RYAN VREDE writes that the Springboks’ defensive incompetence in the first half cost them victory.
Certainly to rebound from 31-6 down is a notable feat and speaks of character. The comeback was facilitated by an exponentially improved defensive effort and more clinical execution on attack. But ultimately it means nothing, and the Springboks have only themselves to blame for the defeat, their fifth in six matches.
Defensive failings have marked their campaign to date. But none of their performances in this regard have been so utterly shambolic, so diabolical, as what was on show in the first 40 minutes.
If they were defensively impotent last week, seven days later they were completely useless for 40 minutes. John Smit said after the Loftus win that a defensive performance like that wouldn’t win them the World Cup. Tonight’s effort would have seen them struggle against Grey Bloem.
They had the intensity of ballerinas at the tackle point and the accuracy of men cuffed and blindfolded, routinely falling off straight up hits. That’s when they put themselves in a position to make the hit, because on more than one occasion a flapping arm at a passing Aussie took the place of a conventional tackle. There was no evidence of the outside-in defence that was employed so successfully in 2009. There was none of the composure, controlled brutality, trust or communication that marked that period. The world champions defended like the chumps of the rugby world.
They missed an astonishing 15 tackles in the first half alone, and on five occasions missed two or more in the same move. Thrice those errors led to tries, the worst of which culminated in the Wallabies’ bonus-point score, where Bryan Habana and Jannie du Plessis failed, horribly, to scrag Drew Mitchell.
That saw them fall 31-6 down just 25 minutes into the game and at that point it seemed as if a caning was on the cards. Skipper Smit couldn’t rouse his troops because he was saving his energy for getting as much of the thin highveld air into his lungs as possible. He wasn’t alone in his patent fatigue, with numerous other heavies breathing so deeply I doubt there was any oxygen left in Bloem at half-time.
It would be acceptable if the onset of fatigue crept up without notice. But it didn’t. De Villiers was acutely aware that some of his key players were running on hope and adrenalin heading into the match. But the Bloem public’s viewing pleasure was deemed more important than a competent performance. That ludicrous decision was exposed.
Another perplexing call brutally exposed for its folly is the continued absence of a specialist openside flank. Such a player would have aided the Springboks’ ability to stifle the Wallabies’ attacking flow. Yet it was the visitors who dictated the pace with which the first half was played at. And it was a pace that caught the Springboks cold.
The the tide turned with Jaque Fourie’s late first half try. For 79 minutes it looked to be the significant score in the context of the result. The same diabolical Springboks lifted their performance markedly after the lock’s solo special, and in doing so exposed the Wallabies’ penchant for capitulating under pressure. Oh they are glorious and entertaining when faced with a feeble effort they were in the first half. But seldom has a Test team been as gutless, so defensively generous and so rudderless on attack, when under the pump.
But just as it seemed as if the Springboks had flogged the last bit of life out of their wounded foe, a defensive lapse gifted Mitchell a try, and with that hope was revived.
Kurtley Beale’s 50m dream killer after the siren had sounded plunged the Springboks into despair. But they will be mistaken to credit his accuracy, skill and composure for the defeat. They must reflect on a shocking first half for the root cause.
