Connacht 03 v 18 Boks

The Bok dirt-trackers managed to eke out a win in a woeful display of rugby against Irish club side Connacht. The South Africans led 3-0 at half time.

What they said:

Andrew Farley (Connacht captain):

“We knew the physicality from South Africa would be massive and we knew we had to match it up front right away and we did that in the game.

“We knew we had a really difficult job ahead of us and I’d really like to thank my boys for a hard-fought effort throughout match.

“We knew we had done a massive job in the first half holding them down to three points.

“We knew they would come out firing after half-time, so we knew what we had to do was weather the storm for the next ten minutes – which we didn’t do unfortunately and that’s what let them into the game.

“All we had to do was continue our hard work in defence that shut them out of the first half.

“It was a very good build-up for us. With a fixture like South Africa, just after a very hard pre-season, doing well was a massive goal that we all looked forward to,” said Farley.

Jake White (Springbok coach):

“I think a lot of the players thought they just needed to pitch up tonight and go through the motions.

“We had enough possession in the beginning of the game. We just struggled to gain any momentum,” said White.

The Scorers:

Connacht [03]
Penalty: Andy Dunn

Springboks [18]
Tries: Ashwin Willemse, Jacques Cronje
Conversion: Butch James
Penalties: Butch James, Andre Pretorius

Match Details:

Event: Rugby World Cup warm-up
Date: Tuesday 21 August 2007
Venue: Sportsground, Galway
Kick-off: 20.30 SA (19.30 GMT)
Referee: George Clancy (Ire)
Touch judges: Peter Fitzgibbon, Leo Colgan (Ire)

The Teams:

[TABLE=22]

The Game:

00 – Boks kick off, Connacht knock the ball into touch, Bok lineout, pick and drive 5m out, Connacht penalised and Butch James lines up to kick the penalty from close range. He slots it easily.

03 – Connacht drive strongly up to the Boks 10m line but are then penalised, Butch kicks out and it’s a Bok lineout on halfway, Muller takes and the Boks drive, over the Connacht 10m, Januarie to Pienaar who breaks through a gap and is then penalised for holding on to the ball in the tackle.

06 – Bismarck takes it on the wing and makes 20m, Boks swing it down the line, Butch chips, Ndungane gathers, Murray makes good metres, Januarie knocks on. Connacht scrum.

07 – Pietersen straight through a gap, Murray ends up with the ball but is tackled well 2m from the line.

09 – Bok lineout on the Connacht 10m line. Boks take it through the phases, Connacht intercept a Butch James pass, Connacht drive then kick the ball over the deadball line. All the way back for the Bok scrum on the Connacht 10m line. Skinstad to Ricky, Wikus drives, Januarie snipes around the ruck and the Boks swing it wide. Murray stopped 2m out again.

12 – Pienaar picks up a loose ball and breaks through a few tackles, but Boks penalised at the resulting ruck. Connacht lineout on their own 22m. Well taken and the home side drives, turned over, Murray to Willemse who is tackled well, Pienaar to Ndungane 1m out, Bismarck knocks on 1m from the line. Connacht defensive scrum.

20 – Poor defensive kick from Pietersen and it’s a Connacht lineout on the Bok 10m, Boks turn it over, Bismarck to Januarie who is stopped in his tracks. Bok lineout on halfway. Connacht steal it and run strongly up the left, back inside, Afisa bashes it up in midfield, Skinstad steals the ball in the ruck, Januarie forward pass to Rossouw. Connacht scrum on half way.

23 – Rigney breaks round the scrum and is smashed by Rossouw. Boks penalised on halfway, Donnelly finds touch on the Bok 10m. Connacht lineout, clean take by Farley and Connacht drive up to the Bok 22m, Connacht take it through the phases, bashing it up in midfield, 10m out, Donnelly, Philips 2m out, Connacht penalised and Butch takes it quickly, Connacht not 10m, Boks swing it wide, Pietersen to Willemse who knocks on.

28 – Connacht look impressive with good attacking from limited possession – showing more enterprise than the Boks. Their defence is not looking too bad either. Pick and go by Connacht on the left hand touchline, keeping it tight, back to Donnelly who shanks a kick up midfield, Butch takes, to Willemse to Waylon Murray who grubbers out on the Connacht 10m line.

32 – Full backline move by the Boks – Murray out to Pietersen who knocks on with the line at his mercy. Habana comes on for Ndungane.

35 – Pienaar runs it out from the Bok line, swings it to Skinstad on the wing and he knocks on.

36 – Durcan kicks a beauty into the corner, Bok defensive lineout 5m out, Connacht steal the ball and swing it all the way down the line into touch, Bok lineout, scrappy but Wikus cleans it up and Pienaar kicks into touch on their own 10m, Connacht get the ball back and Farley goes for the drop – pushes it wide.

40 – Connacht rucking strongly on Bok 22m and get it back for another Farley dropkick which is missed. Skinstad down injured but makes a quick recover. Boks penalised just inside their half and Connacht opt to kick for posts. Donnelly misses to the left. Half time.

The Boks are looking rusty as all hell, lineouts are a shambles, finishing non-existant. Naas: “I don’t care what you say, it’s a joke. It’s just plain awful.” Our backline is looking terrible as usual. Only good points are the frequent turnovers in the tackle by the Boks and Ruan Pienaar’s sniping runs from flyhalf. Jake White will have plenty to say in the changerooms…

40 – Second half kickoff. Muller knocks the ball on from the kickoff. Connacht scrum, Boks get the penalty and swing it wide, Butch kicks out 10m from the Connacht line, Connacht take and drive.

43 – Rossouw to Butch James to Ashwin Willemse who crashes over with Skinstad on his outside shoulder. James misses the conversion.

44 – Bok scrum on halfway, Januarie to Pienaar who kicks over the home side’s line forcing a Connacht 22m drop-out. Johnny Concrete on for Connacht. Nou is ons in die kak!

47 – Rossouw takes the lineout ball, Boks swing it wide and Pienaar kicks it over the Connacht dead-ball line. So obvious that they’ve been told to kick for position. Back for the Connacht scrum, Boks turn it over, Pienaar runs 20m up the middle, Concrete penalised for not rolling away on Connacht 22m line. Bok lineout.

50 – Boks control the ball and drive strongly up the left. Drama as Bismarck fells a Connacht player with his elbow and is yellow-carded. Connacht kick out and take their lineout. Jacque Cronje on. Connacht lineout on Bok 10m.

54 – Connacht again taking it through the phases, making 20m with strong breaks and running – the club side showing far more enterprise than the hapless Boks. After 8 phases of possession, the home side is penalised. Butch James lines up the kick for posts from the Connacht 10m line. He misses to the right.

57 – Again the Boks mess up the take from the kickoff and the ball is knocked into touch. Connacht lineout and they run it at the Boks then kick for the corner. Pienaar runs it back into his 22m before kicking it out. Andre Pretorius on. Connacht attack up the middle making plenty of metres, Pretorius attempts the intercept but knocks on. Connacht attacking scrum 20m out.

62 – Gary Botha and CJ van der Linde on. Free kick to Connacht who take it quickly, van der Linde penalised 10m out from the Bok line (coming in from the side). Donnelly kicks the penalty.

64 – Again Connacht attack, breaking the Bok line, over halfway but they knock on. Bok scrum near the halfway line.

66 – Bok lineout, Wikus drives strongly and sets it up, quick ball popped up to Jacques Cronje 5m out and the big man crashes over for the try. Butch converts.

70 – Connacht penalised for coming in from the side. Andre Pretorius goes for posts from the Connacht 22m line and slots it.

72 – Jaque Fourie on for Waylon Murray. Pretorius clears under pressure on the Bok line. Bok scrum, shortarm taken quickly by Boks but Connacht turn it over and kick for the corner, Pienaar forced to run it out 1m out. Connacht 5m attacking lineout, they take and drive strongly, 3m out,  advantage Connacht and they get the penalty – Boks collapsing the maul in the redzone. Connacht lineout 5m out.  Smith takes and the home side pick and drive, down the blind side, 3m out, swinging the ball down the line, McCarthy tackled into touch. Bok defense holds.

78 – Bok lineout taken by van den Berg and Pretorius clears to the Bok 10m line. Jacques Cronje steals the lineout and tears 20m up the field, Connacht turn it over and kick for the corner, Boks run it up and Butch James taps it into the corner. The final whistle goes. Boks 18 – 3 Connacht.