look at the past weekend's game it crossed my mind that if the Ozzies had better luck, the bounce of the ball etc in the first half they could've been 2 tries up and if Lood's try was disallowed(I don't believe it was one) then the scoreboard would have been quite different going into the break. To my reckoning it would have been 24-7 favouring the Ozzies.
Now I did say "could have been."
The Bok's poor defence was there for the taking. Their poor kicking game and weakness under the high ball was worrying. All recurring themes from last season. The All Blacks are a lesser force than they have been, but they still possess immense strike power in these situations. Australia simply weren't good enough to take those opportunities. Small margins definitely separated the two sides, something not reflected on the scoreboard.
Games are often finely balanced like that. That's why finishing your opportunities is so important. Kerevi blew it with the forward offload (so too his support runner who didn't slow down just slightly to allow for the tackle). Score there and the game changes. Likewise the wobbly ball that Nkosi secured, which I think is the bounce you are referring to.
Good points but 5 tries to two sounds pretty conclusive coming from what was essentially our B team in their first outing, fielding new combos at midfield, halfback, front & back row.
Denny
I differ from you - the De \Jager try was legitimate the ball touched the line and the try was not contested by the Aussies - otherwise it would have been reviewed and found legitimate.
As to the one bad effort that missed - reference is to be made to Haylett-Petty knocking on the ball when he should have scored. Real scoring opportunity went missing in that case.
As to the midfield defense - Jean de Villiers was scathing about that during halftime. Then there also was the Esterhuizen yellow that disrupted the defense when Haylett-Petty scored his try.
I would not really decry the victory. It was factually convincing enough. .
Who knows, a different Ref a different outcome, what I'm alluding to is that if you include the two missed opportunities as well as the forward pass then deduct the Lood try, the Ozzies would have won the game. No problem the second half, the Boks had it wrapped but I just wonder how much the Boks can take out of the win. I guess come Saturday we'll know.
