Bryan Habana scores a hat trick, the Springboks beat the Wallabies by 23 points and there is a new flyhalf hero in Johan Goosen.
So, all is right in the Bok world again? Not quite.
There were many answers provided during the 31-8 victory at Loftus Versfeld, but a number of questions also arose.
Goosen showed what a huge difference an attacking flyhalf could make to the Boks, and the tears from his eyes during the national anthem was quickly replaced with a scintillating break and sidestep. He seems to have so much time on the ball, and his quick feet and massive boot put the Boks on the front foot.
It was a real pity that Bok coach Heyneke Meyer made Elton Jantjies and Juan de Jongh wait on the sideline for nearly 10 minutes before letting them on to the field. What did he achieve by doing that, especially with Goosen feeling his sore heel during the game? All that does is create unnecessary feelings of mistrust from the players’ side.
Meyer will have several big selection headaches in future, none more so than at centre, once Frans Steyn is back from his ankle injry. Bok captain Jean de Villiers had arguably his best Test of 2012 at inside centre, and it is clear that the Western Province man is much more comfortable with No 12 on his back.
Steyn is probably not quick enough to play at outside centre, where Jaco Taute did well on defence against the Wallabies and carried the ball well on a few occasions. But for me, Taute is still a better fullback, and Juan de Jongh should come in at outside centre.
But then what to do with Steyn? Zane Kirchner surpassed even his performance in Perth a few weeks ago with a determined display that saw him claim the high ball with aplomb and actually join the line on attack. He is unlikely to run like André Joubert or Percy Montgomery at their best from the back, but Kirchner is playing well enough not to be dropped at this stage.
But that is the question – wouldn’t someone like Pat Lambie, Taute or Frans Steyn, when he recovers from his ankle injury, do even better at fullback? One would like to think so, especially with ball-in-hand.
Eben Etzebeth and Andries Bekker were outstanding in the lineouts and around the field, and should have secured their spots in the second row for the near future. And the same goes for Francois Louw and Duane Vermeulen in the loose trio. But Willem Alberts didn’t have a big impact on proceedings at Loftus, and would want to get back to the same standards set against the All Blacks in Dunedin when New Zealand come to the FNB Stadium on Saturday.
As brilliant as Habana was, so Francois Hougaard was rather anonymous against the Wallabies. It is still debatable whether he should start at No 11 ahead of a specialist wing like Lwazi Mvovo (with JP Pietersen, Bjorn Basson and Gio Aplon injured) when he couldn’t hold down a spot at scrumhalf.
Hougaard struggled to implement the kicking game that Meyer requires from a scrumhalf, but with the Boks seemingly treading on a new, more attacking path (despite what De Villiers said after the game), perhaps Hougaard should go back to being a halfback, even if it means playing off the bench.
While the big win would’ve relieved some of the pressure on Meyer’s shoulders, bear in mind that this was a seriously depleted Wallaby team. Yes, the Boks are also missing a few stars like Bismarck du Plessis, Schalk Burger, JP Pietersen and others overseas like Fourie du Preez, Gurthro Steenkamp and Jaque Fourie, but when you take out so many stalwarts from the Wallaby side, it has a much bigger effect due to the fewer playing numbers in Australia.
David Pocock, Will Genia, Quade Cooper, Drew Mitchell, James Horwill, Stephen Moore, Wycliff Palu, James OÇonnor and Scott Higginbotham were just nine of the big Australian names who didn’t run out at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, while they sustained a number of injuries during the game as well.
And the Bok victory came with not much at stake, as the Rugby Championship was virtually in All Black hands already. Seeing Richie McCaw standing with the trophy in La Plata after New Zealand gave Argentina a 50-point thrashing just exemplified the gulf between them and the Boks.
The intensity in Pretoria was significantly less than in Perth and Dunedin, where the Boks cracked under the pressure despite getting on top in both matches. Beating the All Blacks in Soweto on Saturday will be the only way Meyer and his Boks can continue on the road to redemption.
TWEET OF THE WEEK
@BollaCon_9(Former Bok and Stormers scrumhalf Bolla Conradie, who played his last game for Boland at the weekend before retiring): Thanks 4 the messages but I don’t retire is only my last game 4 Boland!still to young lol fellas!
WHO TO FOLLOW
@DanCarter: Check out what the master All Black flyhalf gets up to in Johannesburg this week.