‘Blacks blunt blundering Boks
http://www.keo.co.za/2007/06/23/blac...undering-boks/
Saturday 23 June 2007
New Zealand produced a gutsy performance to fight back for a 26-21 win over the Springboks in a fiercely contested match in Durban.
Ultimately it was a plethora of errors from the hosts in the last quarter and the superior All Blacks bench that accounted for the result.
The Boks weren’t able to maintain the intensity and intelligent use of possession they had displayed for the vast majority of the match. They made all the early play, camping in the All Blacks half from the kick-off. Testament to the Boks early dominance was seen in the fact the All Blacks only breached the Bok 22m area in the 23rd minute.
The Boks will however lament the fact that the failed to make that territorial dominance count, handling errors, poor decision making and solid defence thwarting their attempts to translate possession into points.
The Boks seemed to be caught between a forward dominated and expansive approach and that was evident by the indecisiveness with ball in hand. When it went wide the backs were flat, posing little threat to the All Black line, while the forwards too often found themselves isolated, opening themselves to the threat of Richie McCaw and co. on the deck.
All the talk in the build up to this Test was about whether the All Black lineout would withstand the expected Bok onslaught. They struggled in this facet of play early on, losing or having their ball disrupted for four of the first five throws. As expected, Matfield was the destroyer in chief in this regard, invading Anton Oliver and his jumpers’ psyche.
That robbed them of a primary attacking platform and pressured them to be clinical in their other avenues of attack. That change after the break, with the All Blacks catching the Boks cold by taking a number of quick lineouts, effectively eliminating their major weakness.
The Boks done superbly to pressure their opponents across the park and were mostly accurate in the spot hits until they completely fell apart in the final stages of the match slipping off tackles with alarming regularity.
There were positives for the Boks though.
Ruan Pienaar produced a mature display from the base, mixing accurate service with solid pressure relieving kicks and spirited defence.
The omipresent nature of Schalk Burger meant the All Blacks were constantly under pressure at the breakdown points, although it has to be said that his openside nemesis Richie McCaw was equally as effective at ground level.
Burger blended his potency at ruck time with tireless defence and the powerful surges in the loose his built his reputation on.
It was therefore fitting that he would be the man to cross for the game’s opening five pointer on the stroke of half-time, emerging from a mound of bodies after a lineout drive had decimated the All Blacks.
But the score can very much against the run of play. The All Blacks had settled into their structures and the continuity they were generating through the tackle offload was troubling the Boks.
An Aaron Mauger drop goal two minutes into the second-half drew his side within three at 11-9 but it would be an error from the midfielder that allowed the Boks some breathing room.
Jaque Fourie’s pressure defence grassed Mauger, who threw a hopeful pass which was gratefully snatched by Butch James who raced through to score.
But the All Blacks maintained the pressure and kept themselves in the match with a Dan Carter penalty. The usually mercurial flyhalf had an afternoon to forget with both his goal and tactical kicking nothing more than ordinary.
Pedrie Wannenburg, CJ van der Linde and Frans Steyn came on for Bob Skinstad, Os du Randt and James respectively and immediately there was a significant drop in the Bok’s play.
Steyn in particular fell spectaculary from grace after his match winning effort of last week to a woeful 15 minutes of Test rugby.
Their cause was made more difficult when Wannenburg was sin binned 30 seconds after taking the field.
The roles were now completely reversed from last week’s Test at Newlands, with the Boks doing the lion’s share of defending. They got a brief respite when a Montgomery penalty took the Boks to a nine point lead, but five minutes of madness cost the Boks the match.
For the vast majority of the Test they had stuck to their structures well and given the All Blacks very little broken field ball to work with. But they lost the plot, and two poor kicks were punished by after long range counterattacks were rounded off by McCaw and Joe Rokocoko.
The Boks never looked like replying and lacked the composure under pressure they showed in bags last week.
Springboks – Tries: Schalk Burger, Butch James. Conversions: Percy Montgomery. Penalties: Montgomery (2), Ruan Pienaar.
All Blacks – Tries: Richie McCaw, Joe Rokocoko. Conversions: Dan Carter (2). Penaties: Carter (3). Drop goal: Aaron Mauger.
By Ryan Vrede
