Boks win, but too close for comfort

Ruan Pienaar © Gallo Images

The Springboks did enough in an impressive first 50 minutes to claim the all-important first test victory, 26-21, over the Lions in Durban on Saturday, but came close to throwing it away in an alarming final quarter.

Blow-by-blow scoring

The Boks led 26-7 after 47 minutes as they made the Lions look ordinary but then the South African coaches seemed intent on committing hara-kiri as they sent on a slew of replacements that had the effect of completely changing the tide of the game.

It started with Peter de Villiers drawing the thorn from the Lions’ paws in the shape of Heinrich Brüssow and replacing him with a completely different type of player in Danie Rossouw.

Brüssow celebrated his late recall to the side by scoring a maiden test try that to all intents seemed to seal the victory and, just as he had in the game against the Cheetahs, was causing the Lions no end of problems at the breakdown.

Brüssow’s try was the result of a period of play that made the Boks look streets better than their opponents.

It started with John Smit’s men walking a maul 20 metres, from their own ten-metre line to that of the Lions, then kicking a penalty to touch, then, in a replay of something they do best, getting the ball back from Victor Matfield and then obliterating their opposition as they blasted Brüssow over the line.

Ruan Pienaar’s conversion made it 26-7 and the headline which was starting to come to mind was: “Boks ‘monster’ the Lions.”

And the reason for that was the performance of the Bok frontrow with The Beast (Tendai Mtawarira) in the van.

The sturdy loosehead gave his experienced opponent Phil Vickery a torrid time and the Bok scrum was in the complete ascendancy -- being rewarded by a string of penalties from the whistle of referee Bryce Lawrence.

The Lions, unsurprisingly, were tetchy about Lawrence’s interpretation of the frontrow battle but the reality was that the dominance gained at scrum time gave the Boks vital momentum which radiated to the loose forwards.

In addition South Africa’s formidable lineout operated as well as ever and it seemed the Boks were moving inexorably to victory on their forward tsunami.

This seemingly was also the view of the Springbok coaches because they started to meddle with the team’s structure.

Rossouw for Brüssow and then in quick succession Jaque Fourie replaced Jean de Villiers (instead of the seemingly obvious change for Adi Jacobs) and Andries Bekker for Bakkies Botha.

There was the immediate shock of the Boks struggling at a scrum for the first time in the game and instead of responding to the warning signs the Boks started to clear the bench -- taking off Mtawarira and, of all people, captain John Smit and also pulling off Fourie de Preez to roll out Ricky Januarie.

And in an inkling the go forward was gone as the Lions mounted a valiant effort to try to claw back the 19-point deficit.

The ball seemed to be permanently in red hands and in the 67th minute Tom Croft got his second try to start the fightback.

In the 74th, with Lions laying siege to the Boks’ line, Mike Phillips sold the biggest of dummies before dashing over and the Lions’ third goal (thanks to Stephen Jones’s third conversion) raised the spectre of what just a few minutes before had been an improbable victory.

Fortunately the Boks got Smit back (when Deon Carstens left the field in circumstances the tourists would probably question) and the skipper was able to calm things down sufficiently before a lineout poach by Matfield and a steal on the ground by Gurthro Steenkamp got them gratefully to the final whistle.

Although the manifold substitutions bordered on lunacy it has to be said, in defence of the coaches, that some of the Boks, including Smit, appeared to blowing hard as the last quarter came up.

That said, the team’s management will know they escaped a potential firing misdemeanor -- especially when you consider that Stephen Jones missed two penalties he would normally expect to get and that the Lions actually had the ball over the Springbok line three times, and a stride away on another, but were denied tries.

After the Boks had opened the scoring with a try to Smit in the fourth minute, the result of aggressive driving and quick re-cycling, Ugo Monye was sent over by a delightful skip-pass from Brian O’Driscoll in the seventh minute but was denied because De Villiers had got his hand under the ball; Tommy Bowe was over in the 25th but was called back because of obstruction; in the 47th Phillips had the ball dislodged from his hands by Bakkies Botha as he was diving over the line and in the 71st Monye lost the ball as he was clipped by a desperation flying tackle from Morne Steyn.

Small wonder the Lions, far from being despondent, afterwards spoke confidently of their chances of squaring the series in Pretoria next week. Brüssow’s try soon after the re-start seemed to end the contest before Messrs De Villiers, Muir and Gold conspired to nearly give it all away.

The Springbok forwards, while the starting pack were on the field and their lungs were filled with air, were superb but the cares of playing out-of-practice and recently injured men did send some alarm bells ringing.

Francois Steyn dropped a dead-easy catch and constantly miscued his kicks, Pienaar dropped a catch, Jean de Villiers was shaky and Jacobs made the mistake that led to Croft’s first try as Jamie Roberts smashed through his attempted tackle before O’Driscoll made the rest of the running.

Pienaar, however, came out of his personal examination with flying colours. He goaled five out of six place-kicks, his general play was sound and he defended the channel strongly.

Mtawarira was a deserved man of the match (although my choice would have been the canny O’Driscoll) while the world class of the like of Smit, Du Plessis, Matfield, Botha, Smit and Spies, not forgetting Brüssow, shone through.

Those who questioned the qualifications of Ricky Januarie to even be in the group received plenty of ammunition -- the scrumhalf contributing to a few anxious moments for Morné Steyn during the few minutes that represented the Bulls flyhalf’s Springbok debut.

The first pass Steyn ever received as a Bok was while standing one metre from his own dead-ball line as the Boks were defending their own line and he had to scoop the ball up off the ground as Du Preez’s pass was impeded and the next time was when he reached high to take a dreadful, looped pass from Januarie.

In the end it was mission accomplished for the Boks to go one up in the series -- at the ground where they lost the ’97 rubber -- but they know they will have to be much better at Loftus and Coca-Cola Park. Play like they did for the first 50 minutes on Saturday and it will be quite comfortable; play like they did for the last 30 and Paul O’Connell’s men will turn it around.

Scorers:
South Africa - Tries: John Smit, Heindrich Brussow. Conevrsions: Ruan Pienaar (2). Penalties: Pienaar (3), Francois Steyn..
British & Irish Lions - Tries: Thomas Croft (2), Michael Phillips. Conversiosn: Stephen Jones (3).

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