More food for thought for those who cant give Rassie the credit he so richly deserves. These oaks should have stuck with Beeno and avoided the error of their ways! The ones with big worries are the hapless wee abs who look to be on the skids.Will the wee abs get past the quarter finals?
Time for Organhuffer and Dr Moz to acknowledge they have alas misjudged the situation
A performance of epic defensive proportions may not have won the Castle Lager Rugby Championship for the Springboks, but it proved there is more than just a little life left in the Green and Gold jersey.
As has become the norm, the All Blacks managed to grab another tournament victory in the Southern Hemisphere shootout, but the Springbok resurgence was the highlight of a tournament that has so often become a one-sided blackout.
When Aphiwe Dyantyi – by far the breakthrough star of the season – shot out of line and caught Damian McKenzie in Wellington, the knocked ball presented more than just an unforced error by the world’s best team.
It began a wave of hope, a rising tide of belief across the world that for once, the world’s best team could be beaten.
ALL BLACKS LOOK HUMAN
The unstoppable black jersey had looked ordinary – and the statistics told a story of epic defence, but also of how the Boks stepped up on attack and slugged it out with the best attack in the world, and came out, somehow on top.
In a game where they made 235 tackles to 61, where they played with 25% possession away from home and still managed to score six tries – two of those to Dyantyi – the Springbok effort was close on superhuman.
And after dominating the competition for so long, the All Blacks, just for a moment looked ordinary, and made the rest of the rugby world sit up and take notice.
It erased the memory of bungling performances for the Boks in Mendoza and Brisbane, where they were poor and their own worst enemies, handing victories to Argentina and Australia through their own impatience on attack and defensive errors rather than the brilliance of the opposition.
And even though the All Blacks had bounced back with a mercurial effort a few weeks later at Loftus to rise from the dead and beat the Boks at the death, there was a renewed sense of hope and optimism in Springbok rugby
SAME OLD SAME OLD
In the end, New Zealand still won the Championship handsomely, taking the title with home and away wins over Argentina and Australia with relative ease, but the Springboks had proved they were fallible, and had injected more than a sense of optimism into local rugby.
And while that stood out, it must be said that the rest of the tournament went almost to type – the Boks beat the other two Sanzaar sides in South Africa with relative ease – opening their campaign with a 34-21 win over the Pumas that saw both Dyantyi and Makazole Mapimpi score a brace each.
But then the wheels came off in Mendoza, where the Boks failed to adapt to the breakdown rulings of Angus Gardner, and Nicolas Sanchez scored 17 points to make the trip a nightmare scenario for Rassie Erasmus’ plans.
Brisbane was the same – with the Boks leading at halftime and the Wallabies coming back to win 23-18 despite a plethora of ball for the Boks. A frustrating lack of patience was evident throughout and left little hope for the Wellington match against the double World Champions.
But in Wellington something magical happened. After talking for most of the week about how his job was on the line, the Boks produced a magnificent performance to match the world’s best and go one better. It had been a decade since the last win in New Zealand and to downplay the victory would be an injustice to the heroics of the day.
BOK STARS RISE
The All Blacks may see it as a blip on the radar, but in truth, the Springboks got so much more out of that game ahead of their World Cup showdown in a few months time in Yokohama. Suddenly the flame of hope burns brightly ahead of that game, and doubt will be a factor for the All Blacks.
Along the way, the likes of Willie le Roux and Faf de Klerk (Both always punted by Beeno) added some inspired performances to add to Dyantyi’s raw excellence, while Handre Pollard cemented the number 10 jersey as well. Pieter-Steph du Toit and Franco Mostert were relentless on defence while Steven Kitshoff grew into challenging Tendai Mtawarira for his starting spot.
And while the results may not always have gone their way, the Springboks will be happy that they may have edged a bit closer to the level of play they will need at the World Cup. The cheers that went up around the country when McKenzie knocked that ball on in Westpac stadium will eclipse every other disappointment in the tournament.
This will provide more than enough potential for a World Cup surprise, even though the All Blacks will understandably still start as favourites.
