A Tale of Two Halves

Jeez. Gutted. Another test in New Zealand lost.

http://sarugbyview.blogspot.com/2008/07/tale-of-two-halves.html

Jeez. Gutted. Another test in New Zealand lost.

That first half was a vintage All Black / Springbok clash. All the intensity, bravery, passion. The rucks were ferocious and the defence committed. Thrilling stuff and I definitely got the feeling I was watching the two best teams in the world.

It started with the Haka. As always, it seems like you can tell so much with the way New Zealand lines up for the challenge. The hunger was apparent. And it just looked like it was a team out to prove they were not completely dependent on Richie McCaw. The pre-match hype about “South Africa’s best chance in New Zealand” and “Take them with McCaw out” must have inspired the All Blacks to play for So’oialo.

I think the All Black side always hits you at a million miles an hour out of the shed. They were no different today. What made this vintage was the Bok counter. John Smit was  every bit Captain Fantastic. He led the challenge at ruck time with Burger and Bakkies in fantastic support.

But it was clear even when we were playing so well that Matfield was a spectator. Maybe it was because the All Blacks managed to keep the pressure on and force our kicks and lineouts on their own throw. The first 7 lineouts were all All Black throw-ins and they won them all. Matfield was anonymous and deserved a rocket for his lack of presence at the breakdown. It has never been his strength and it has always been very clear he would rather play center than graft in the rucks. The exception was against the All Blacks at Newlands in August 2005. Somebody should play that match to the Boks before every All Black test. Matfield should have it on permanent repeat. It was the perfect Bok pack performance in 2005. It was nowhere near that today. It said everything that we had an extra player in the rucks when Monty came on.

Speaking of pack performances, the All Black front row is without peer in world rugby – because of their props. Somerville and Woodcock were unbelievable. If we had got the go-forward in the pack in the first half, this might have been a different game. Somerville and Woodcock made sure that didn’t happen. Nothing against Steenkamp, Van Der Linde or Mujati – and especially Smit or Du Plessis. The counter was courageous but always on the back foot.

I thought our starting back row was inspirational. Burger, Van Niekerk and Smith were fantastic and it was questionable subbing Van Niekerk in the second half. Burger and Botha carried the team at rucks and Botha deserves all the plaudits in the world for that. The two also showed an enormous work rate around the park making tackle after tackle. Those talking of Matfield being off the pace considering his recent play in the French second league should consider Burger has had 20 minutes since his knee ligament injury.

Backline – encouraging but not controlling

In the back, the back three proved to everyone they were safe under the high ball. Now and again Ndugane’s positional play may have been questioned as Carter kicked into space behind his wing. Carter was every bit the world’s best flyhalf today – on attack and defence.

Ndugane and Jacobs showed their critics up with solid defensive efforts. Jacobs showed good touches on attack too and was directly responsible for putting De Villiers into space to create Habana’s try.

But the player of the day for the Boks was Januarie. He is back to his best form. He used to be the perfect player against Gregan because he managed to get up Georgie’s nose. Today he was much more than that. He played the scrummie role to perfection. Quick service and getting the ball out without enough protection from clearing players at the ruck. He kicked from the base and controlled his aggression. It was a mystery why he was subbed by Conradie.

Second half psychology

We lost the match when we came on psychologically behind in the second half. World Champions who had just scored going into the half time break 8-9 behind should have inspired the team to come back believing it was only a matter of time before we took the lead. Instead those first 15 minutes were all All Blacks as we looked devoid of tactics. Butch needed to seize control. He was strangely off today and coughed a lot. Maybe he was sick. If so, it needed a decisive substitution early in the second half.

Steyn was not the player to take control. While his 60m almost-drop was astonishing, the charge down of his kick from his line was all too familiar. I would have brought Monty on at flyhalf early in the second half and brought Steyn on on Odwa’s wing to add some spark. Monty would have added an experienced, controlling head. Odwa was courageous but was bounced off in three tackles due to a high body position. If he starts next week he has to go lower and drive into the tackle.

Our substitution tactics showed the coaching team tried to change the team to play to the ball to play catch up rugby. The need for Watson for Van Niekerk and Steyn at flyhalf at 60 minutes were the result of the wrong tactics at the beginning of the second half.

The other aspect of our play today that worried me greatly was the lack of support for ball carriers at the back or out wide. We conceded a number of turnovers as the All Blacks committed numbers to the chase. Conversely we never committed numbers to the chase.

Dunedin challenge

I’m not sure what the injury situation is, but Bekker coming on for Bakkies must have been injury enforced. That leaves question marks over Smit, Bakkies, Van Der Linde and Butch. Which is a serious worry for Dunedin.

The pressure is now on De Villiers. He has lost his first test and the loss breaks the Bok 12-match winning run. We have to sort out the front row prior to Dunedin. Gold’s work will be cut out for him. De Villiers must consider his substitution strategy too. He has to use the Bok World Cup Final experience better. By merely re-constituting that World Cup Final backline, he’d add confidence. He needn’t start with it – Jantjies was brilliant today – but if he’d reorganised 5 minutes into the second half today, I think Jantjies, Steyn, Jacobs, De Villiers, Monty, Habana would have looked like he’d brought on the stars to close out the game.

We’ve never won in Dunedin. Decisiveness is required to change that next week.