Bomb squad blow out as Nienaber’s subs go pop
What a strange if memorable game down in Cape Town. Nothing quite panned out as we might have expected although despite all the TMO dramas in the second half no great injustices were done. The Lions, just, deserved to win on account of their much improved second half while you are left wondering if the Boks, despite being world champions, are in fact world beaters.
It was the packs that puzzled me most. By common consent what sets this South Africa side apart is the ‘bomb squad’ they bring on after half time - the world class front row to build on the already fine work of their starting front row.
But that proved to be a complete nonsense this time round. South Africa’s staring trio of Nche, Mbonambi and Nyakane were excellent and to my eyes had the Lions in real trouble. So what did coach Jacques Nienaber, after no doubt consulting water boy Rassie Erasmus, do? He pulled them off and deployed the bomb sqaud. Except this time they failed to explode.
It was the kind of brainless by rota substitutions we have grown to expect in the modern game and there was more bafwere flement later on when Handre Pollard and Faf de Klerk – definitely two of the Boks perennial match winners - were banished to bench. That noise you could hear as they departed was the collective sigh of relief from the Lions.
Then we had the Boks backrow. The inexperiencd – at fifteens, not Sevens – Kwagga Smith was meant to be their weak link but in fact he was their best player at No.8 while former world player of the year Peter Steph du Toit was strong as usual but penalty prone while skipper Siya Kilosi, unquestionably an inspiring captain, has been starved of Test rugby since they beat England in the World Cup final 19 months ago.
He also suffered a pretty miserable time with Covid and was widely expected to sit this game out and return to action for the second Test,
It was a surprise when the Boks included him early in the week and I wonder if there were other factors at play here. His opposite number Alun Wyn Jones was in the process of his miraculous comeback from a dislocated shoulder and after he completed nearly half an hour against the Stormers last Saturday I thought – and wrote – that the Lions would risk him.
The Boks probably suspected the same and that amped up the pressure for their own Captain Fantastic to play. It was a brave call but I’m not convinced it was the right decision.
Jones, meanwhile, did what we all expected. Maro Itoje might have been the totem pole forward but Jones was putting in the hard yards for the full 80 and never letting heads drop. He was a constant menacing presence. So it was a confusing picture. Nothing was really playing out as expected. Let’s take the Lions forwards, they wildly erratic in the first half and gave cause for concern. In fact let’s be honest, it was a dreadful 40 minutes of rugby and a poor advert for our game in this summer of sport. The lack of a crowd only enhanced that and yet again we must remind ourselves how difficult that must be for the players.
Tom Curry is as strong, brave and aggressive as you would ever want but he needed to dial things down just a little and managed to give three penalties away in quick succession, two of which Pollard drilled between the posts. He had come off second best physically in the world cup final and was determined, overly so, that there should not be a repeat
The scrum was spluttering and after a promising start the lineout started to go awry. It all seemed to get to Luke Cowan Dickie who at one point threw a horribly crooked quick throw to the font of the line, that didn’t go five yard either. How can you throw a crooked underarm throw of about four yards?
The ref was having none of it and Cowan-Dickie for reasons best known to himself seemed to find it hysterically funny and produced a beaming smile. I’ve watched him for five or six years with the Chiefs and not seem him smile in the heat of battle. It can only be nerves, making your Lions Test is an enormous things that only the few ever experience. Sometimes, if you stop to think mid-match, it must almost paralyse you. When things go wrong you either laugh or cry.
All of this was a huge cause for concern but after the break we could all breathe again. The Lions just looked, felt and smelt different from the off. They were positive and proactive, crisper, kicked more intelligently and started to build the phases. At which point we realised that the Boks defence was neither particularly well organised nor patient. Keep the ball long enough and they were more than likely to cough up a silly penalty.
Life at scrum time proved much more comfortable after the Boks rang the changes and from this point onwards the Lions pack, with the extraordianry Itoje everywhere and Lawes not far behind him, were just edging it for me. You are never going to completely monster a Boks pack but parity, or slightly better, will more than suffice.
Cowan-Dickie got his mojoh back with his try with assists from Ali Price, Duhane Van der Merwve who rushed in at a vital moment to change the momentum of the rolling maul and the Lions were back in the game
The TMO dramas added to the excitement but Nic Berry and his team got all the big calls right other than Hamish Watson who was clearly lucky not to cop a yellow card for his tackle on Willie Le Roux. The Lions deserved to win but I’m expecting to see a rejuvenated Boks pack next week. They will be 50 per cent better and the Lions eight will have to raise their game accordingly.
“Hamish Watson was clearly lucky not to cop a yellow card”