Sport

Springboks win in Matfield's 100th

Brad Morgan

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30 August 2010

The Springboks finally delivered a victory in the 2010 Tri-Nations competition, and a win for Victor Matfield in his 100th test, when they scored a come-from-behind 44-31 win over Australia in Pretoria on Saturday.

With the win, Matfield became the first Springbok to celebrate his 100th test with a victory. Previously, Percy Montgomery and John Smit came up short in their 100th internationals.

While the Springboks won, they did it the hard way, coming back from 14-0 and 21-7 down.

'We had time to get back in the game'

"It was really complicated to start like that, with them scoring two quick tries, but rather early in the game than in the last two minutes. We had time to get back into the game and stuck to our guns," said captain John Smit afterwards.

"The beginning was not part of the plan. It took us some time to find our feet.

"We still have to eliminate a number of little errors. We will not win the World Cup playing test rugby like this."

Coach Peter de Villiers commented: "You will never play a perfect game. Last week we were a lot more intense, while this week we were more composed.

"We were afraid to make mistakes against the All Blacks in Soweto and it showed in our play. That was not the case [at Loftus] and I think we gained from that."

Rest needed

De Villiers also admitted the some of his players might need a rest, possibly by missing the end of the year tour to Europe, when he said: "Guys like John Smit, Victor Matfield and Bryan (Habana) have exceeded the maximum game time they should have played this season. They have forgotten what it is like to feel good."

It wasn't a good game for Habana who was directly responsible for one of Australia's soft tries and partially to blame for another.

For Francois Hougaard, on the other hand, it was an excellent day. He was named man of the match and were it not for the fact that the injured Fourie du Preez, rated the world's best scrumhalf, will one day return for the Boks, Hougaard would have secured his starting spot in the number-nine jersey for some time to come.

Matfield reflected on his 100th test and agreed with captain John Smit by saying that it was a blessing in disguise that the Springboks conceded tries so early in the match, rather than late.

Experience

"Luckily we have quite a few experienced guys in the team and things started happening for us," he said.

The Wallabies had their chances to score more points, but a combination of poor finishing and gritty South African defence kept them to only three points in the second half. They had led 28-24 at the break.

The match started at a torrid pace with an incredible five tries being scored in the first quarter-of-an-hour.

After only two minutes it looked as if the Wallabies had crossed the Springbok tryline through Drew Mitchell, but the television match official ruled in favour of the home side, believing that Mitchell had come up just short of the line.

First try

A minute later they did cross for a five-pointer. After the Boks had been penalised for an early engagement at a scrum, the Wallabies took a quick tap and moved the ball to the left. After a couple of rucks from which they extracted quick ball Will Genia sliced between two defenders, wriggled out of an attempted tackle by Matfield, and went over to the right of the posts.

Matt Giteau slotted the easy conversion to put Australia 7-0 ahead.

A minute later the Australians crossed the South African tryline again after a superb inside break by Kurtley Beale. He unloaded to Rocky Elsom, but the Aussie captain was brought down just five metres from the line.

The ball was, however, recycled very quickly and fed to James O'Connor who dashed through next to the ruck to score. Giteau's successful conversion made it 14-0 and stunned the Loftus Versfeld crowd who had come to see their own Victor Matfield, captain of the home town Bulls, hopefully win his 100th test in style.

Perfect angle

In the ninth minute the Springboks hit back with a try by Juan Smith, who since his return to the national side against the All Blacks has made a very good impression. He ran a perfect line, cutting in from the right and taking a pass back inside from scrumhalf Francois Hougaard, to knife through the Australian defence and score underneath the uprights.

Morne Steyn added the extras to make it 14-7.

Straight from the kick off, the Wallabies replied with James O'Connor crossing for his second try. Bryan Habana dropped the ball and O'Connor gathered, shrugged out of a tackle and raced down the right-hand touchline to go over in the corner.

Giteau was on target again and Australia once again led by 14 points at 21-7.

Bulldozed

With 14 minutes played the Springboks were awarded a penalty within kicking distance, but captain Smit told flyhalf Morne Steyn to kick for touch. He set up a lineout, which the Boks safely won. Prop Gurthro Steenkamp burst away from it with the ball and bulldozed his way through a number of tacklers to crash over for South Africa's second try.

Steyn converted to make it Australia 21, South Africa 14.

Midway through the half the Springboks were awarded another penalty, about 59 metres out, straight in front of the Wallabies' posts. It looked like the kind of long-range kick situation for Francois Steyn to take a shot at goal, but Morne Steyn took responsibility for the kick. He had the distance with some ease and his kick was accurate, pulling South Africa to within four points of Australia at 21-17 down.

Bonus point

Five minutes later the Wallabies had a bonus point for scoring four tries. Bryan Habana, on cover defence near the South African tryline, was caught in possession of the ball. There were plenty of Wallabies bearing down on him, but not much South African support. Francois Steyn tried to help at the ruck, but was penalised for going off his feet.

With numbers in hand, Kurtley Beale took a quick tap and fed Dean Mumm who had an easy run in for the try. Another Giteau conversion made it 28-17 to the visitors.

It was tough keeping up with Australia's tremendous points' scoring tempo, but once more the Springboks found a reply. It came on the half-hour and it was set up by scrumhalf Hougaard. He made a sharp break inside the Wallabies' 22-metre area and just before he was tackled offloaded to Pierre Spies, who was supporting him on his right shoulder.

Spies scores

The big eighthman ran through for the try and Morne Steyn converted to made it 28-24 in Australia's favour.

Incredibly, in the context of the game, there was no scoring in the last 10 minutes of the half.

After the restart the Springboks put the Wallabies under some early pressure and after five minutes were rewarded with a penalty when Saia Faingaa put in a high tackle on Hougaard.

Morne Steyn was on target with his kick and it was just a one-point game at Australia 28, South Africa 27.

In front

South Africa finally hit the front after 50 minutes. Francois Steyn was on hand to round off a flowing movement in the right hand corner and his namesake, Morne, as accurate as ever, split the uprights with his kick from the touchline.

South Africa continued to pressure Australia and came close to going over for a try, but the Wallabies stole possession and counter-attacked, making their way deep into Springbok territory. They looked certain to score through Adam Ashley-Cooper, but Hougaard made a try-saving tackle and knocked the ball out of the outside centre's grasp.

With 12 minutes to go the Springboks extended their lead to six points after Francois Steyn landed a 60-metre penalty.

Crucial stolen lineout

The Australians were quickly back on the attack when they were awarded a penalty and Quade Cooper found touch close to the South African tryline, but Matfield snuffed out the danger by stealing the lineout throw-in.

Australia kept pushing hard, but rugged and effective Bok defence kept them out.

Then, with time up almost up, the home side delivered a sucker punch. They turned over a ball in midfield and, after good work by Matfield and Jean de Villiers, JP Pietersen was given an opportunity to score on the right wing. He stepped inside a covering tackle and went over for the five-pointer.

Butch James, on as a replacement for Morne Steyn, kicked the conversion to put the seal on a 44-31 victory.