Hat-trick: Bryan Habana
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South Africa bounced back from consecutive defeats on the road with a comprehensive 31-8 Rugby Championship victory over Australia at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday.
The Springboks led 14-3 at the interval but the Wallabies were lucky not to be much further behind. Two tight calls from the TMO meant the home side did not have the four-try bonus point by half-time, but Heyneke Meyer's men secured a full house of points after the break as Bryan Habana bagged a hat-trick to add to earlier scores from Zane Kirchner and Francois Louw.
Mike Harris touched down in the last quarter for the Wallabies, but the horse had already bolted. Once Kirchner had scored the first try, the visitors never looked like getting back into the contest.
While Bok fans will certainly sleep better after their side showed the most attacking prowess of the Meyer era so far, their enthusiasm should be held in check by the fact that this was not Australia's strongest team by any stretch of the imagination (and Robbie Deans' squad looks to have been even further depleted by injuries as they head to Argentina after Adam Ashley-Cooper was taken from the field on a stretcher).
The first quarter ended scoreless after Berrick Barnes missed an early chance to open the scoring before his opposite number Johan Goosen also failed with his only two shots at goal.
But the Boks showed their positive intentions by turning down another penalty - won thanks to an impressive rolling maul - in the 21st minute, opting rather for an attacking line-out. The decision paid off as, after a few phases of pressure, Zirchner did well to twist and turn his way over for the first try.
Ruan Pienaar took over the kicking duties and provided the extra two points from the tee but Goosen showed why he was chosen at ten with a scintillating line-break that took him to within inches of the line. The TMO confirmed that he was short of his first Test try, but Bok fans would have nevertheless been chuffed to see their fly-half attacking with ball in hand.
A well-taken try from short range from Habana and another conversion from Pienaar doubled the lead as the Wallabies struggled to contain their hosts.
The Wallabies got on the scoreboard as the half drew to a close when Kurtley Beale split the uprights but the visitors where lucky not to go further behind when Kirchner bolted into the same corner as his earlier score. The full-back's heal clipped the touchline though thanks to a try-saving tackle from Ashley-Cooper which left the Wallaby centre out cold.
Australia's woes, especially at the breakdown, continued after the break and the visitors were reduced to fourteen men in the 53rd minute when James Slipper was sent to the bin for his transgressions on the deck.
His absence proved to be extremely costly for the tourists with the Boks adding two more tries while he watched from the sidelines.
Louw, who was excellent once again, was rewarded for his efforts as he scored from the back of a rolling maul.
Six minutes later Habana added his second after some quick thinking from the speedster, who took a quick throw-in to hooker Adriaan Strauss, who also had clarity of mind when he pulled in the defenders and offloaded to the flyer.
Harris scored in the right hand corner as the Wallabies refused to go down quietly but Habana had the last say when he raced home for his third touchdown after Louw took a gap and sent the winger on his way to his 46th Test try in the 79th minute.
Man of the Match: There were handful of candidates in green with the home loose trio doing very well, but you can't look further than the hat-trick hero Bryan Habana, who seems to have found his mojo again and had the fans at his former home ground out of their seats.
Moment of the match: It might not have come from a classic bolt down the touchline, but Habana's first try was the product of the Boks' willingness to keep the ball moving (and the veteran wings knack for finding gap). It put the hosts 14-0 up and the Wallabies looked beaten for all money.
Villian of the match: No nasty stuff to report
The scorers:
For South Africa:
Tries: Kirchner, Habana 3, Louw
Con: Pienaar 3
For Australia:
Try: Harris
Pens: Beale
Yellow card: Slipper (53rd min - ruck infringements)
The teams:
South African: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Bryan Habana, 13 Jaco Taute, 12 Jean de Villiers (captain), 11 Francois Hougaard, 10 Johan Goosen, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Tiaan Liebenberg, 17 Pat Cilliers, 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Marcell Coetzee, 20 Elton Jantjies, 21 Juan de Jongh, 22 Pat Lambie.
Australia: 15 Berrick Barnes, 14 Dominic Shipperley, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Pat McCabe, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Kurtley Beale, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Radike Samo, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Dave Dennis, 5 Nathan Sharpe (captain), 4 Kane Douglas, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Tatafu Polota Nau, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements: 16 Saia Fainga'a, 17 James Slipper, 18 Rob Simmons, 19 Liam Gill, 20 Brett Sheehan, 21 Mike Harris 22 Anthony Fainga'a.
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Romain Poite (France), Greg Garner (England)
TMO: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)
By Ross Hastie at Loftus Versfeld
Comments
2EyedKiwi says...
As the assistant AB coach, Robbie had a win record of 82.1%.
Posted 06:55 01st October 2012
bloemboy says...
I think the Aussies were awesome given their plethora of injuries before and during the game. Boks were just mych better despite, also given their plethora of injuries.
I for one rate Deans. I think he has done an excellent job with a very limited pool of talent. Now if he had the talent available that HM has, that would be truely scary. Both world class Wobblies are injured and most of the provincial level players too. What do you expect from Deans with a bunch of club players playing with AAC, Thorne, Ioane and, ummm, well, thats about it for provincial leven players. Cant see any of the others making it into a Kiwi or SA S15 side.
Posted 05:55 01st October 2012
Ferdie says...
trinats2 - I don't regard Deans as a Kiwi.
He has exceeded IRB and ARU eligibility criteria, and has now lived in Australia longer than some players in the Wallabies squad.
He is more Green and Gold than Mike Harris and next year's Henry Speight and co.
A land of imports!
Posted 03:02 01st October 2012
sandal says...
@Trader2
Yeah, I don't know when it was that the Springboks taught the world running rugby. That was supposed to be something the 1905 "Original" All Blacks did, hence one theory behind their name (all backs misprinted).
But the Lions of the 60s and 70s? I don't know about that. I saw the 1971 Lions demolish Wellington in 1971. It was magnificent stuff. But in the tests they played 10-man rugby. Far as I can tell, they always have.
Not till the 1990s, perhaps, did any team start to throw it around in test matches with any regularity. And we all know who that was.
Some people might say the French did it, but though they have always been capable of scintillating stuff, they turn it on only rarely, and have never tried to do it from the first whistle against tough opposition. Not like the All Blacks.
Posted 02:04 01st October 2012
Ferdie says...
costa says...Will this impact on the world rankings?
From the IRB site - "South Africa - a victory by more than 15 points will see them climb above Australia into second place, a position they last occupied before their Rugby World Cup 2011 quarter final defeat by the Wallabies."
Posted 01:16 01st October 2012
Ferdie says...
ArmchairGeneral says...Shame Lions can't start their tour in a few weeks.
It would have to be postponed to they could pick a different forward pack - playing a test series with uncontested scrums would change the make-up of the squad.
Posted 00:31 01st October 2012
2EyedKiwi says...
ahhh, and finally Trinats8 plays the flipflop card. About time. Yawn....
Posted 19:31 30th September 2012
philipjfry says...
@jonesy2: It's not embarrassing for the Boks; they used the width of the pitch, competed well at the rucks, played with urgency and took a few chances on attack. You're a massive hypocrite for claiming that they got a 'huge helping hand' from the referee; I thought it was 'pathetic' to 'bleat' about the ref.
Posted 19:01 30th September 2012
malaprade says...
@JayStarr: You are obviously a man of few words. There must be a positive correlation between your wordcount and neural capacity to come up with a statement that: Firstly makes no sense, and secondly does not relate to the topic which it is supposed to address. Rook JAY die splif of STAaR jy net so bietjie na die sterre (said with a cape accent).
Posted 18:57 30th September 2012
Fatflanker says...
Deans' job is as safe as houses. No coach in the world could do better with an injury count like this one. Consider even the mighty ABs might struggle against a full strength Oz side were they themselves minus so many first-pick players. It will be a shame to probably see Oz slide in the world rankings later this year but now is not a bad time to be developing depth and experience for the next RWC.
BTW Dingo, I have a passport and ran on for the mighty Humptydoo Swampdogs in the early 90's...just saying.
Posted 16:07 30th September 2012
JayStarr says...
@ daibok: It seems like in malaprade we have found the South African version of trinats...
Posted 15:00 30th September 2012
trinats2 says...
Dear whinging Kiwis, who feel attacked by Aussies ripping into Deans.
It's not just this game or the last one, or the loss to scoyland or Samoa. It's the fact that he is the worst coach Australia have ever had (regardless of which country he is from). And he is possibly the worst Assistant coach NZ have ever had ??
Posted 14:08 30th September 2012
KiwiJoe says...
Well done to the Boks, but to be honest an embarrassing Wobblies side is now a complete joke, were they all bitten by an Inland Taipan.
Poor old Robbie Deans looked like he was humming that old Pet Shop Boy,s tune, " what have I, what have I, what have I done to deserve this?
Commiserations to the genuine Aussie fans, you really do deserve better, to the usual illiterate Kiwi/ Deans haters, have you thought of doing extra night classes to catch up with the three year olds??
Posted 13:44 30th September 2012
Realbull says...
Well done boks! Again the forwards laid the platform and the backs finished off. Bad luck with all the injuries for aussies. Next game against all blacks will be a better test for boks to see if they indeed improved
Posted 13:33 30th September 2012
Ferdie says...
it does not get any easier for the Wallabies. In the next 8 weeks they have six matches - Arg, NZ, France, England, Italy, Wales.
A test of player depth.
Posted 12:17 30th September 2012
melkdave says...
OMG here we go again ,its all R.Deans fault is the call from some ozzie posters..Wake up for gods sake,as i and many others have said again and again.Its the sheer lack of quality depth,coupled with a massive injury list atm,that accounts for Australias perdicament.No coach not GH,JW SCW or any great of the past could have done a better job ,than RD has done.You cant make a silk purse out of a pigs ear ,and atm australian rugby is in decline No quality depth,no clear career path,from junior to elite,no where for young players to hone their skills,a weak S15 conferance with a S15 fomat that allows the ARU to paper over the cracks.The list just goes on and on.Just face facts,atm the wallabies have a class 15 ,a decent 22 and then nothing much .If R.Deans decides to go ,and if he does who could blame him,Australia will soon be 8th-10 th in the IRB rankings mark my words.E.McKenzie isnt that great a coach,and he will have just the same problems ie lack of quality in depth ect.
Posted 11:40 30th September 2012
tha_mai says...
melkdave - there's been little coverage of the Wallabies front row cheating by using a rolling subsitute for Robinson.
And it is nothing but a cheat, despite Wallabies calling it a 'ploy' and a ?tactical substitution?. Robinson also managed to make the field twice when they won v SA.
Play for 30, rest for 30-40 then replacement fakes an injury and R is back on the field. How clever.
At least this time their cunning plan backfired.
Posted 11:15 30th September 2012
boksmashoffice says...
If only we had beaten the pumas and Greyling had a brain. Based on that we would have had a chapionship decider. Its great seeing the wings being involved in attacking play.I still am not convinced Zane is international standard. If the Kiwis had that type of ball I reckon score would have been 50 +. JDV had a better game at 12 with Taute at 13. I am looking forward to next week. Hopefully we can beat the AB's. It will hopefully be an epic as pointed out by many readers. I feel sorry for Deans, At the moment he is missing so many key players and it does not help that he has someone who only looks afetr number 1. Everything is about him improving and not the team. The team always comes first and I go back to the point you have to have guys who want to bleed for the jersey. I reckon Cooper is more into keeping the jersery clean. Cooper should look at the commitment shown by AAC getting Ko'ed tacking and the hooker willing to come back on when the team had made their 7 subs. I know Deans and Sharpe will get a bit of slack, but you guys were missing key player. In the long term it might not be bad with having back ups who have played inetrnational rugby. Time will tell
Posted 10:56 30th September 2012
malaprade says...
@naibok: the stuff that makes you see that the ex-bulls coach is a class above the "capie" we had before. It takes the patience of a bull to see of a few losses to eventually build a team that will dominate. Maybe not this year but definitely next and the WC. Losses are expected when in the pursuit of finding your sweet spot.
Posted 10:14 30th September 2012
sandal says...
God damn it!
Australia went to South Africa without 362 injured players; forty-seven had to come off during the match, and ROBBIE DEANS STILL WON'T PICK THE BEST TEAM!
That was probably Australia's 83rd best team on the field.
Yours, Trinats
Posted 10:14 30th September 2012