Fans off the mark in attacking Bok performance online
My pre-Test prediction was a Springbok win by five points or less against the Wallabies, but felt there was so little to separate the two squads that it wouldn’t surprise me if Australia sneaked in by a similar margin.
The two teams couldn’t be separated in the history of the Rugby Championship (formerly the Tri Nations). Both had won 42, drawn two and lost 57 of their respective 101 matches. Remarkably, the two conceded pretty much the same number of points.
SA had a 32% win ratio in Australia and had won three and drawn one of the eight Tests played in Perth.
The Boks were five from five for the season, but were playing an Australian team that was within two minutes of beating the All Blacks in Dunedin the previous fortnight.
The Australians, based on the nine tries scored in two Tests against the All Blacks, deserved respect and acknowledgement for their attacking potency. Their lineout was also the best in the early rounds of the competition.
Give Australia their due for their part in forcing a 23-23 draw against the Springboks.
The South African supporter vitriol and negativity around the draw on social media have been outrageous.
The Springboks did particularly well to put themselves in a position to win the Test with their final play of possession. Elton Jantjies’s drop goal was charged down and the Boks so nearly profited from a favourable bounce following it.
The margins in Test rugby are minute when two evenly matched teams front each other. We saw that in the All Blacks and British and Irish Lions series, and we saw this again in Perth.
The quality of the match disappointed but the intent, desire and conviction from both teams made for a proper Test.
The arrogance and ignorance from so many South African supporters condemning the Boks on social media are what should be condemned.
Get some perspective on where the Springboks were a year ago, in terms of Test pedigree, and appreciate what this team have achieved in its first six Tests of 2017.
The Boks were stifled in the first 20 minutes in Perth and survived on defence and 35% ball and field position in the first half. Yet they turned just three points in arrears against an Australian collective that was dominant in winning the ball and retaining it.
The Boks were very good in fighting back from a 20-10 deficit on 50 minutes to lead 23-20 with 15 minutes to go. They were also the stronger team in the final five minutes and it is a credit to the Australian discipline and defence that the Boks could not force a Test-winning pointsscoring opportunity.
SA’s opening 40 was their least effective of the season, but credit the Australians with ensuring there wasn’t the ball for SA to create any form of dominant scoreboard pressure.
The period between 50 and 65 minutes was as good as SA has played this year, and they were playing a team superior to the French and Pumas.
The pessimism among so many South Africans on social media defies belief because it is such an insult to the Wallabies; the very same Wallabies that scored seven unanswered tries against the world champion All Blacks in Sydney and Dunedin.
I was hugely encouraged by the fight of the Springboks defensively. They scrambled and scrapped for 50 minutes before finally controlling who had the ball and who had the field position advantage.
SA’s defence was a shambles a year ago. It’s been transformed this season. The Boks’ conditioning is also incomparable to a year ago. The Boks, in every Test this season, have controlled the final stages.
The Bok bench players are making the explosive and influential impact that for the past two seasons had been exclusive to the All Blacks as a match 23.
It is remarkable how down so many South Africans got on the Boks post the draw; more so when weighted against the praise from within the All Blacks coaching and playing staff of the quality of the Wallabies and Springboks in the Rugby Championship.
Perth represented further progress for the Boks and there will justifiably be conviction within the South African squad that there are more possibilities than improbabilities of a rare win against the All Blacks in New Zealand.
Keohane is the founder of www.keo.co.za and a former Springboks Communications Manager. Follow him on Twitter.com/mark_keohane
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