Boks unconvincing despite big win
Brad Morgan
4 June 2007
Some people were predicting a record thrashing of England when the Springboks did battle against the English in Pretoria in the second test on Saturday. The match finished 55-22 in favour of the Boks, but the win came only after they trailed 19-17 at the break.
As in the first test in Bloemfontein, the scrums were an area of concern for the South African side. Both captain John Smit and coach Jake White expressed their displeasure after the contest, accusing England of illegal tactics.
Smit said he told referee Joel Jutge during the game that he feared for the safety of the Springbok front row, telling the Frenchman, "We have only one neck". However, he wouldn't elaborate further, saying simply that the media should watch the video of the game.
Lack of stability
A lack of stability at scrum time led to a scrappy and substandard first half by the Boks as the match took on a stop-start nature.
Jonny
Wilkinson's side was effective at slowing down South Africa's ball in the loose, often committing three or four players to prevent the Boks launching quickfire attacks and this allowed the English to reset their defensive lines, which often forced SA to run sideways instead of directly at the visitors.
In a big surprise, England took the lead right on the stroke of halftime, leaving the Loftus Versfeld crowd stunned, but when South Africa returned to action they upped the tempo, running more directly at the English, who buckled under the pressure and conceded 38 points whilst scoring only three in the second period.
Rush defence
In the first half, England employed a rush defence, which pushed the offsides' line to the very limit, but it was effective as the Springboks failed to get much "go-forward" ball. Lying flat, the South African backs also struggled to string passes together as the visitors closed them down quickly.
As in the
first test, though, once the contest loosened up, South Africa cut loose and managed to run in six tries in the second half to go along with the two they scored in the first stanza.
South Africa had an opportunity to take the lead in the first minute after England were caught offsides from the kickoff, however Percy Montgomery – who landed 10 out of 10 kicks in Bloemfontein, was short with his shot at goal, which was right on target.
After five minutes, though, Montgomery gave South Africa the lead with a successful penalty.
Wilkinson levels
Wilkinson leveled for England after 10 minutes after the Boks were blown up at a scum, one of a number of penalties conceded by SA tighthead prop CJ van der Linde.
England could have taken the lead after 18 minutes, but Wilkinson was just off target with a long range penalty effort.
Luck was with South Africa in the twenty-third minute as they hit the front after a favourable bounce of
the ball. Scrumhalf Ricky Januarie kicked deep into England's 22-metre area from a ruck. The ball bounced backwards about 10 metres and Januarie was on hand to gather his own kick and dive over the line for the first try of the game.
Montgomery slotted the conversion to put South Africa 10-3 ahead.
Wilkinson reduced the deficit to 10-6 after 28 minutes with a penalty, but South Africa hit back three minutes later with a second try.
Dominating scrum
From five metres out, the Boks enjoyed their only dominating scrum of the game, shoving England back towards their own tryline. Eighthman Pierre Spies was just short of the tryline as he picked up and tried to drive over, but Schalk Burger won the ball on the ground and, with his body position low, forced his way over the line.
Montgomery added a good conversion from out wide and the Springboks had opened up a comfortable-looking lead at 17-6.
Wilkinson kept England in touch
with his third penalty with five minutes to play in the half.
Two minutes before the break, South Africa's poor discipline was punished when Bryan Habana was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on, as England mounted a dangerous attack.
Wilkinson struck his fourth successful penalty to pull England to within a try of South Africa at 17-12.
England try
Then, with the first half almost up, England scored a try after some sloppy play by South Africa. A poor pass from Spies, which looked forward, landed in the hands of wing Dan Scarborough, who was in a gap. With no cover defence in sight, he raced through to score under the poles from 65 metres out and Wilkinson's conversion put England 19-17 up as the halftime siren sounded.
It had been a scrappy, poor first half from the Boks and a big change was needed.
Four minutes into the second half, South Africa finally put a good backline move together. A long pass from Victor
Matfield to his lock partner Bakkies Botha saw the second rower run in a try on the right. Montgomery missed the conversion, leaving SA with a narrow 22-19 advantage.
Two minutes later, a powerful run by Spies saw him break the attempted tackles of four England defenders before he crashed over for the Springboks' fourth try. Montgomery was on target with the conversion, putting SA 29-22 to the good.
Habana intercepts
A mere three minutes later, Bryan Habana, as he does so often, snuffed out an attack by intercepting and racing almost the length of the field to score. The extra points for the conversion opened up South Africa's lead to 36-22.
Montgomery then got in on the try scoring act, timing his run at speed into a gap to perfection, to race through to score without being touched after a good build-up from the forwards. He converted his own five-pointer to put South Africa into a convincing lead.
Into the last 10 minutes,
Habana again underlined his devastating ability to score tries from nothing when, with South Africa under pressure, he ducked under a tackle, beat another defender for pace and raced off down the left-hand touchline. A beautiful inside-out swerve left the final defender grasping at air as he dashed towards the tryline and finished it off with a huge dive to take South Africa's total to 48 points.
Final try
Three minutes from time, Bob Skinstad picked up a loose ball, beat one man, drew another, and fed Spies while in a tackle to set the eighthman free. Spies sprinted over the tryline for his second try and Montgomery converted to make the final score 55-22.
The margin of victory was comfortable, but the manner in which the Springboks achieved their win wasn't particularly convincing.
The problem areas remain, as they were after the first test against England, the set pieces. Coach Jake White will need to devote more time to them as
the Springboks prepare for their third test of the season, against Samoa at Ellis Park on 9 June.
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