Monday 16 July 2007
There should never be any honour in losing a test to New Zealand by 27 points, writes Keo in the Sunday edition of the Weekend Argus.
New Zealand have problems, but even with all their problems they won by 27 points in a test against the Springboks. So let’s not get too carried away with talk of bravery, courage and defensive heroics. The Boks still got a hiding in being beaten 33-6.
The scorline is flattering, but whether you get your points in the first 10 minutes or the last 10 minutes the game is played over 80 minutes. It would be too simplistic to suggest the Boks lack fitness and that is the reason they have not been competitive against the All Blacks in the final quarter. A more accurate assessment is that if you tackle more than you are tackled for the first 70 minutes and if you play with 14 men and not 15 for 10 of those minutes you are going to be the more fatigued side in the last 10 minutes.
In Durban Pedrie Wannenburg’s sin-binning influenced the outcome and in Christchurch the same player’s departure for 10 minutes expedited the inevitable conclusion, with New Zealand again beneficiaries of a superior class of player warming the bench.
Brendon Leonard, replacing Piri Weepu at scrumhalf in the 50th minute, provided the urgency in New Zealand’s attack. For South Africa there was no such luxury, although the Boks would have at least given themselves an attacking opportunity if they had started with Peter Grant at flyhalf.
Instead Derick Hougaard got one more match to play himself out of the World Cup 30 and he surely must have succeeded. The first time he tried to attack from 30 metres out he got turned over and the Boks found themselves 30 metres out from their own tryline.
The Boks showed willingness to run the ball, but they did not have the backs to execute this intention. Their good intentions were not packaged with conviction. The All Blacks had the players to score tries but not the game plan. Too often the ball was moved laterally and the skip and long passes gave the Boks a crucial additional second to get back and scramble on defence.
The one on one tackling of the Boks was not as good as their scrambling, while New Zealand’s finishing was as ordinary as in the Melbourne test defeat against Australia. The same players made the same mistakes in throwing poor 50-50 passes and taking the wrong options.
New Zealand’s passing was sloppy and their finishing was not clinical. For that reason alone the differential was closer to 30 and not 50.
The Boks were tough in defence, but also cynical in trying to stop New Zealand from playing. With the quality of team in Christchurch that is all they could be. This test has no relevance to the Boks prospects of beating New Zealand should the two teams meet at the World Cup.
Only three of the battered Christchurch bodies will be in the Boks World Cup match 22 against England, with none of Gary Botha, Johann Muller and CJ van der Linde in the starting XV.
New Zealand’s starting XV, in four years, remains a debate and All Blacks coach Graham Henry is expected to make another seven changes for next weekend’s Bledisloe Cup and Tri Nations final against the Wallabies.
The All Blacks in this year’s Tri Nations have played like a composite team, whereas Australia’s weakness in squad numbers could translate to strength. They only have 22 players and coach John Connolly is forced to pick his best team every time. They’ve found the continuity absent in New Zealand’s game.
Getting the ball for New Zealand was not an issue, but actually doing something with it was. The Boks made 206 tackles to New Zealand’s 136, but the handling error count of 16 to 5 was disproportionate with the advantage in ball dominance.
The All Blacks have psychological issues, but it would be naïve to think South Africa, France, Australia, Ireland and England don’t have similar doubts.
There will be relevance to next weekend’s test because the winner takes the Bledisloe Cup and Tri Nations. In Christchurch the only relevance came at the final whistle when referee Stuart Dickenson ended the farce the Tri Nations has been in the last two weekends.
And if you question the use of word farce then ask yourself why the applause for a 27 point Bok defeat to the All Blacks? Exactly.
Mark Keohane - keo.co.za*Disclaimer - Views expressed within this story are not necessarily the views of this Blog
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