Vintage rugby from the Boks; a shambles from the All Blacks.

August 10, 2005

A month ago the Boks returned home to South Africa on the heels of a 5 try to nil shellacking at the hands of the Australia Wallabies. Nobody gave them a shout at winning the Tri-Nations.

But the defending champs are now in the driver’s seat to repeat, being two wins out of two games at home after beating the All Blacks 22-16 at Cape Town last Saturday – curiously by the identical score they posted against the Wallabies a week earlier – and again with an identical one try apiece.

The Boks still have the hard work ahead of them, but for now they get to rest up and watch the All Blacks and Wallabies beat the tar out of each other if they have any hope of overhauling the South Africans.

The South African game-plan was simple: defend the advantage line with venom, keep the ball tight, win the forward encounters, and kick the ball into All Black territory. The Boks planned well, and executed even better. Their pressure defense and monstrous scrum dismantled the All Blacks on numerous occasions, and stealing AB lineout ball didn’t help settle the visitors nerves either. For pure execution, the Boks deserve an A+.

The All Blacks game-plan, on the other hand – well, it was ridiculous. Their 22m dropouts were a joke, their passing was headless chicken stuff, and they didn’t even attempt to contest Bok lineout ball. Their overall marks for execution amount to a simple D-.

One of the big questions going into the Test was the difference in preparation. The All Blacks had been sitting in cotton wool for the past month after their 3-0 blackwash of the tepid British Lions. The Boks meanwhile, have been embroiled in some huge contests away-and-home against the Wallabies. Would the ABs be sharp? Would the Bokke be tired…?

(UPDATE: The greatest of them all, Colin Meads says: "The All Blacks proved one theory I live by - you cannot have four weeks off and come out and play test rugby.")

The Test match started a torrid affair. After slotting an early penalty, the Boks chanced their arm, showed their intent and doubled their lead with an Andre Pretorius drop-goal. 6-0 to the Springboks after five minutes.

It’s worth considering the impact of that drop-goal. With possession in an opponent’s 22, the Wallabies and All Blacks would never think about attempting drop-goals so early in the game. Those are teams that lust after tries – especially with the bonus-point system rewarding tries. But the Boks wanted a win, and they knew points at home would be paramount.

Bok lock Victor Matfield helped matters with a swinging forearm and shoulder charge at All Black scrumhalf Byron Kelleher’s head. Kelleher was on the mat seeing stars, and it wasn’t long before the nuggety scrummie was throwing an intercept to Bok center Jean de Villiers who streaked away 70 yards for an easy score. Twelve minutes in and the Boks were leading the mystified and stunned New Zealanders 13-0.

The dazed Kelleher was pulled immediately thereafter and replaced by the young Piri Weepu, sporting a new cropped haircut (gotta say Piri, it suits you much better!). Alarm-bells were doubtlessly ringing in New Zealand. The recent retirement of veteran scrumhalf Justin Marshall meant the position was exclusively Kelleher’s, but only a dozen minutes in to the Tri-Nations campaign, and the reins were handed to the new guy, only a month ago New Zealand’s third-stringer.

If Kiwis were worried, they needn’t have been. Weepu turned out to be one of the All Blacks best performers on the day, coming in and acquitting himself much better than anyone had a right to expect.

As the first half progressed, the All Blacks pulled themselves back into the game. Urgency and pressure gained them a penalty close in, which Dan Carter landed, then at the 21st minute sustained pressure near the Bok line saw flanker Jerry Collins unload a brilliant wide cut-out pass to winger Rico Gear who strolled over for an easy try. A conversion and another Carter penalty goal at the 27th minute drew the All Blacks level. At that point the All Blacks were dominating territory by a staggering 67% to 33%, but just before half-time Percy Montgomery landed another penalty in front of the sticks and the Boks had a 16-13 HT lead.

The second half was a pulsating affair, highlighted by uncharacteristic AB handling errors, rugged Bok defense, a couple of blown chances for tries by the Blacks, some curiously dodgy head-scratching decisions by Australian referee Andrew Cole, and a late fighting comeback that almost saw the ABs steal the test! In the end, a final score of 22-16, ecstatic home fans, and a fair result.

Having said that, there were times when the All Blacks looked by far the better of the two sides. But flash and pizzazz will only take you so far in the face of a determined and disciplined adversary. The Boks played percentage rugby and took their chances. The All Blacks played basketball and mostly fumbled theirs.

It was also curious that in the face of the Boks defensive line standing millimeters from the gain-line, the All Blacks kept turning the ball back instead of varying their play and turning the Bok defenders on their heels. It’s certainly true that positional and attacking kicks by the Blacks early in the game had the bounce of the ball favouring the Bokke, but a couple grubbers or wiper kicks as the game progressed could have exploited the tight pressure defense and had the Boks turning on their heels and opening up more space to operate. AB coach Graham Henry needs to smack his cane over All Black knuckles. If the All Blacks are going to prove they can win the close ones, they are going to have to vary their play when defenders are up in their faces.

Jerry Collins had another solid game, as did the aforementioned Weepu, whose Test match will have done him and the team a world of good. Rico Gear was simply rampaging, he just keeps getting better. Too bad his support was often miles behind him when he made some dynamite breaks. Captain Tana Umaga and all-world flanker Richie McCaw had comparatively quiet games and their impact was seldom felt. Flyhalf Dan Carter had an uncharacteristically bad game, butterfingers and silly decisions. Joe Rokocoko made a late appearance in relief, and showed class, but it was too little and much too late.

For the Boks, the tight five deserve all the credit. They monstered their opponents, they laid the platform. They may, however, rue their lack of bonus points and allowing the All Blacks to steal one. If this years' championship is decided the same way it was last year -- each team winning their home tests -- those bonus-points will determine the fate of the silverware.

One final point: many critics have pointed their fingers at the All Blacks preparation for big Test matches away from the cities of those matches. For the 2003 World Cup semi-final in Sydney, the All Blacks bunkered in Melbourne. For this Cape Town Test match, they escaped the hype and prepared in Durban, avoiding the pressure and arriving into Cape Town late. It seems inescapable that the All Blacks arrive at these huge Tests somewhat aloof and bewildered. Perhaps the critics are right and the All Blacks would best prepare themselves in the heat of the cauldron, so they know just what intensity to expect from the home fans and the home team, and aren't caught by surprise. A little needle from the home fans for motivational purposes couldn't hurt either.

Next week: All Blacks take on the Wallabies in Sydney. Question marks all over the place, not the least of which is whether All Black captain and talisman Tana Umaga will be declared fit by game-time. He hobbled off the Newlands pitch at Cape Town late in the game, and has so far been bracketed with Conrad Smith.