Cape Town - The Springboks entered into the spirit of Barbarians rugby at Wembley on Saturday, and while it ended 31-31, coach Allister Coetzee would’ve gained a lot from the display by the South Africans.
Yes, the defence was shoddy and their handling let them down, but the positive intent showed was a far cry from the “kick and chase” strategy that saw them capitulate 57-15 to the All Blacks in Durban last month.
For once the Boks tried to take on their opponents instead of playing off mistakes and kicking penalties, and the exercise was a valuable one for the players to showcase their skills and running ability without the pressure of having to get a result in a Test match.
The likes of Jamba Ulengo, Rohan Janse van Rensburg and Pieter-Steph du Toit breached the advantage line almost at will all afternoon long, and Ulengo in particular didn’t get enough possession until the last 10 minutes, when he slipped through a number of defenders.
Lions No 12 Janse van Rensburg lived up to the hype with a blockbusting performance with ball-in-hand, and while he was bumped off in a few tackles, he aided his case for inclusion in the Test squad in future.
Cheetahs wing sensation Sergeal Petersen had a day to forget in defence as he had to deal with giant Australian wing Taqele Naiyaravoro and couldn’t bring the big man down a few times, and things didn’t go his way on attack either. But he showed he is still a deadly finisher when he took “revenge” on Naiyaravoro with ball-in-hand, showing him the outside and racing away on the inside to score a well-taken try.
Western Province No 8 Nizaam Carr showed some silky touches with the ball, and his quick hands saw Janse van Rensburg dot down in the corner to level the scores with two minutes to go. Carr also got stuck in on defence, and tried hard to assist Roelof Smit in competing at the breakdowns too.
But the defensive effort would’ve been worrying for Coetzee, especially as this team had two weeks to prepare for the game. Smit was unable to slow the Baabaas’ ball down at the rucks, while the invitational team found it easy to create the overlap with some slick passing.
Too many one-on-one tackles were missed as the Boks tried to close down their opponents with a ball-and-all strategy. In addition, the lineout-throwing of both Malcolm Marx and Bongi Mbonambi again wasn’t accurate enough, and a lot of hard work lies ahead for the duo.
The Baabaas forwards managed to play on the front foot, and that allowed WP flyhalf Robert du Preez to pull the strings with a confident passing game, while he also took on the defence at times.
Fullback Melani Nanai was outstanding when he came into the line, and All Black centre Seta Tamanivalu wasn’t far behind in that regard.
Nanai opened the scoring in the fifth minute, but the Boks’ powerful mauling saw Pieter-Steph du Toit and Smit go over to bring the South Africans back to 12-12 in the first half.
But Tamanivalu held off both Bok centres to set up Naiyaravoro to give the Baabaas a 17-12 halftime lead, and the “home” side pulled away to 31-19 through a double by Australian replacement back Luke Morahan.
The last pass often didn’t go to hand for the South Africans, with captain and flyhalf Patrick Lambie not gelling well with Francois Venter and Janse van Rensburg. But the team as a whole seemed to find their rhythm in the last quarter, and clawed their way back to 31-31 when Janse van Rensburg scored.
Lambie couldn’t land the touchline conversion for the win, but at least the Boks didn’t lose. It wasn’t a perfect performance, but there were more than enough good aspects for Coetzee to take out of the game.
The coach would’ve been glad to see Ruan Combrinck return to action after two months out, even if it was at fullback, while Rudy Paige was sharp throughout the time he was on the field. The Bok scrum was outstanding as well.
But the real challenge is next Saturday at Twickenham against England, and Coetzee will have a number of selection quandaries - none more so than at fullback, where Jesse Kriel didn’t do much.
Points-Scorers
Springboks- Tries: Pieter-Steph du Toit, Roelof Smit, Sergeal Petersen, Francois Venter, Rohan Janse van Rensburg. Conversions: Patrick Lambie (3).
Barbarians- Tries: Melani Nanai, Andy Ellis, Taqele Naiyaravoro, Luke Morahan (2). Conversions: Robert du Preez (1), Richard Mo’unga (2).