Proteas schooled by Australia
It’s no use having Morné Steyn’s gun boot at your disposal if it’s only purpose in general play is to give opponents a chance to counter-attack.
And the Blues, like all New Zealand teams, can hurt you on the counter-attack. If winger Mark Telea or outside centre Joe Marchant get half a gallop with space in front of them, Loftus will be as silent as a morgue. The Blues are tied fifth for the most clean breaks in the competition (32) and Telea has had a good taste of the try line already this season, after scoring a hat-trick against the Waratahs in Newcastle in round two. Telea has Sivu Reece attributes: quick, likes to do work on the inside and not shy to take defenders on. But he’s largely untested under the high ball. A good high kick, pinged with Steyn’s innate accuracy, could bring Bulls wingers Cornal Hendricks and Rosko Specman into play. These two are fierce high ball competitors. Assuming the former has worked on his sweaty palms, he should have the wood on Telea or fullback Stephen Perofeta.
Bulls coach Pote Human would not say it but there are holes all over the Blues defence. He hinted, though, that they were aware of that, saying the visitors do looked vulnerable when put under pressure. Pressure begins with the forward pack and that’s where the Bulls have the slight edge, with two canny Springbok front-rowers in Lizo Gqoboka and Trevor Nyakane.
They need to follow that up by closing down flyhalf Otere Black, who is starting for the first time this season. Springbok Pieter-steph du Toit on England’s George Ford in the World Cup final was the art of putting a pivot out the game. Du Toit was like a rat up a drainpipe whenever Ford touched the ball. Knowing that a 120kg, 2m redblooded flanker was after him messed with the flyhalf’s rhythm and it put England on the back foot. Wian Vosloo can steal a page out of that book.
Visiting teams usually come to the highveld knowing they will struggle in a lot of areas because of the altitude factor. Most will resort to disruptive tactics to throw their opponents off their game. The Blues will try to make a mess of the breakdown to prevent Ivan van Zyl delivery good, clean ball to Steyn. Instead of waiting and hoping to recycle the ball, the Bulls must clear the ruck quickly and with some meaningful force. They should be prepared to do their own disrupting during the game – nothing illegal or unseemly but little things like applying a two or three-man counter-ruck.
STUART HESS at the Wanderers
IF Mark Boucher and his coaching staff were looking for an improved performance with the ball, based on lessons learned from the series loss to England last week, they didn’t see it here from South Africa last night.
Charl Langeveldt, the bowling coach claimed he’d given the bowlers ‘homework’ in the days leading up to the opening match of this series, but he’d better check what they submitted, because if what they implemented here last night is anything to go by, then the whole curriculum needs to be ripped apart.
South Africa bowled too short, there were 12 wides and the yorkers everyone talked about bowling last week were, but for a handful last night, absent too. It was ill-disciplined and unbecoming of a professional unit who seem better at making excuses like ‘the yorker is a really difficult ball to execute,’ - than actually getting out on the field and doing their jobs properly.
It would be easy to call for vast changes, but then this is the best there is in the country right now, something Langeveldt had to acknowledge a few days ago. As such the onus is on them to improve and for Langeveldt and Boucher to show patience.
Australia smashed 70 runs in the Power Play with Aaron Finch and Steve Smith dining out on a variety of shorts balls, wide ones and then over-pitched ones. Out in the field the performances matched the bowling.
Dale Steyn missed Finch when he had yet to score, later Matthew Wade was the beneficiary of a mix-up between debutant Pite van Biljon and Kagiso Rabada on the boundary and in the final over Tabraiz Shamsi and
Quinton de Kock did a little dance as neither moved toward a ball that floated and then dropped in between them.
Smith top scored for the tourists with 45. Neither he nor David Warner, the main protagonists in the drama that rocked the Test series between the two teams here in 2018, copped any major sledging from the crowd - probably the result of the Eastern stand, which is usually filled with more colourful characters, being declared off limits for safety reasons.
South Africa were just able to keep Australia under 200 thanks to a couple of good overs at the back end from Steyn and Shamsi who both finished with figures of 2/31.
Australia then delivered a lesson with the ball, that Langeveldt would do well to record and hand over to his bowlers. Balls were aimed at the stumps and the short ball was utilised as a weapon, by the outstanding Pat Cummins, not merely chucked into the middle of the pitch, sitting up asking to be hit.
South Africa’s batsmen just couldn’t handle it. They collapsed as the pressure intensified, handing leftarm spinner Ashton Agar a hat-trick, the thirteenth all time in this format and the second by an Australian.
It all ended up being the worst batting display by the Proteas as well, with the 89 all out eclipsing the 98 all against Sri Lanka in Colombo two years ago.
It was a sobering lesson for the South Africans who despite the series loss to England, found many positives. That series may have been deemed as the team making progress, this performance last night saw them take several steps back.
SIBUSISO MJIKELISO
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