The Springboks overturned a 10-point deficit to salvage a 23-23 draw against the Wallabies in Perth on Saturday. CRAIG LEWIS reports.
This Test was always expected to provide a far clearer picture of the Springboks’ progression in 2017. All in all, and considering the Boks have previously only managed to achieve four wins (and one draw) in Australia since 1996, they should see this as a positive result, while they remain unbeaten this year.
The Boks were staring at defeat when they trailed 20-10 after a poor first 50 minutes of play, but they displayed impressive character and composure during the final half an hour to come away with a share of the spoils.
On the balance of play, this was perhaps a fair result, but the Boks will rue missed opportunities during a dramatic finish. Elton Jantjies had a drop goal charged down, and the ball was lost forward by Jesse Kriel during one final attack.
In the lead-up to this clash, Eben Etzebeth suggested the Boks needed to take control of proceedings in the opening quarter, but there were some nervy signs early as they conceded two free-kicks at scrum time and botched a lineout, while Andries Coetzee made a couple of poor clearances.
Yet Etzebeth was correct in another assertion that it may be a case of two boxers feeling each other out in the opening exchanges, with neither team achieving ascendancy during an uninspiring first quarter where Jantjies and Bernard Foley traded just a penalty each.
In keeping with the scrappy start to the contest, it would be from a loose breakdown ball that the Boks launched a counter-attack against the run of play, with Jesse Kriel pouncing on his own grubber to score in the corner in the 25th minute.
However, the Boks were then guilty of failing to deal with the kick-off, which allowed the Wallabies to win back possession, before Kurtley Beale ghosted his way through some porous defence to cancel out Kriel’s try immediately.
The error-riddled nature of a forgettable first half was reflected by the statistics, which showed a total of 10 handling errors between the two sides, while the scrums – where the Boks had been expected to dominate – proved to be an unmitigated mess.
It was also glaring that the Wallabies made a whopping 381m to just 65 from the Boks, who missed as many as 12 tackles. Indeed, the visitors were extremely fortunate to find themselves only three points behind at the break after Foley struck a second penalty on the half-time hooter.
At the interval, Bok coach Allister Coetzee aptly described the contest as a ‘dog-fight’, but it would be the Wallabies who drove home their advantage with a try to Tatafu Polota-Nau from the back of a driving maul soon after the restart.
Yet it finally sparked the Boks into life as Jan Serfontein was first brought down mere metres from the tryline after a beautiful break, with Jantjies then slotting a penalty before a monstrous 20m driving maul saw Malcolm Marx burst over to score right before the hour mark.
The conversion brought the scores level at 20-20, while a powerful scrum against the feed won the Boks a simple penalty to take the lead just moments after Jaco Kriel had lost the ball forward barely short of the tryline.
Foley levelled the scores with a penalty of his own soon afte though, and despite a frantic finish to the encounter, neither side was able to break the deadlock.
Earlier in the day, the Boks would have certainly taken note of the All Blacks’ patchy performance against Argentina in New Plymouth as the Kiwis battled their way to a hard-fought 39-22 win.
With that in mind, and based on the gutsy second-half performance of the Springboks in Perth, there is some reason to believe that they could have a fighting chance as they next get set to face New Zealand in Albany.
However, the All Blacks’ ability to secure a bonus-point victory sends them still three points clear at the top of the Rugby Championship standings, while the Boks remain second.
Wallabies – Tries: Kurtley Beale, Tatafu Polota-Nau. Conversions: Bernard Foley (2). Penalties: Foley (3).
Springboks – Tries: Jesse Kriel, Malcolm Marx. Conversions: Elton Jantjies (2). Penalties: Jantjies (3).
Wallabies – 15 Israel Folau, 14 Henry Speight, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Kurtley Beale, 11 Reece Hodge, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Will Genia, 8 Sean McMahon, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 6 Ned Hanigan, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Rory Arnold, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Scott Sio.
Subs: 16 Jordan Uelese, 17 Tom Robertson, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Rob Simmons, 20 Jack Dempsey, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Samu Kerevi, 23 Curtis Rona.
Springboks – 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Raymond Rhule, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Ross Cronjé, 8 Uzair Cassiem, 7 Jaco Kriel, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Eben Etzebeth (c), 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Beast Mtawarira.
Subs: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Trevor Nyakane,19 Lood de Jager, 20 Jean-Luc du Preez, 21 Francois Hougaard, 22 Handré Pollard, 23 Damian de Allende.
Photo: Paul Kane/Getty Images
