The Wallabies tonight escaped a fate worse than death after a week of media buildup that had written off the Africans. They narrowly defeated a much improved South African side 20-18 at Telstra Stadium in Sydney. The South Africans, who deserved to win, did come away with a bonus point, and with their pride salvaged. They will be a different team to play at home.
The game was not much of a spectacle for the first half, the South Africans kicking away far too much ball and failing to play to their strengths. A ridiculous cross field kick from Butch James gifted Mark Gerrard a try, and the rest of the Wallaby points came from the boot in that half. It was a disappointing and scrappy half.
I wouldn’t have minded being a fly on the wall during the half time talk as the Africans came out firing, and played a totally different game to the first half. Jake White must’ve really given them a wind up. They ran onto the ball well, hit up the field directly, and were rewarded by scoring two tries. The first try went to Fourie, and then following up with a miracle try was Percy Montgomery, pushed over in the corner by his teammates and managing to ground the ball even though he was in the clutches of a ineffective tackle from Lote Tuqiri and one other Wallaby. A miracle try, the grounding of the ball apparently called by touch judge Paul Honiss (according to the commentary that I watched).
The changes then came thick and fast for the Wallabies. Gregan was hauled off, as was an ineffective and strangely poor performing Larkham (perhaps that talk during the week did get to him after all). As Gregan departed, Mortlock filled his shoes as captain.
On the field to replace Steven Larkham, Mat Rogers pulled the Wallaby fat out of the fire by latching onto a pass from Phil Waugh, and crossing over in the corner to break the heart of every South African. No doubt a few kiwi hearts skipped a beat as well, a South African win would’ve put the Tri-Nations out of reach for the Wallabies, but after that performance, the All Blacks won’t be too worried about facing the Wallabies in two weeks time in Auckland. Waugh made the most of being marked by a tired and out of place Os Du Randt who put in a massive effort staying on the field for the whole 80 minutes. However, the contest of fresh, very much smaller legs, against tiring bulk, led to the Os being hopelessly mismatched and the try was scored to take the game to a draw.
The kick from Mortlock to convert was an absolute pearler, they don’t get much tougher than that, Mat Rogers doing him no favours by running the ball nearer to the goal posts. The kick came around and went in off the upright to take the game by two points. A mighty game in terms of the result, and the Springboks will be heading home with some wind in their sails, although they will be disappointed to let it slip so close to the end of the game.
The Wallaby lineout was shown up tonight. They were shaky, McIssac was forced to throw long by a South African lineout that challenged for every ball, and competed well. The All Blacks would do well to take notice of that aspect of this game. The Wallaby scrum was dominated for two thirds of the match, but was nowhere near as unstable as it had been. With the inclusion of Rodzilla at 130 kgs and Palu at 120 kgs the Wallabies outweighed the Africans this week and the extra bulk clearly helped. They were put under pressure, but came home strong against the Africans, even pushing them off their own ball and completely shoving Os Du Randt off his feet near the end of the game.
A close shave for the Wallabies, and the South Africans still have yet to notch up a win in the 2006 Tri Nations series. However, notice has been given that the African team has a bit more left in the tank, and they are likely to be a more challenging unit at home. Of course they won’t have the same training facilities that they enjoyed at my gym in Kogarah, which I am sure accounts for a fair portion of their form turn around! Seriously though, they will play the All Blacks twice, and the Wallabies once in the Republic, with hordes of screaming fans baying for opposition blood. Those games will be real crackers I am sure.
Be sure to check back here tomorrow as I try to find Aussie media reaction to the performance of the Wallabies tonight.
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