Awesome game for a neutral to watch, what a swinger.
Bloody awful defence by the Boks in the opening stanza, but the Wallabies did look natural with the ball in the hand, so they must take some credit.
I've been on Smit's back for a while now, but I think the loss on this match, can be squarely blamed on the Bok leadership who was on the field for the last 30 seconds (I think Smit was off). I called it in the pub 3 phases before Barnes did that he was going to award the Wallabies a penalty. The game they were playing to close it out, was ridiculously stupid. No effort to make the advantage line, just take the tackle, go to ground then recycle.
I'm not going to go into intracies of laws etc etc as the lawyers on this site will come in purely to disrupt, but consistently this year, whenever teams have failed to make the advantage line & managed to recycle the ball back, they will more often than not get pinged for something. After SA went backwards 3 times in a row & barely even looked to be making an effort, it was clear they were going to do something wrong.
I don't understand why when it's clear your current tactics have you back pedalling (and increasing your exposure to a penalty), you don't pass it to Steyn to kick it out in the corners.
I'm going to say what Nick Farr Jones said though straight after the Bled in 2000. Despite the fact Australia won, there was no doubt in my mind that SA were the better team on the paddock.
Last word.. Beale. cometh the hour & all that. Impressive kick. Carter, the 2010 version, would have missed it for sure.