MARO’S MAGNIFICENT WHILE IT’S AN ALUN WIN, BUT ELLIOT HAS OFF DAY
THE Lions rallied from a nine-point interval deficit to beat South Africa 22-17 in the first Test in Cape Town.
They celebrated with a dressingroom rendition of Wild Rover.
But for a while in the opening half it looked as if it might be a case of all over for Warren Gatland’s team on the day as they struggled to cope with Faf de Klerk’s box-kicking and the Springboks’ renowned physicality, with their own indiscipline not helping matters.
It was a different story in the second half, though.
Under pressure from the Lions’ kicking game, South Africa began to make mistakes with penalties piling up and Dan Biggar making them pay.
The tourists emphatically won the battle of the benches and their greater fitness told, too.
We assess the winners and losers from a huge game we’ve been waiting four years for.
WINNERS Maro Itoje
Big players deliver in big games, and Itoje is a big player.
At times in the opening half, when the Lions appeared in danger of cracking under the pressure South Africa were applying, they were indebted to their No.4 as he pulled off a number of key turnovers, one of which averted what had seemed a potential try.
The powerful Eben Etzebeth, a worthy successor to the great South African locks of the past, looked to dominate physically and he did achieve a maul turnover at the expense of Itoje.
But the Lion couldn’t be subdued. Playing like a back-rower, he was on the scene for a momentum-shifting four possession steals. Itoje also swarmed over opposition ball-carriers with his defence and made a mark in the tough close-quarter exchanges. His was an irrepressible and inspirational performance.
Cometh the hour, cometh the man and all that.
Yet after the dust had settled, he did a media interview still in kit looking that chilled he might have just emerged from a Zen meditation session instead of 80 minutes of sparring with Etzebeth, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Co.
He does things differently, for sure. But he’s some player.
Alun Wyn Jones
Leaders, a wise man once said, always choose the harder right rather than the easier wrong.
And so to the 42nd minute at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday, when the Lions were awarded a kickable penalty. They were 12-3 down at the time after an unconvincing opening half that had seen them turn around fortunate to be just nine points adrift.
A successful penalty would reduce the gap.
Going for broke by kicking for the flag and scoring a try would not only eat into the gap further but also strike a psychological blow and potentially bring about a momentum shift. But, of course, the second option came with a higher degree of risk.
What was it to be, then?
Alun Wyn Jones went for the harder right – and Luke Cowan-Dickie piled over from a maul.
It was to prove the turning point in the game, with the tourists going on to win the second half 19-5.
Leadership on such a scale was one of the reasons Gatland was so keen to see Jones stage his improbably quick return from injury.
The big man had a fine game gen-
erally. Really, he had no right to be putting his left shoulder to the wheel in a Test exactly four weeks after dislocating it.
But he is cut from different material from the rest of us.
Typically, he shirked nothing in defence, carried willingly and made a telling mark in the thick of the action.
If anyone deserved to lead the Lions to a famous victory, it was him.
LOSERS
Bad days at the office – we’ve all had ‘em. Except most of us don’t have millions watching on TV across different continents at the time. You felt sorry for Daly. He received an introduction from Lukhanyo Am on four minutes which almost saw him smashed him into tiny pieces.
There were two penalties conceded by the Lions No.13, three tackles missed from eight attempts and no metres made from six carries.
On his day he’s a cultured and classy player. But this wasn’t it.
Cheslin Kolbe
Most would agree he is a wonderful player who deserved all the plaudits he received pre-game.
But he failed to put any kind of stamp on proceedings once the action started.
There were three runs that didn’t get far, three handling errors and a hat-trick of turnovers coughed up.
It was a poor return for such a magical player.
The Lions will hope there is no bounce back.
South Africa’s Bomb Squad
Steve Kitshoff, Malcolm Marx and Frans Malherbe didn’t enjoy their finest hour.
They were supposed to be the heavy brigade who would push the Lions to defeat with their irresistible power in the second half, South Africa’s best three props who had been held in reserve with the express intention of piling on relentless pressure.
Instead, the Lions outbombed the Bomb Squad, with the tourists’ bench exerting a telling influence.
Kitshoff, Marx and Malherbe remain excellent players.
But Saturday wasn’t their day.