Aussies surge out of the blocks to outpace Los Pumas
SPRINGBOK coach Allister Coetzee and captain Adriaan Strauss were exasperated after the team blundered to a third successive Rugby Championship defeat yesterday.
“The players know there will be repercussions,” said Coetzee. “We have to decide if there is a better player to bring in. We have to ask whether there are players who can do a better job, then we can make changes. If there aren’t better players then we will have to continue with these players and make sure that we get it right.”
He should also look at the coaching staff. He lamented his team’s defence while the need for a kicking coach is all too apparent.
Costly errors again blighted their performance that showed initial promise, but petered out in the second half as the World Champion All Blacks asserted their dominance.
“It is obviously very disappointing, the amount of basic errors we made,” sighed Coetzee. “There were a lot of positives as well, especially the way we applied pressure in the first half when we scored a great try. But then we let them in. It was a soft moment and in the second try we were indecisive on our exit.
“They are clinical. We need a lot of work on our defence,” said Coetzee, whose team conceded six tries, four of which were avoidable.
Those “positives” he spoke of will be cold comfort to Bok fans.
“These are things we can fix,” the coach said optimistically. “I’m still positive about the team going forward.” Strauss said there were times in the first half he felt his team was in control.
They did string together some patient attacks but that happened all too fleetingly.
“We knew at half time we had one or two soft moments. The rest of the time it felt like a test against the All Blacks.
“We felt in it and we were positive. You also have to give the All Blacks credit for using the width of the field.
“They ran good lines and they asked a lot of questions of us. We couldn’t respond to that. We are far from our best and far from where we can be.”
What sets the All Blacks apart is fastidious adherence to the basics. It lies at the core of what makes them such redoubtable opponents.
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen lauded his team’s effort in the primary phases.
“Our set piece has been outstanding the whole season. We lost just one throw and it was an overthrow. The scrum has been outstanding.
“We try and play a game that we are proud of and to not get away from core roles. We just have to keep asking ourselves to get better every day.”
With the Rugby Championship now a race for the minor placings, Hansen can contemplate resting players in their last two matches. Coetzee also has to ponder his selections, but for different reasons.
In a city still scarred by the devastating earthquake in 2011 the Boks again displayed all the fault lines that dogged them against the AUSTRALIA stunned Argentina with three tries in the opening 12 minutes, but were forced to defend for much of the rest of the Rugby Championship test before winning 36-20 at Perth Oval yesterday.
Outstanding scrumhalf Will Genia scored two tries with centre Samu Kerevi, winger Dane Haylett-Petty and flanker Michael Hooper also crossing for the Wallabies.
Winger Santiago Cordero and No 8 Wallabies in Brisbane last week. All that imprecision followed them across the Tasman Sea. By contrast the All Blacks look better assembled, organised and conditioned.
With the All Blacks already in the ascendancy thanks to a superior kicking game, the Boks yesterday courted trouble by not applying due care and diligence in possession.
The crowd was still stunned and the Boks in a mild state of euphoria Facundo Isa scored Argentina’s tries but they were unable to reproduce the form that gave the All Blacks a minor scare last week.
With less than a minute gone, Australia moved the ball quickly down the backline and Hooper released Kerevi to charge to the line. Their second try came off an attacking lineout seven minutes later, Kerevi’s decoy run creating a gap in the defensive line and flyhalf Quade Cooper putting Haylett-Petty into it with an inside pass.
Turnover ball provided the third try with Genia pressuring Los Pumas flyhalf Nicolas Sanchez into dropping the ball before following Bryan Habana’s converted try in the 19th minute when Elton Jantjies inexplicably dropped the kick-in close to the Bok tryline.
From the resultant scrum Israel Dagg scored.
Six minutes later Johan Goosen hacking forward and racing 30m to scoop it up and dive across the line.
The remaining 28 minutes of the half were mostly about obdurate defence for the Wallabies, who racked up 98 tackles to Argentina’s 22 before the break.
Sanchez finally got the visitors on the scoreboard from the kicking tee after 23 minutes and 10 minutes later added his second penalty when Wallabies prop Scott Sio was sent to the sin-bin.
Cordero cut the deficit to 21-13 four minutes after half time when he ran around prop James Slipper to score a converted try thought it prudent to throw a speculative pass around the Bok 22.
From another scrum the All Blacks advanced, allowing Julian Savea to apply the finishing touch.
The Boks were struggling to plug all the holes and the All Blacks’ much-vaunted bench again stretched the opposition.
Sam Whitelock scored in the corner with 15 minutes to go as the Boks ran out of defenders. in the corner.
After being restored to 15 men, Australia finally got possession and Sean McMahon made the most of it when he burst through the Argentina pack towards the line.
The replacement loose forward was tackled just short of his goal but Genia dummied the pass from the base of the ruck and burrowed over for his second try.
Ten minutes later and Hooper crossed for Australia’s fifth try after Cooper had again opened up the defence with an inside pass.
Australia were soon reduced to 14 men again, though, when Cooper was sin-binned
At that point the visitors were potentially looking down the barrel of a 50-pointer but they were thankfully spared that embarrassment. for tackling Sanchez without the ball and the Pumas finally got the rolling maul going to help Isa over the line four minutes later.
Centre Bernard Foley had kicked four of five conversions for Australia but made way for winger Reece Hodge to ease local nerves with a late penalty. he said.
The current crop of All Blacks were more measured in their assessment. For Ardie Savea, it remains a benchmark test. “Every team gets up to play the All Blacks. There has always been that rivalry between South Africa and the All Blacks. I think it is still there.”
“I think it is always going to be a fierce rivalry,” said former All Blacks prop and Crusaders assistant coach Dave Hewett on the magazine show Breakdown.
“It will always be a great contest. The other thing that adds a whole lot to it is that there are so many South Africans now living in New Zealand. That is starting to develop into the culture as well and that brings the rivalry right into the public.”
On the same platform, former wing John Kirwan said the All Blacks have raised the bar and other teams are obliged to follow. “They [the All Blacks] are not rebuilding, but they have changed a lot of stuff. The Africans have very good coaching staff, they’ll be analysing, digging under every rock to find out what the difference is.
“They’ll catch up, but they’ll have to change stuff. They’ll get there pretty quickly because this is international football. While we are setting the standard, we can’t relax for a second because they’ll chase us,” said Kirwan.
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen perhaps summed it up best. “We fight complacency. Losing hurts,” he said.
“History tells us that regardless of what either nation has been doing prior to a test match, the game is always tough. Both teams have a heck of a lot of pride . . . We enjoy playing them and they enjoy playing us. Both teams respect each other for what they are and who they are.”
Hansen agreed the relationship between the countries was special. “In my time, the relationship just got better and better. We’ve struck a chord with them. We respect the rugby traditions. As a result of that, I think we’ve become quite close.”
We try to play a game that we are proud of and to not get away from core roles. We ask ourselves to get better every day