the Bokkes. Have the Coaches ever thought of not subbing the Captain off in the last quarter of the game. Especially in those tight games. The ABs wouldn't dream of it... I reckon when the Captain leaves the field at that point in the game, so does the teams direction, its main motivator the game plan and structure etc. Make the Captain someone whose job it is to stay on the field to guide and motivate the troops for the whole 80 mins win lose or draw and maybe you will win more than you lose or draw. Just common sense I reckon...
Loftus
Guest
What about that little Aussie backline player attackong Alberts from behind , after the whistle. Barnes was standing next to Alberts when it happened and did nothing.
nugget
Guest
Agree on all points.
dontcallmeshirley
Guest
I have been watching rugby for longer than you have been studying grammar, spelling or punctuation. But OK then - would you swap a creative player like Cooper or Beale for a player like Harris who has no other skill apart from goal kicking? This is actually quite a difficult question as both skills will win you a match now and then.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
I meant in the squad. I feel he's 4th or 5th in line. Not 3rd.
Mike Huber
Roar Pro
Like I said , they don't have elite skills .
taylorman
Roar Guru
Yes Morne did comment that he'd like to make this stay even longer than previously...ominous? I think that's been Coetzees plan all along. The rugby community must have been in his ear all year.
Die hard, it is exactly that kind of thought process that has held South African rugby back for the past 8 years
Yeah look, he isn't going anywhere. Was it Carel du Plessis or Rudolf Streauili they would have been sent packing. But then mediocrity is our mantra these days
superba
Guest
What is consistent about Barnes is his inconsistency .
superba
Guest
Nicely written Suzy P .Am with you on this .Next will be " we wuz robbed ". And David Lord should get his English usage correct .He should have written " the better team " not "the best team ". Unless of course he considers the ref to be a third team .
Robo 1
Roar Rookie
I donyt think you have been watching Rugby for long time.Didnt you remeber the time when wallabies were on the verge of loosing to Wales and the very last second Haris came in and scored the wining from the corner.Pressure was on him and he calmly slot that goal in.When interviewed,Haris mentioned that he has been practise kicking from childhoo,no wonder he is that accurate.Not the kind of kickers we have ,like Cooper whonly get to practise kicking when he was selected in the Wallabies.If Coaches gave Mike, more playing time he would have the best First 5/8 we had and who knows may all the trophies would have bben in our cup boards.Remember when Morney Steyn fisrt don the Spring Boks jersy and they said he was not up to international standards and yet he went on and somtimes single handed won the games for the boks for the next 18 games on the trot. The problem we have here is that we think that players like,Cooper,Beale,Folley are intertantional standards and we give tons of oppporttuinity to them and where did it get us.A big loosing streak.Haris was not trained or born here where we dont have competion for Kickers as the depth of game is shallow here.He was born and trained in NZ and to be best in NZ you have to practise and practise until you become the best against all competion which is what Haris had done before moving over,hence why we will never have better kickers here because we dont train our kids to be good kickers from young and ther is just no competion or bench mark to try and strive for. I hope you get the point of why our curent kickers are not good or consistentlynot good like kickers from NZ or England and SA. So why cant we swallow our pride and bring Haris back to boot us to victory or is it he not Ausie enough for us like we treated Jack White.
Robo 1
Roar Rookie
Well it might be true that we dont want to criticise our current First 5/8 the issue here he is not accurate enough or consistent enough in th ekicking department just ike Beale.you may remember games in which Beale,Cooper or Foley missed easy shots at Goal which could have sealed the game for us.Remember the time when Reds won the super 12.It was because at that time Mike Harris was so accurate with his boots that he broke the record for having the most conseccutive succesful shots at goal in the world.Then politics came in and Haris was relegated to the bench as the Reds prefered tries to goals from the boot and basically led Mike Haris to jump ship.That Philosphy crept into the Wallabies and as a result we will in this postion for a long long time.Remeber the timhen Grant Fox,Michael Lyna,Naas Botha,Hugo Porta graced the field,no body complained not the team that scored more tries and hasa clean sheet of no atemps at goal. Its fine to score tries and the fans love it but teams now days spends a lot of time practise tackiling and they can do it 80 minutes as what we see the English and the current Boks team did so there is no way where you will just run through then and they will tackle you to score a try.So this means the Wallabies have to start thinking of winning at all cost not just entertain the crowds.If entertaining the crowds have been working why do you think Rugby is becoming less of importance now and stadiums are half filled when the Wallabies play? The answer lies in that the fans dont want to watch a loosing team. So Why can we bring Mike Harris back or train more sharp shooters awhile still have a running rugby style? A known factor why the Fiji sevens team is the best rugby scoring machine and a they winning formula is that they will practice their kicking for hours and hours as they dont want to rely on tries alone as their weapon to winning games yet one would think they would not need goals at all to win games as they could almost score try tries when ever they want. So to solve our problem,we have to go back to the Michael Lynah years where Goals are important.When we rae wining by 20 or 30 marging then we can experiment with the fancy backline moves to produce tries because if we fail to score a try ,we will still win the game. So coach has to be made known this point and also the selectors.May be through this kind of forum,we may be able to influence the one thinking thats ruining Australian rugby right now.
Bakkies
Guest
The one out pick and goes was utter rubbish. Too easy to read for the Boks' fetchers and starved the backs the ball in their 22.
Dontcallmeshirley
Guest
He is also well short of being international quality.
Bakkies
Guest
Harris is playing in France
Bakkies
Guest
and the Springboks 'lineout' throw that barely went 2 metres let alone the required 5 metres.
Harry Jones
Expert
Well, I won't bash the guy who scored all our points in a win. I'd prefer to look at the still unfixed 12-13 channels. de Jongh-Kriel-Mapoe went OK on defence, at least, but no punch on attack, and they DID get some chances, bc Paige-Steyn got the ball to them quicker than Faf-Elton did all season. So then we have to bring up Mr Stick, the back-attack coach.
Harry Jones
Expert
@Bishbek: great summary post