Onwards to Johannesburg for the second Rugby Test

SOUTH AFRICA (6) 22

ENGLAND (6) 17

IT was never going to be an exhilarating exhibition of running rugby from Heyneke Meyer’s maiden Springbok team, it was always going be about manfully labouring away at the coal face until at last the victory had been fashioned. How could it be otherwise? Just four training sessions, and thunderous Super Rugby derbies for most of the players just six days before, meant Meyer was always going to revert to the most basic, low-risk pattern of play employable to the Springboks, and given the rich vein of Blue Bulls blood running through the side in terms of players and management staff, this was never a problem. And good on them. It worked.

Onwards to Johannesburg for the second Test, and with the foundation of victory having been laid, further renovations can be made to the Springbok structure. It is difficult to build on your game after a defeat and conversely much easier to add building blocks to a win.

We had two teams at similar stages of regeneration after similarly disastrous Rugby World Cup campaigns , but with the England advantage of their new team having played a Six Nations campaign earlier this year off-set by them playing away at the hostile citadel of Kings Park.

Heavy rain during the course of the day would have further contributed to the inhibition in play of both sides, which largely saw both sets of wings gainfully employed as chasers of high balls rather than on the end of enterprising backline movements.

A consolation try from Ben Foden at the very death flattered the score-line for the English, and they would have lost by more on almost any other night they played against Morne Steyn, who remarkably missed three kicks at goal than he usually would have managed with a blindfold.

Indeed, as ugly as this match undoubtedly was, it will be England that travel to the Highveld more concerned than the South Africans, and not just because of the loss but because they came a distant second in the important department of line-breaks.

The Boks made a handful in each half and only two culminated in tries but next week, with the oil back in the machine, it might be a different story.

But an arm wrestle it remained and the while it at times seemed to teeter the way of the home team, their inability to get away on the scoreboard kept England hungry and believing they could snatch it.

The Boks ought to have broken clear in the third quarter when they scored well-taken tries by Steyn and Jean de Villiers, whose try capped a courageous captain’s performance – blood streaming down his face and all – only for Steyn to remarkably miss both conversions and an earlier penalty while opposite number Owen Farrell nailed two penalties.

The Boks were set to make a break on the scoreboard at 16-6 with the conversion attempt of De Villiers’ barnstorming touchline try to come, only to be under pressure five minutes later at 16-12.

Steyn ended his horror – by his standards – run to chip the Boks into their winning lead with successive penalties, and the England try after the hooter thinly disguised a muted performance from the Six Nations runners-up.

This was their big opportunity to upset the ring-rusty Boks – just six of these Boks had started against Australia in the quarter-final debacle in Wellington seven months ago – and while it is uncertain whether England can improve next week, the Boks certainly will and would hope to be even better in Port Elizabeth for the third Test.

The Boks had their heroes, not the least of which was Willem Alberts, who was dropped from the Sharks side a month ago because of loss of form but he responded not only for his franchise in subsequent Super Rugby games but then also for his country with a series of storming ball carries and defensive hits. And in the backline it was hugely encouraging to see Bryan Habana rapidly approaching his best with a performance that was both industrious and impressive.

All in all, the Boks will feel feely mightily pleased that they put into place what they had planned, and any Springbok will tell you that a win over England is extremely satisfying.

by Mike Greenaway . wwwiol.co.za

Martin Myers
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