2.30 Dwebe underthrows Vermeulen and Whitelock scoops it up…our first lineout lost. Following the Dwebe scrum turnover. The Marx decision immediately costs us.
3.45 Savea rounds Kriel and leaves Pollard for dead….leading to Willemse yellow
8.00 Dud Toit intercepts showing good hands and sets off. Three paces behind him, his nearest support is Dud Allende. The two Duds run about 60 metres. But Dud Allende is left in the dust and then lopes…..he actually slows down….after the ball. If he could have closed the gap a try was on. In the end the ball goes to Am.
14.30….Malherbe produces a classic belly flop losing good field position.
17.00 Willemse breaks nicely off a lost NZ lineout but kicks ahead instead of trusting the pass.
18.22 Hendrike’s kick slightly charged…this happens often …..and is going to cost us somewhere along the line.
22.00 After safely using Etzebeth Dwebe throws longer to Lomp and blows it 10 metres out.
22.00 From the resulting scrum…Smith gets the ball under a lot of pressure…but Allende has cramped in …a long pass beats him and Ioane is free. The ABs make 70 metres. Just another example of Dud’s defensive vulnerability. Penalty…3 points NZ.
26.00 Great ball chase by Am but NZ recover 15metres out it goes to Clarke who runs right through Dud’s feeble tackle attempt….finally stopped after 35 metres. But the movement goes on, Jordan is free but Etzebeth hunts him down! Play goes on through several phases….Cane scores. Five points directly from Dud’s feeble defense.
31.00 Havili easily beats Dud Toit’s clumsy tackle….Dud then trips over his own feet….Savea has the ball over the Bok line, but Etzebeth physically rips him back with incredible strength. In the next phase NZ scores over Am while Kolisi hovers. Why is Am defending forwards one metre out?
35.00 Idiotic kick by Havili let’s the Boks back in….from the resulting lineout well taken by Dud Toit, Am brilliantly rides Clarke’s tackle and scores.
38.00 NZ ball comes to Kolisi who finally appears and is ripped by Smith! From the resulting scrum the Boks now at full strength with Marx and Kitshoff on win a scrum penalty. Pollard lands a beauty from 55 metres.
…..
Conclusions on the first half…..poor Bok tackling gave NZ momentum, playing Dwebe was a disaster and the ABs fixed their big issues from Test One. Pollard was money on two difficult kicks…and Barrett was brilliant under the high ball and his tackle on Dud Toit was probably a game saver.
