‘No try’ ruling denies Cueto as Springboks reign supreme
Brendan Gallagher continues his expert and authoritative look at the history of Rugby Union
Timing is everything in sport and just as South Africa peaked perfectly at RWC1995, the Boks paced themselves supremely well in 2007 culminating in a second World Cup title. A year out it was looking grim with 2006 bringing all sorts of grief with six Test defeats including a shellacking in Brisbane, where the Aussies won their Tri-Nations fixture 49-0, and a 45-26 home loss to New Zealand. There were also defeats to Ireland and England on their Autumn tour.
Coach Jake White had been in charge for nearly three years at this stage and South African Rugby administrators, and indeed fans, are not known for their patience. It would have been easy to sack White at the end of the year but for once they resisted.
There has been extenuating circumstances, namely major injuries to key players such as Schalk Burger (broken neck), Bakkies Botha (calf surgery), Jean De Villiers and Bryan Habana (cracked ribs), Butch James (groin and knee), Danie Rossouw (hamstring), Juan Smith (left quadriceps) to list just a few. And with the squad stretched to the limit, a number of players had seized their chances like a young Frans Steyn, Ruan Pienaar and Pierre Spies.
If you stepped back for a minute and viewed the bigger picture it wasn’t so bad, a lesson perhaps to other nations who think a change of coach will bring an instant change of fortunes.
The Boks were firing on all four by the time they got to France and the emergence of Habana, who was to score eight tries in the tournament, gave them a real cutting edge. They went to work right from the off, destroying a strong-looking Samoa side 59-7, scoring eight tries in the process, before, with some relish, they humiliated England with a supreme all-round performance at the Stade de France, taking them to the cleaners 36-0. Nobody, whatever they say in retrospect, watching that match would have predicted those two sides would contest the final five weeks later.
The Boks did sputter a little in the next game when their Dirt-trackers struggled to a 30-25 win over a game Tonga side and the unpredictability a Pacific Island side can bring to a game was again a challenge in an entertaining quarter-final with Fiji in Marseilles where the Fijians threw the kitchen sink at them before succumbing 35-20.
It was the last time the Boks were seriously rattled in France. Come the semi-final their forwards took control against Argentina in a comfortable 37-13 win and although a 15-6 win over England in the final looks close and competitive, at no stage did England really threaten an upset win. England, in all honesty, had punched themproviding selves out rescuing their World Cup after that early demoralising defeat against the Boks.
Their surprise quarter-final win over Australia in Marseilles was one of their great World Cup performance sand in an emotionally draining semi-final they had squeezed home against the hosts at the Stade. There wasn’t much left in the tank for South Africa and the only moment of peril for the Boks was when it seemed Mark Cueto had scored after a brilliant break by Mat Tait. Much more dubious tries have been given in the past but there was, agonisingly, one camera angle which appeared to show the toe of Cueto’s boot grazing the touchline momentarily. Or was that boot fractionally above the line? No try was the ruling. The final itself might have been quite a stodgy game – for the second time the Boks won a World Cup final without scoring a try – but the tournament itself had been a vibrant affair with the rise and rise of Argentina the main narrative while France offered up a shock win of seismic proportions against New Zealand in the quarter-finals which truly put the cat among the pigeons.
Nobody should have been surprised by the emergence of Argentina, they had been knocking on the door of elite world rugby for a couple of decades and that only made them more determined when it was repeatedly slammed in their faces. They had recorded notable Test wins over all the top European nations and boasted a battle hardened squad – many based in France, others in England – who had shared the same messianic desire to
break through as skipper Gus Pichot.
The likes of Ignacio Corletto, the Fernandez Lobbe brothers, Felipe Contepomi, Gonzalo Longo, Patricio Albacete and Mario Ledesma were top notch operators and then, in addition to Pichot, they had the wonderfully gifted Juan Martin Hernandez to sprinkle some star dust when needed.
Drawn in the so-called group of death with hosts France and muchfancied Ireland, the Pumas had it all to do but they took the tournament by storm on the opening night with a well-deserved win over the French with Corletto pouncing for the decisive try. A fine win over Ireland – revenge for a costly narrow defeat at Adelaide at RWC2003 – and the formality of wins over Namibia and Georgia saw them top the Pool while Scotland fared no better against the Pumas in the quarter-final.
Against the Boks the earlier games caught up with the Pumas and they met their match up front and, although an unsympathetic ref did them no favours, they were well beaten. Five days later they bounced back in phenomenal fashion in the 3rd-4th playoff match which was arguably the game of the tournament and certainly the best playoff game ever seen. For once it was of vital importance to both sides, neither of whom liked each other much, and what followed was a volcanic encounter with Argentina producing rugby from the gods to beat France 34-9. Their long lap of honour was well deserved while fully two hours after the finish the players, some still in their match kit, were out in the back streets of the Parc des Prince celebrating with their noisy supporters. This was the day Argentina secured their place at top table, something they reinforced with a second semifinal appearance in 2015. As for that shock NZ upset in Cardiff, perhaps it wasn’t quite such a shock. The All Blacks that year looked unbeatable – essentially it was the squad that thrashed the 2005 Lions with a few add ons – but they simply weren’t challenged in the Pool games. They hadn’t really had a proper work out for three months, since they beat Australia 26-12 in a Tri-Nations game.
Not only that but France had been fraught with nerves and suffocated with tension while playing at home. The seemingly bizarre staging of a quarter-final at ‘their’ World Cup in Cardiff suited their psyche perfectly. Less pressure, nothing to lose, hopeless underdogs but at a venue they were well used to and in front of a crowd that would cheer them and not the All Blacks. Kiwi fans will point to a forward pass in Jannick Jauzion’s try but there was also an element of doubt to the All Blacks try. On the night though nobody could really question that France, with Thierry Dusautoir producing the performance of his life, clung on brilliantly and deserved to nick it. The All Blacks also had ample opportunity to manufacture a winning drop-goal and opted to go hunting for the ego-boosting try instead. That backfired badly and it wasn’t a lesson that skipper Richie McCaw forgot in a hurry.
“The only moment of peril for the Boks was when it seemed Cueto had scored. No try was the ruling”