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Springboks seal series victory

Brad Morgan

17 June 2008

The Springboks opened their 2008 season with a series victory over Wales by winning the second test 37-21 in Pretoria on Saturday, but the win was far tougher than the score suggests.

In the first test in Bloemfontein – a 43-17 South African victory – the Welsh had offered little meaningful resistance beyond the 20-minute mark, but in Pretoria the Six Nations champions gave a good account of themselves and, with 20 minutes left, they even held a 21-20 advantage.

Early on, after a Welsh penalty, it looked as if the second test would end in a comfortable Springbok win as the World Cup winners scored two tries in the space of six minutes, but John Smit and company became a little over elaborate in their play, leading to errors, which were also due to a significantly improved defensive performance by Wales.

Decision time

Bok coach Peter de Villiers probably learnt more about what he needs to work on with the South African squad from the second test than the first, but the stuttering victory has also left him with an interesting decision ahead of Saturday's upcoming test against Italy at Newlands. He needs to decide whether or not to give his frontline fifteen a run ahead of the Tri-Nations opener against New Zealand, or rather give some of his other squad members a run.

One thing that is known is that John Smit will not be on hand to captain South Africa against Italy, who are coached by former Springbok coach Nick Mallett; he has club commitments with Clermont and Victor Matfield will take over the captaincy in his place.

But back to Saturday in Pretoria… There were some positive things to take out of the contest for the Springbok brainstrust of De Villiers, forwards' coach Gary Gold, and backline coach Dick Muir; De Villiers and Gold would probably have been most relieved by an improved performance in the set scrums.

Front row

The former Sharks' front row of Tendai "The Beast" Mtawarira, John Smit, and BJ Botha performed more impressively than the front three of Gurthrö Steenkamp, Smit, and Brian Mujati in the first test. It was an encouraging debut from "The Beast".

Matfield, not surprisingly, proved superb in the second row. In almost any other country in the world, Andries Bekker would be a no-brainer selection at lock, but the combination of Matfield and Bakkies Botha hold the South African second row record for number of caps for a reason: they are an awesome force.

While the South African loose trio performed well, they were not as dominant as they were in the first test and it would have been interesting to see eighthman Ryan Kankowski, a true playmaker, given a longer run than 20 minutes in relief of Pierre Spies. After a memorable Super 14 season, and a strong test debut against the Welsh at the end of 2007, he needs to be given a bigger opportunity to showcase his abilities.

Ricky Januarie replaced Bolla Conradie at scrumhalf and performed well, while Butch James was a steady and good influence at flyhalf.

Midfield

A decision by the Welsh to move Jamie Roberts from fullback to midfield came off. The big centre defended with vigour, although he was possibly somewhat lucky not to have been yellow carded for killing the ball at a ruck on more than one occasion.

Despite the hugely improved Welsh defence, Jean de Villiers and Adrian Jacobs still functioned well in midfield.

What might be of some concern to the Springboks is that few chances were created for the speedy wingers: Bryan Habana and Tonderai Chavanga. Habana was given little room to operate in, while Chavanga looked a little anxious.

Conrad Jantjes performed well once more at fullback. He has matured markedly since joining the Stormers for the 2007 Super 14, and with Percy Montgomery in the South African squad, a man many members of the squad regard as a copybook professional, he has a great opportunity to learn from the best.

First blood

On Saturday at Loftus, it was the Welsh who drew first blood after four minutes. It came by way of a Stephen Jones penalty after SA skipper John Smit had been isolated and failed to release the ball on the ground.

Shortly afterwards the Springboks nearly struck back with a try, but after some excellent work down the left hand touchline a pass from Butch James to Pierre Spies was knocked forward by the eighthman with the tryline just in front of him.

Two minutes later, however, with South Africa maintaining the pressure on the Welsh and keeping them pinned inside their 22-metre area, the home side scored the opening try of the game.

Springbok tries

From a lineout, the Boks drove for the tryline. Wales held up the momentum of the South African forwards, but Luke Watson squeezed a pass out the back of his right hand to Jean de Villiers who crashed over the line to the right of the maul. James converted to put South Africa 7-3 ahead.

After 18 minutes, the Springboks increased their advantage after a beautifully worked try. Matfield put Juan Smith in a gap with a well-timed pop pass and the flanker took the tackle of the last man in defence before passing to Januarie, who dived over for the five-pointer. James slotted the conversion to make the score 14-3.

It looked as if it was going to be another easy Springbok win, but two minutes later Wales showed that wasn't going to be the case.

Welsh score

At a lineout throw-in, just outside the South African 22-metre line, the Welsh forwards started moving backwards to receive the throw, creating space at the front of the lineout. A short throw-in went to scrumhalf Gareth Cooper in that space. He beat a despairing dive from Smit on the outside, near the touchline, and then, with a neat sidestep got past the cover defence to go over for a well-worked try. Jones added the extras to pull Wales back to 14-10 down.

Butch James had an opportunity to increase the gap between the sides to seven points shortly afterwards, but he missed for the first time in 11 kicks at goal in the series.

With just after half-an-hour played Wales struck again. After South Africa failed to control the ball at a ruck, Bakkies Botha tried to steer it back with the boot, but Welsh winger Shane Williams was the first man to the ball.

Williams' magic

He picked it up and raced down the left-hand sideline. He had space to work in, but five men to beat. With amazing awareness, pace, and footwork, Williams swerved inside then out, beating all five defenders with his incisive move to score Wales' second try.

The conversion attempt by Jones was wide, but the Grand Slam winners had moved into the lead.

Throughout the game, every time the little winger got the ball he looked as if he could make something happen with his fantastic footwork and speed; South African defenders seemed to panic slightly whenever he was on the run.

Four minutes from halftime South Africa took back the lead when Jamie Roberts was penalised for killing the ball five metres from the Welsh tryline. James kicked the easy penalty to make it 17-15.

Second half

After the break, South Africa moved into a 20-15 lead when James was on target with a penalty.

Only three minutes later, the lead was down to two points as Jones replied with a penalty to make the score 20-18.

Just before the hour mark, coach Peter de Villiers sent on three replacements, with Bismarck du Plessis, Ryan Kankowski and Francoisn Steyn replacing John Smit, Pierre Spies, and Adrian Jacobs respectively.

Jones then put Wales one point in front by landing another penalty. The lead didn't last long as James slotted a three-pointer for South Africa to edge the home team into a 23-21 lead.

With 15 minutes to go, Andries Bekker took over from Bakkies Botha and Percy Montgomery replaced Tonderai Chavanga.

Try time

A minute after their introduction, Montgomery set up Jean De Villiers for a try. Spurning what would have been a gimme kick at goal, he tapped a penalty five metres out and right in front of the Welsh uprights.

The 96-cap veteran almost made it through with a dummy and charge at the line, but when he was brought down, De Villiers was quickly on hand to win the ball and dive over for a South African try. James' conversion gave the Boks a little breathing room at 30-21 ahead.

Jones was off target with a penalty that would have pulled Wales to within a converted try with 10 minutes to go.

Habana could have sealed a South African win in the last five minutes, but he knocked on with the tryline in his sights.

It was left to Bismarck du Plessis to score the final try of the game, which helped South Africa to a flattering victory margin of 16 points. He charged over from close range, touching the ball down on the line, and after the decision was referred to the television match official, the try was awarded.

A last conversion from Butch James made the final score 37-21.