Springboks 22 Wallabies 19

Ou Grote brings you a blow by blow account of today’s Bok victory over the Wallabies.

00: 00 – 00: Butch James kicks off deep, Tuqiri gathers the ball and hoofs it into touch. Bok lineout to Bakkies who passes back to Smit at the front.

01: 03 – 00: Penalty to the Boks on the Oz 22m – tackler (Vickermann) not rolling away. Montgomery converts.

03: 03 – 00: Huxley kicks directly into touch.

04: 03 – 00: The Boks have had all the possession in the first five minutes and are attacking the Aussies relentlessly. Ashwin Willemse is bundled into touch before the line.

07: 03 – 00: Boks edge close to the Oz line through solid forward drives, sucking in the opposition defence.

08: 03 – 00: Scrum on Oz line, Boks penalised, John Smit injures his hamstring. Australia clears.

09: 03 – 03: Boks attack in the midfield, Oz turn over the ball in the tackle, Larkham kicks out on Bok 15m. Oz win lineout, Elsom collects and Oz attack resulting in penalty – tackler not rolling away – in front of the posts. Mortlock converts. John Smit is replaced by Gary Botha.

13: 03 – 03: Boks gather from the kickoff and run it back at the Ozzies.

14: 10 – 03: Quick ruck ball and Butch throws a high looping pass cutting out four players and finding Jaque Fourie on the wing. He squeezes in at the corner. Try Boks! Monty converts from the touchline.

15: 10 – 03: Huxley kickoff directly into touch.

16. 10 – 03: Ruan Pienaar steps up to kick a penalty from the halfway line. Has the distance but not the direction. Pienaar has been on a few sniping runs, setting up good go-forward ball. Ashwin Willemse has seen lots of ball in the first 15 minutes.

21. 10 – 03: Scrum won by Boks, good break from De Villiers in midfield, only has to offload to Fourie for a certain try – passes forward and out into touch trying to find Willemse.

22. 10 – 03: Scrum – free kick against Boks for early engagement. The Ozzies (and particularly Shepardson) are being successful at neutralizing the Bok scrum power by going down at nearly every scrum. Inexperienced referee being suckered and penalising the Boks.

24. 10 – 03: Boks attacking and looking good in the Oz half but their defence is holding out well.

27. 10 – 06: High tackle by Juan Smith on Giteau, ref plays advantage as the Ozzies continue to attack close to the Bok line. Spies falls on the wrong side. Penalty Oz. Mortlock slots it.

30. 10 – 13: Oz looking dangerous now, attacking, going through the phases, good ball retention, Mortlock breaks a tackle and passes to Giteau who scores the try under the posts. Mortlock converts. Good team try.

33. 10 – 13: Oz attacking, Larkham grubbers through to Monty who is heavily tackled by Tuqiri. The ball spills loose but Giteau knocks on while trying to gather for the try.
 
37. 10 – 16: Pierre Spies penalised and sin-binned for a professional foul which looked unintentional. Running back to his side, ball is passed into him. Mortlock converts.

40. 10 – 16: Schalk loses his pants in a tackle. A Montgomery attempted dropkick misses.

HALF TIME SA 10 – 16 AUS

40. 10 – 16: Huxley kicks off deep to Pienaar who kicks back.

42. 10 – 19: Oz lineout, Schalk tackles and is penalized for not rolling away. Penalty halfway between Bok 22m and 10m lines. Mortlock converts.

45. 13 – 19: Oz penalised for not rolling away. Monty converts.

50. 13 – 19: Sustained multi-phase movement from Boks puts pressure on the Ozzies, but their defence holds firm and they turn the ball over.

52. 16 – 19: Ozzies get a scrum, Boks turn the ball over, Juan Smith knocks on and looks to be injured. Ref playing advantage and brings them back for the penalty to SA. Monty converts.

54. 16 – 19: Drew Mitchell almost gets past Willemse to score a certain try.

55. 16 – 19: Ruan Pienaar hoofs one into the Oz 22m. Oz win their lineout, Larkham kicks, Willemse takes and banana kicks into touch on SA 22m. Oz lineout again and they launch an attack but are pinged for obstruction. Boks clear from the penalty.

58. 16 – 19: Bok scrum on Oz 22m right side of the field, Spies drives well, Butch kicks an aimless grubber near the Oz line.

60. 16 – 19: BJ off. CJ on.

62. 16 – 19: Francois Steyn replaces Ashwin Willemse.

64. 16 – 19: A bit of an off-the-ball scuffle involving Schalk – SA penalised.

66. 16 – 19: Matfield steals an Oz lineout.

67. 16 – 19: Nathan Sharpe falls of Gurthro Steenkamp’s knee from the side – injury looks bad. BJ back on to replace Gurthro.

69. 16 – 19: Butch offloads to Monty in the Bok 22m, strong run up the right hand touchline, only Huxley to beat, Monty chips over the top, Huxley collects and kicks out. Bok lineout 5m out. Boks awarded another penalty – the kick would tie the game – but opt for the lineout. Attack by Boks leads to another penalty.

73. 19 – 19: Boks knock on from a lineout. Ozzies kick to Francois Steyn who gathers and slots the pressure drop goal from between the 10m line and touchline.

74. 22 – 19: Break by De Villiers from his own line, then grubbered forward. Gregan recovers and is smashed by Rossouw, ruck on Oz line, Oz get the ball back and Huxley clears. Boks drive from the lineout on the 22m, pass back to Steyn who calmly slots another big drop kick!

80. 22 – 19: Boks hold on for the hooter, Butch kicks out. SPRINGBOKS WIN!

FULL TIME SA 22 – 19 AUS