The Springboks host the Wallabies at Loftus in their penultimate match of yet another disappointing campaign.
Will it be Lambs led to slaughter (pun intended) or will we see some proper gutso from a team hurt and reeling from 3 losses on the trot? Another loss today and the Boks could very well end fourth.
The Boks started well in Brisbane a few weeks ago, will it be the Aussies who suffer in the last quarter this time? We will soon find out… kick off is at 17h05.
South Africa: 15 Pat Lambie, 14 Bryan Habana, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Juan de Jongh, 11 Francois Hougaard, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Oupa Mohoje, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Substitutes: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Julian Redelinghuys, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Willem Alberts, 21 Jaco Kriel, 22 Lionel Mapoe, 23 Willie le Roux
Australia: 15 Israel Folau, 14 Dane Haylett-Petty, 13 Samu Kerevi, 12 Bernard Foley, 11 Reece Hodge, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Sean McMahon, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Dean Mumm, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Stephen Moore (captain), 1 Scott Sio
Substitutes: (one to be omitted) 16 James Hanson, 17 James Slipper, 18 Tom Robertson, 19 Kane Douglas, 20 Scott Fardy, 21 Lopeti Timani, 22 Nick Phipps, 23 Tevita Kuridrani, 24 Sefa Naivalu
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Come on, Bokke…
Here we go…
Rudi Paige misses his first tackle…
Rudi Paige misses his second tackle…Australia on the attack…
Francois Louw wins the turnover penalty…well done…
Drop kick Morné Steyn…3-0 after 4 minutes…
Boks find touch, but it was taken back so the Aussies have an attacking lineout…
He was crunched by Steyn in the tackle hasn’t been heard too often
AUS penalty…3-3…
Good Bok attack not made the most off and the Wallabies can clear…
@durbsguy (Comment 8) : Spoilt only by the fact that the tackle was made right after he missed one…
Wallabies in under the posts…shambles all around…Habana misses touch…Wayne Barnes misses a big forward pass when he was right in line with it…
3-10 after 15 minutes…
Now Wayne Barnes spots the forward pass…Boks can’t take advantage of a turnover in a great position…
Hougaard moves in to scrummy…and knocks it on…sigh…
Rough penalty against Koch…and Hodge almost nails it from 63m…juuuust under the bar…
Barnes isa terrible ref …
Steyn will get a shot…
Steyn sneaks it in off the upright and it 6-10 after 25 minutes…
Wayne Barnes with another shocker…no knock he says on Wallaby 22…off a huge knock…terrible…
Another ozzie forward missed
Barnes misses another two forward passes…this is not fun to watch…
Turnover…and Adriaan Strauss kicks it with Boks having a 4 on 2…aiaiaiaiaiai…
Big holes in our defence around 9,10,12…
Sloppy work at the breakdown by the Boks and another promising position amounts to nothing…
That should be a penalty try
Folau get a yellow for a shocker…good play Boks…
Steyn nails the ensuing penalty and it is 9-10 after 35 minutes…
hands in the ruck
Another turnover conceded by the Boks! Noooo man!!
Boks with a lineout in the 22…
Ankle tap saves a try…Steyn drops the ball and stuffs up try scoring opportunity…and we end up getting a penalty…
Halftime…12-10 Boks…
Lets hope wayne barnes pulls a hamstring redoing his makeup. Turning this game into a bit of a farce
@byron (Comment 34) : well apparently Oz won the last 14 games he was in charge. Not saying he’s bad just saying 14 games without losing 1?!?!?!
2 forward passes in their try.
This Bok backline hasn’t got a clue.
One in 22 off habanas kick and one on halfway
The Boks shocking at receiving the kick off at the start of the second half…
Louw saves the Bok with a good steal…
Steyn’s tactical kicking has been shocking tonight…
Barnes misses ANOTHER forward pass…
Steynes passing has been worse
barnes has no idea what an offside line is
Kriel went off to with a torn hamstring just before halftime…now Habana is down with a knee injury so Willie is on…
@byron (Comment 44) : Barnes doesn’t seem to have much idea of anything tonight…judging by his views on passes, maybe he just can’t see in a straight line…
Wallabies have never lost under Barnes. 14 in a row now
Stupid, stupid penalty given away by Lood…for that he deserves a hiding and to be dropped for the next game…
Another stupid penalty given away by the Boks again…ai!
The Wallabies have missed 3 penalties now…bonus…
Barnes misses another forward pass…Boks lucky to get away without conceding points there as the Wallabies knock it…
I get sooooo irritated…good run…and then doesn’t look around him at all, doesn’t see his mate free on his outside…come on, man!
This refing is getting worse
Alberts replaces Paige as he gets knocked silly…
Jaco Kriel now at wing…
Steyn has a go from 59m…
Horrible kick…
Horrible defence by the Boks…Aussies hard on the attack…
Another huge forward pass right in front of Wayne Barnes…ai!
Sigh … more forward passes missed
Strauss has been our best player…another steal saves us…
Now he calls forward
Wait my mistake … our ball
Now Barnes sees the forward pass…
This is, all in all, a really poor test match…
That has to be yellow
Wtf barnes is clueless
Oz have run in 25 meters
Willem Alberts has done literally nothing…and Barnes warns him that next time he’s off…what a joke…
And he had warned both teams first half
And the Ozzie, who ran 20m to shove Alberts in the back stays on despite Barnes saying the next guy to do,that is off…
Yay … barnes finally blows oz forward
Barnes has spotted an Aussie forward pass…I don’t quite believe that….
Still 12-10 after 70 minutes…very uninspiring second half…
We have a kick on the halfway spot…and kick for touch…???
And we knock it…after that decision I almost hope we lose 12-13! What the hell?!
Maybe barnes will notice illegal ozzie scrum
We can all dream
Boks win a penalty…surely we have to kick for poles now…
Kickavle penalty awarded to boks
15-10 with 4 minutes to go…
Nice exit by the Boks after Kriel does good work…
Great turnover Boks after an excellent Willie tackle…
Great tackle willie … maul to turnover
2 minutes to go…
Ozzie scrum disintergrating
Scrum penalty Boks…Kitshoff has been good…Steyn must kick for poles…and doesn’t? Tap and go…crazy!!
And then Steyn nails the drop kick…well done Steyn…but brainless decision taking by the Boks…
18-10 final score…
Well done Bokke!!! Guys really surprised me tonight!!!
Ugly but I suppose beggars can’t be choosers. So we live another day.
@pastorshark (Comment 88) :
Not taking goal kick was the correct decision. Too far out, with the possibility of the Aussies running it back. Better to take the LO and play the last 2 minutes in the Aus 22 with possession.
Then the Aussies fell back so far that they left oodles of running space, which worked out perfectly for the Boks.
@fyndraai (Comment 92) : yes must agree I also think it was the correct thing to do and then when he had time MS just nailed the drop. Must say I think MS did not have a bad game. He showed good decision making.
@JD (Comment 93) : Yeah he gave us exactly what we needed short term, but where’s the planning going forward? We are never going to beat NZ with penalties and drop goals alone, we need to score tries! Morras doesn’t provide anything for the backline, stands in the pocket most of the time.
@Quintin (Comment 94) : For now, I think the Boks just need to get back to basics and win a few games first before trying to be flashy again. And with Morra you get exactly what you see, no flash but stability, and at the moment that is what this Bok team needs the most. This Bok team needs to get it’s confidence back before they can try and evolve their attacking game. I am not a big Morne fan, but let’s not forget, he is still the only player to have scored 31 points against the All Blacks
South African media has really brain washed everyone. You cannot just play a attacking game. Look at the All Blacks, they are the best team in the World, everyone thinks they never kick, yet they kick the most from all teams. The difference is kicking the correct kicks into the right spaces, timing their kicks and pulling in players from the back then kicking for the corners.
The same can be said about the Blue Bulls team who won the Srugby champs those years. They scored more tries than anyone else. yet our media portrayed them as just kicking the ball away constantly.
The main thing is , when its on, you go for it, when its not on DON’T GO FOR IT!
@KingRiaan (Comment 95) : @Uli Boelie (Comment 96) : Yup totally agree with both of you. ABs play that “click” rugby BV pointed out. Defensive unit that goes into attack mode when the opposition makes a mistake. Scoreboard pressure -> more mistakes -> more AB attacking opportunies.
So many fans dislike Morne, but I’m pretty confident the ones who hate him the most are the opposition. I can’t think of a game between Sharks & Bulls, when Morne played for them, where he wasn’t the source of all my anxiety.
One thing I’m certain of, is if we can’t knock over every penalty, drop kick, and conversion, we will not beat the ABs.
We went backwards to beat probably the shittest Wallaby team in recent history at home in the fortress of Loftus.
Least we bullshit ourselves and buy into AC crap,we failed to score a try,and never ever looked like doing it.
But lets not get ahead of ourselves lets wait for this week end,and judge the team after they have beaten the A.B’S
@KingRiaan (Comment 95) : I didn’t say we need to be flashy but you do make a good point. Maybe if the team settles a bit a change in FH later on won’t disrupt them as much. I just think we can’t beat NZ with penalties and drop goals alone as our defense will surely be breached a couple of times more by them than the Aussies did, we will need to score a try or two to stay in the game, and going forward with Morras doesn’t help that at all. That being said it was his 1st game in a long time and his tactical kicking will at least give us territory and put us in positions to score from, how we execute it with him there, I don’t know. Only thing I could see working in that case is forwards as 1st receivers or MS needs to get out of the pocket.
@gregkaos (Comment 97) : That is true, we’ll need our kicks to go over, every point will be vital, but IMO if we can’t score a couple of tries, we’ll never be in the game anyway as I don’t see our defense holding the AB’s to a single try like it did with the Aussies. We have to play some rugby to beat them and I don’t mean run everything. Even if we score with a driving maul or 15 phases of stamp kar in their 5m, we need to get over the line to beat them and against a weak Aussie team we didn’t look capable of doing that.
@The hound (Comment 98) : People can say what they want to about the Aussie game, they are currently not on form and we couldn’t score a try against them. Yes Morras played well for what he was selected to do but the AB’s will score tries, you can almost be certain of that, for us to be competitive with them we will need to score a couple ourselves. At least we have some consistency in our play with him there, just can’t see the plan going forward.