That was the kind of smooth rebooting we expect in a professional franchise. Habana, Jean, Pienaar and Bekker providing the experience.....Taute, Goosen, and Etzebeth the new energy. Almost spot on.
What a great call Meyer made when he recalled Louw as well. His pass to set up Habana's last try.....and the way he timed it, were just about perfection.
No doubt everybody is going to rave about the newbies....and so they should. But it was the fast ball and the fact that Fransie wasn't crashing it back into the teeth of the opposition pack, that released our game. Moving Jean back into the playmaker role was crucial. Goosen made a splendid break and distributed superbly....his defence seemed a little fragile though. Taute by contrast was strong on defence, but pretty much a neutral on attack. I'm looking forward to seeing them next week.
The old shop....Habana at his best, Jean making smart calls and Pienaar handling Goosen with kid gloves...were at their best. Etzebeth and Bekker should be the best lock pairing on the planet....today they looked it. The pack is functioning pretty well, but lost some intensity when Alberts and Etzebeth left. And nobody is talking about the scrumming which still seems pretty fragile.
It was great to see us running at our opponents, limiting the kicking, and offloading creatively. This is the kind of Bok rugby we all believe is possible.
