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Five talking points from Springboks vs Wallabies

29th September, 2018
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Roar Guru
29th September, 2018
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Port Elizabeth is no happy hunting ground.

With pretty poor records in South Africa for Australia, whether that be at the Super Rugby or international level, here was an opportunity to open the ledger with a rare away victory.

It wasn’t to be for Australia, and their poor form – two from eight this year – continues. If they want to move up any rankings by December, this dismal run needs to end. With a daunting All Blacks game to come, not to mention playing England at Twickenham, Michael Cheika will want to turn it around by next week vs Argentina.

Goalkicking just way off for Australia
One of the biggest differences between the two sides was the goalkicking. In a game where just four tries were scored – two each – something had to give and it did, with a miserly one conversion coming from the boot of Matt Toomua, while Handre Pollard nailed five from five.

There’s no way Australia would have gone flawlessly with the boot – at Nelson Mandela Bay, a ground where the Wallabies have never played – and while you can’t entirely blame a kicker for losing a test, one from four was never going to help the visitors.

Lineout woes not ending anytime soon
Polota Nau’s late rule out wouldn’t have helped matters, but this aspect of the set-piece was once again dismal.

Scrums were passable – albeit you wouldn’t know Tupou existed after those 80 minutes – but the lineouts went horribly wrong. After almost losing three in two minutes in the second half, they tried to tighten up by throwing right to the front, which, while not being totally reliable, worked reasonably well.

After the Springboks were penalised for collapsing a maul on their own line, I was crying out for the Aussies to go for the corner, which they well might have if their throwing and catching was anywhere near par.

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Rugby Championship dishing up some contests
While the last two years of competition have seemed set in stone from after a few rounds, 2018, largely due to the Springboks’ upset in Wellington, is still alive.

A New Zealand victory in Argentina will tie up the title, but it’s great to be talking about the prospective chances of the Pumas, and not about how much the ABs will win each game by.

Next year’s competition seems much more fascinating, with the four countries looking to set a standard with their first games in the lead-up to the world cup.

Australia’s backline still very undecided
It’s been said before, but one year out from the World Cup, Cheika would want to have a better idea of who his best backline are.

As Kurtley Beale showed his credentials at flyhalf, Bernard Foley vs Toomua at 10 is the main query, while Dane Haylett-Petty was solid at fullback sparking the Folau wing debate.

Kurtley Beale

(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

When Tevita Kuridrani returns, questions will be asked about how he slides into the 15 (or even 23), whether he pushes Reece Hodge back to 12 or if Toomua stays there.

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It’s hard to see Cheika doing much experimenting against Argentina, especially that he’d be glad just to win that game.

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