Johannesburg - Thanks to Morne Steyn’s two drop-goals and four penalties the Springboks snapped a three-match losing streak by beating the Wallabies 18-10 at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
Only the kicking display at goal by the veteran No 10 stood out as a positive, writes Jacques van der Westhuyzen as he sums up a disappointing, poor Rugby Championship match.
Reasons to cheer
Steyn: The veteran flyhalf justified his selection with a commanding performance at No 10; he slotted two drop-goals and four penalties to keep the Boks in a tight contest and after 80 minutes it was his exploits that saw the Boks home. Steyn also contributed with eight tackles, the most by any Bok backline player. He did what was asked of him and kicked his goals and drop-kicks and will have given those around him confidence and belief and that’s what the Boks needed at the weekend. He’s sure to start for some time yet.
Passion: They desperately needed a lift and the Loftus crowd provided them with the tonic. This was not a very good Bok performance but the players showed fight and character to keep the Aussies scoreless from the 14th minute. And it’s not as if the visitors didn’t put the Boks under pressure; they did. But the home team scrambled well in defence, especially in the second half when they were camped in their own territory for long periods, winning crucial turn-overs and penalties to escape unpunished.
Adriaan Strauss: The skipper has copped a fair amount of criticism this season and by his own admission will admit he’s not been in the best of form. But in his final game for the Boks at Loftus Versfeld - his adopted home ground - he delivered a performance worthy of the Man of the Match award. Strauss was involved in plenty of the action, stealing breakdown ball, busting over the gain-line and asking the Aussies to make that one extra tackle. And, he did his basics well too; the home team winning all their line-outs and scrums.
Reasons to be glum
Tactical kicking: The fact the Boks spent long periods bogged down in their own half, even in their own 22m area, suggests they again battled to exit and put the pressure on the opposition. And, that’s one of the main reasons Allister Coetzee picked Steyn and Pat Lambie in the starting team ... to kick better to ensure the Boks play their rugby in the right areas of the field.
They failed miserably in this regard, but also, the clearance kicks of several players, including Bryan Habana, were poor; the winger’s missed touch-finder leading to the Wallabies scoring the only try of the match.
Poor backs play
Only twice over 80 minutes did the ball move nicely through the hands of the backline to Francois Hougaard on the wing, but there was so little space for him to do anything he had no option but to cut infield and get smashed by the Wallaby defence. And, Steyn twice chipped the ball into space behind the Wallaby backs, creating a bit of panic in the opposition team’s men. But that was it from Coetzee’s team.
Again the Boks failed to ask questions with ball in hand and if truth be told they appear to be desperate for someone to bring a little magic to the mix.
Defence: Coetzee praised defence coach Chean Roux afterwards for the work he put in during the week, but the Boks still missed far too many tackles and were scrambling at times to bring down their opponents.
If the Wallabies had shown a little more composure with the ball and patience on attack they could well have ripped the defence apart at times. There are still, simply, too many holes in the alignment and too many slipped hits.
Injuries: Already minus several potential first choice players, the Boks may now have to face the All Blacks with a few more men sidelined as Habana, Rudy Paige, Jesse Kriel and Pieter-Steph du Toit all limped off the field with problems on Saturday. Worryingly the Boks can’t seem to get through a Test anymore without someone being felled by injury, and that’s a major concern.
For a second let’s imagine how different things might be with this under-firing Bok team were the likes of Duane Vermeulen, Siya Kolisi, Marcel Coetzee, Cobus Reinach, Handre Pollard and Jan Serfontein also available.
Reasons to worry
All Blacks will smash us: Fair enough, a win is a win and we should celebrate every Bok victory, but let’s also be honest; this was not a performance to be excited about or make us think the team have turned the corner. If we celebrate the performance dished up on Saturday then we’re kidding ourselves about the state of the Boks.
Sure, we can congratulate the players and especially Steyn for getting the Boks over the line, but the performance itself was nothing to write home about.
Eight Tests in under Coetzee and there are still far too many questions being asked about his team make-up and the type of rugby they’re playing.
The world’s best team though are up next and they’ll again pose a big challenge; the challenge the Boks must measure themselves by. They’ll have seen this performance and probably said to themselves, “If the Wallabies can make the Boks look so ordinary, well ...”. But let’s see what happens in Durban on Saturday.
The Star