Boks in tight win over Wallabies
Brad Morgan
22 August 2005
It wasn't pretty. In fact, it was downright ugly. South African captain John Smit admitted as much. However, after an edge-of-the-seat 22-19 victory over Australia in a "must-win" clash, the Springboks will face the All Blacks with a chance to wrap up the Tri-Nations title in Dunedin on Saturday.
A poor refereeing performance from Ireland's Alain Rolland, from which both teams suffered, prevented the contest reaching any flowing heights, but it was absorbing and certainly the type of match the Springboks would have lost in recent years.
But this team of Jake White's has a steely mentality that stands it in good stead, whether the venue is South Africa or abroad.
Writing in the Sunday Times, former Springbok coach Nick Mallett highlighted this aspect of the Boks' play, saying: "Every player puts his body on then line for his teammates.
'Passion and commitment'
"This has become the characteristic of
this Tri-Nations team. They deserve credit for playing with as much passion and commitment away from home as they do at home".
From the kick-off, it was the Wallabies who swept on to the attack after Victor Matfield was penalised. From a lineout inside the South African 22-metre area they drove the ball up through David Lyons, but he coughed the ball up in a hard tackle.
Schalk Burger reacted quickly, scooping the ball up to Jean de Villiers who quickly passed out to Jaque Fourie. He helped draw in the Australian defence before passing wide to Bryan Habana, who hit the accelerator, heading wide towards the left hand sideline where he outstripped the cover defence to race in for a spectacular try from 90 metres out.
Percy Montgomery was off-target with the attempted conversion, leaving South Africa 5-0 ahead.
Swirling wind
Two minutes later, Montgomery had an opportunity to increase the Springboks' lead, but again he missed
as he struggled to come to terms with the swirling wind inside the Subiaco Oval.
Three minutes later, the fullback once again had an opportunity to kick a penalty, but this time his kick struck the crossbar, bounced high into the air, and came back down inside the field of play, leaving him with three misses inside the first eight minutes of play.
In the thirteenth minute, the Springboks were penalised for using their hands at a ruck. Matt Giteau stepped up to take the penalty for Australia and made no mistake from an easy angle to reduce the South African lead to 5-3.
On 18 minutes Montgomery did well under pressure to hang onto the ball after a poor pass from scrumhalf Ricky Januarie. The Wallaby defence rushed up, wrapping up the Bok fullback in the tackle, but referee Rolland penalised one of the defenders for going off his feet and playing the ball.
On target
This time Montgomery's kick was good, which left South Africa
8-3 to the good.
Shortly afterwards, referee Rolland showed Breyton Paulse the yellow card for kicking the ball away at a ruck. It followed a nice break by Mat Rogers, but the decision seemed to be harsh as it appeared that a ruck had not yet been formed.
Rogers, not Giteau, took the shot at posts. He curved it in nicely from outside the left-hand upright to pull the Aussies within two points at 8-6 down.
In the twenty-seventh minute referee Rolland warned both captains against negative play when he penalised Australian prop Al Baxter for preventing a ball from coming out of a ruck.
Five point lead
Montgomery was again successful with his kick at posts, increasing South Africa's lead to five points again at 11-6.
Three minutes later, South Africa should have crossed for a second try. Deep inside the Australian 22-metre area, the Springboks moved the ball left from a ruck, with the Wallabies badly outflanked out wide.
Flyhalf Andre Pretorius, however, opted for a huge skip pass to Habana. It was off target, thrown slightly behind the winger at just above shoulder height and he couldn't hold on to it.
By simply moving the balls through the hands the Boks would have scored thanks to a three-man overlap.
Strange decision
In the thirty-sixth minute Lote Tuqiri was penalised for a trip on Habana inside the Australian 22-metre area after Jean de Villiers stabbed through a grubber. Again, given referee Rolland's earlier decision to send Paulse to the sin-bin for 10 minutes, it was a strange decision when Tuqiri was penalised only and not shown a yellow card.
Montgomery, however, made the Wallabies pay by slotting his third kick in succession.
Shortly afterwards the halftime whistle sounded with South Africa up 14-6.
Two minutes into the second half, the Boks were caught out as Australian fullback Drew Mitchell surged 70 metres upfield and
into the SA 22-metre area, breaking at least three tackles on his mazy run.
The home side, though, kept up the pressure and after former South African under-21 lock Daniel Vickerman made a mini-break, Os du Randt was nailed by the ref for using his hands at a ruck. If anything, his indiscretion was far clearer than Paulse's in the first half, but there was no punishment beyond giving up a penalty.
Australia hit back
Rogers struck his kick accurately, leaving the score at 14-9 in favour of South Africa.
Ten minutes into the half, South Africa again increased their advantage to eight points. After putting heavy pressure on Matt Giteau from a lineout just short of the Australian tryline, the flyhalf failed to find touch with his attempted relieving kick.
Paulse fielded the ball and flung a long pass inside to Montgomery who steadied himself and struck a sweet drop goal over the uprights from far out.
There was little
time to breath for the Springboks, however, as Australia struck back within a minute with a try by Clyde Rathbone. Centre Morgan Turinui set him up by making a clean break and racing clear of the defence before passing to his left for Rathbone to cross over near the uprights.
One point in it
Rogers kicked the easy conversion to put Australia within a point of South Africa at 16-17 down.
In the fifty-seventh minute the Australians had an opportunity to take the lead when referee Rolland penalised Bakkies Botha for using his hands at a ruck. Rogers, though, was wide with his kick at the uprights.
Three minutes later he again pinged Botha, this time for a high tackle, a very questionable decision indeed, with slow-motion replays confirming it was not a high tackle.
This time Rogers was on target. His successful kick put the Wallabies ahead for the first time in the game at 19-17.
Once more Australia tightened the pressure
on the Boks, but South Africa's hard-tackling defence held firm.
Counter-attack
Then, on 67 minutes, and with the Aussies putting the SA tryline under pressure, the Springboks again turned over possession, as Rogers lost the ball in a tackle, and sent the ball out to the left.
From Montgomery it went to Jaco van der Westhuysen, on for Pretorius, then to Jaque Fourie, and then Habana. He pinned his ears back and raced away, rounding a desperately diving Drew Mitchell to fly in for his second try, South Africa's second, and almost a carbon copy of his try earlier in the contest.
Montgomery failed with his conversion attempt, but Habana's blistering pace had once again given South Africa the lead at 22-19.
Australia, facing their first loss to the Springboks at home since 1998's Tri-Nations clash at the same ground - won 14-13 by the Boks - tried to come back at John Smit and company, but the green and gold showed good
composure to keep the Wallabies at bay.
Right on fulltime South Africa earned another penalty for obstructive running by Australia. Montgomery could have taken a shot at the poles, but with time expired and the referee confirming that the game would be over after the next act, the fullback kicked the ball out of play to ensure a 22-19 victory for Jake White's men.
Possession
It was a tough win. Australia dominated possession 70 percent to 30 percent, while referee Rolland's slack policing of the lineouts made them something of a lottery. Both teams were penalised 12 times each, but the ref played far too prominent a role in what was a passion-filled battle.
On the negative side for the Springboks, prop Gurthro Steenkamp suffered a broken hand and will head back to South Africa. Lawrence Sephaka will join the team in his absence.
Pedrie Wannenburg returned to South Africa after injuring his back training in a gym. He will be
replaced by Danie Rossouw.
So, on to Dunedin, where history beckons if the Springboks can overcome the world number-one ranked All Blacks in the most inhospitable of environments. It promises to be a captivating battle.
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