SA Rugby

You couldn’t write a better script for a rugby match, if you at least supported the home team South Africa. The locals trailed 16 to 10 points at halftime and only managed to tie the game at Newlands Stadium in the 71st minute. And as would be written in the same script, young replacement Francois Steyn scored both the leveling kick and the winning kick, one of them no less than 150 feet from the posts, near the touchline. I have questioned the lack of experience and decision-making ability of the same kind, but today, fortunately for South Africa, Frans Steyn did well and also did it under great pressure.

The Springboks dominated the majority of the game (this was shown in post-game stats with the Boks having accumulated possession between 60% and 40% in their favor) and the score should have been much higher than 22-19 a the time. and it certainly shouldn’t have had the South African rugby team trailing at halftime. The cause of the points not being accurately reflected in the game was partly the unforced errors of the Springboks and partly the running defense of the Wallabies. A tactic employed by the Springboks themselves. Many times when the SA Rugby team were on the attack at Australia’s 22nd, they would give the ball away in a silly way; knock-ons, the ball kicked on a promising play and even an attacking scrum awarded to South Africa was disallowed to a penalty for Australia due to Schalk Burger going into an “argy-bargy” after the whistle had sounded.

The only attempt for the Boks was scored by center Jacques Fourie in the 13th minute. Butch James kicked off with a grubber that set up a few phases for South Africa, after which Butch James found himself involved again cleverly scooping the ball up with his toes and passing the ball to Fourie sending it for the corner try. Soon after, in what appeared to be an oversight, referee Barnes when an Australian moved involved an obstructive run in the middle of the field, the Cape Town stadium fell silent as Matt Giteau approached the posts for the only attempt to the Wallabies of the party. Another mistake by the referee and his team was the yellow card and the resulting 10 minutes out of hand for Pierre Spies. The spies seemed to just be coming back to his side when a George Gregan pass hit him, this was somehow deemed worthy of a garbage can.

There were definite highlights in the game for the Boks, with some deft passing between forwards and running backs, as well as some long play passages where the Springboks held and protected the ball very well, playing close to the breaking point.

Australia’s highlights in the match were Stirling Mortlock’s precision with his boot and excellent defense. They have shown that they will not be overlooked by any stretch of the imagination in this Tri-Nations series.

Man of the match went to Schalk Burger for the many runs on hard contact and his ever-persistent competition for the ball at breakpoints.

Overall a great test match to watch, going all the way and Francois Steyn winning the hearts of the Newlands crowd sold out the innings by putting down his match-winning shots.