Mozcroscope …the second half

The first 16 minutes saw a near try after Am just put a foot out and  the ball glanced off an AB over the line. But it was a period of fairly neutral play that aside.

56.00 We take it up at minute 56.00 after the Mapimpi try is disallowed for a clear veer into a potential tackler by Hendrikse…a 10 point  swing. The move followed a botched lineout by Dud Toit and a brilliant break by Am off Barrett’s kick ahead. The pass itself was dubious though drifting forward a full 7 metres….too much drift?

58.00 Soon after Mapimpi gets his try after an outstanding Willemse pass leaving Jordan stranded. Pollard lands the conversion brilliantly. The Boks are now into the game and playing the better rugby….one point behind. What happened to lose the game?

62.00 The Boks get a lucky scrum penalty for AB wheeling….the ABs had Koch under pressure. The Boks are on the AB 10 metre line…Hendrikse box kicks …it lands 10 metres forward in Jordan’s hands. We have ceded possession….Le Roux is forced into a touch kick at halfway.

65.00 The Boks get a turnover….Mapimpi with lots of space turns tamely inside and Savea turns the ball over…where are our loosies?

66.00 Barrett interferes with Hendrikse…yellow card Barrett,  with a kick to take the lead. Surely the game is won, but should we have gone for the 7.

68.00 Hendrikse kicks directly into touch….AB ball on our 22. Brilliant Mostert steal to secure the ball for the Boks…but the ball wasn’t straight, so a scrum. The Bok scrum extract a penalty. Five minutes still in the Barrett card, lineout on the hallway to the Boks…we lead by 2.

72.00 Hendrikse kicks too far,  Jordan marks and goes quickly, the Dud’s make their tackles but the ball moves out to Ioane….this is exactly where Jean would have made a smother tackle. Ioane beats Le Roux and  Am, but Willemse gets back to make the tackle. NZ engages in a series of accurate phases and scores. Savea shakes off Kwagga and makes the key offload.

77.00 another dumb box kick….turnover….Barrett puts it  5 metres from the Bok line and Willie is forced into touch. .NZ win their lineout and score after a few phases.….game over.

Why did we lose when in a winning position……two aimless box kicks, not well chased by Mapimpi, when we should have been keeping the ball and grinding out the win. The box kick is a50/50 proposition. That was the key thing NZ fixed for this test and we used it poorly and at the wrong time.

Well done to NZ it wasn’t easy to pull off a win under all that pressure.

Woulda, shoulda Saffex! You give no credit to the ABs upping their game and not allowing the Boks easy possession.

You say Marx should have started but even when he came on he was totally nullified by the ABs pack committing more players to the ruck. Notice how Marx did not get one turnover in the entire time he was on the field??

Good points Moolaa….the ABs clearly did huge work on the breakdown and high ball. Barrett was simply brilliant as was Savea at the breakdown. 

As usual the Boks stuck to the plan. We needed to put much more pressure on Mo’unga he had so much time….how about having Kwagga rush him a bit.  And much like last week, after some effective back play we reverted back to box kicks.

But for NZ it must be heartening to see the pack stand up. That’s the hallmark of NZ wins when the Bok are favored, the AB pack achieves parity. That’s a big finding fora group that was almost totally written off.

The All Blacks ran o nto the pitch with a different attitude.

Rieko Ioane was pathetic last week ... this week he showed why he's an All Black.

Yes ... I agree ... you were 2 pts up ... and the All Blacks were down to 14 men. 

That should have been enough to win.

Instead they scored 2 more tries and ended up drubbing the Goats 

One would expect the man of the match to be rewarded with a start the following week ... not benched.

Just not logical.

Mozart's objective analysis of the game shows Dweeb blundering at every turn.

He contributed nothing in the tight loose.

Question is ... why is this incompetent fool in the squad?

Such a pity that we let the vd Merwe brothers slip through our fingers. 

The Goats would have been much better off with both Akker and Duhan in the mix.

Another foolish decision by Rassie.

How stupid do you have to be to discard such talent?