Springbok victory will bring a bit of belief back

You don’t need the All Blacks to remind the Springboks and the Wallabies that they are nowhere near the apex of world rugby.

They served compelling notice here yesterday of their also-ran status in a match as devoid of mesmeric properties as a champagne flute filled with sand.

As expected, the collisions were huge, but few served to advance a match in which both teams were prisoners of their insecurities.

It was as if the objective was to avoid defeat.

More damningly perhaps, many saw this coming.

story_article_left1

This was never going to be a match for the ages, not after Springbok coach Allister Coetzee announced his team that included Morné Steyn at flyhalf and a bench with six forwards. He then verbalised his plans to play for territory before extolling the virtues of the driving maul.

When referee Wayne Barnes mercifully drew a conclusion to the drab fest yesterday, the scoreboard showed that the Springboks had broken their three-match losing streak.

For that, they deserve a lower-case hurrah.

Coetzee reached for the positives.

“I’m a very happy man,” he beamed. “There were pleasing aspects. It’s about inches and [taking] chances. That is what test rugby is about. You can say the referee gave us the penalties, but we put pressure on the opposition and we took the opportunities. The win will get a bit of belief back. This is a step in the right direction.”

To be fair, the Boks largely played to their script and thankfully their defence stood its ground, as the Wallabies held large swathes of the Bok territory.

While their defence held out, their attack was again alarmingly blunt.

There was no undue haste about the way the Wallabies went about their business in the opening stages. They were quite content to bide their time, probing slowly but methodically by taking the ball through the phases.

One of those probes came from long range after Bryan Habana failed to find touch. The Wallabies displaying skill and patience, advanced inexorably up field and it says as much for their attack, as it does for the Bok defence, that two tight forwards were the last to handle the ball before it was dotted down under the posts.

The honour fell to loosehead prop Scott Sio, but there was the overwhelming sense that it all unfolded with too much ease.

The Boks got their hands onto the ball for lengthier periods as the first half progressed and started asking some uncomfortable questions themselves.

story_article_right2

One such probe necessitated drastic measures from Israel Folau, who blocked Habana’s path and was duly shown a yellow card in the 34th minute.

The Boks did profit in his absence, although the crowd would have preferred more than two Steyn penalties before the break.

Coetzee staunchly defended the composition of his bench, which had only two backs sans a replacement scrumhalf. When Rudy Paige left the field, it required a considerable reshuffle.

“I believe it was the right plan. The bench made an impact. We knew what would be the next step,” said Coetzee.

A source of relief was the performance of captain and man of the match Adriaan Strauss.

“It was very emotional for me to play where I started my Super rugby and Currie Cup career. We know we had unconditional support,” said Strauss.

The Wallabies, however, were the side that played with greater enterprise in the first half and they will deeply lament three missed penalties at goal. Not using Bernard Foley for at least one of those attempts proved folly.

Captain Stephen Moore explained that those kicks were out of Foley’s range.

Coach Michael Cheika lamented missed opportunities in the Bok 22.

“We had many visits down there,” Cheika said. “If we took our points we would have won the game.

“We didn’t get enough shape and we should have scored two or three more tries.”

Coetzee confirmed that Pieter-Steph du Toit had a hip injury, Habana took a knock above the knee, Jesse Kriel has a hamstring injury, while Paige took a knock to the head.