Opinion: Some might say Wallabies’ brighter day at Ellis Park means Andy Farrell and Lions can look back with pleasure
The Wallabies came from 22-0 down to beat the Springboks at Ellis Park.
Andy Farrell did not need another reason to be cheerful as he headed to Croke Park on Saturday night for the Oasis gig he had so looked forward to since the British and Irish Lions tour.
Australia gave him one just the same. By demolishing South Africa in sensational fashion in Johannesburg they franked the form of Farrell’s Wallaby-beaters.
They did it at Ellis Park where they had not won since 1963. They did it after handing the world champions a 22-point head start. They did it with two 35-year old half-backs – one persuaded to come out of retirement, the other recalled for his first cap in three years.
Rassie Erasmus rages
Their opponents were Rugby Championship title holders, a side comfortable playing at altitude, one stating its new ambition “to be the best all the time”. That is what team captain Siya Kolisi said, a day before a performance coach Rassie Erasmus branded “dogsh*t”.
Erasmus said a lot more besides as he came to terms with the reality of what he had witnessed. The six Australian tries and 38 unanswered points in the final hour. The lost line-outs, the schooling at the breakdown, the lack of impact from the bench, the disintegration of much that Springbok rugby is built upon.
When the Wallabies last played and won a Test match the focus had again been more on the vanquished. To say the Lions weren’t all that. In truth, no-one knew quite what to think about Farrell’s charges at the end of that tour.
They won the series, their first triumph since 2013, and they did it in the space of eight days. Yet Australia were hopeless in Brisbane, probably should have won in Melbourne and did so, easily, in Sydney.
So the tourists came home with judgement on hold. Let’s see what the Wallabies do against the World Cup holders, we said. That will give us the perspective necessary to evaluate their effort.
20 minutes into Saturday’s game the verdict was unflattering. Kurt-Lee Arendse, Andre Esterhuizen and Kolisi had each crossed for tries. Resistance had been minimal. It had the makings of a 50-pointer.
What followed turned that assessment on its head. From the moment Dylan Pietsch put Australia on the board in the 29th minute, following fine work by Len Ikitau, the men in gold shone in a manner which confirmed what happened in Sydney to be no flash in the pan.
Once again Harry Wilson led the way, captain fantastic scoring two tries, ably assisted by Joseph Suaalii, Max Jorgensen and the exceptional Tom Wright, who claimed one apiece.
After seeing Ellis Park fall silent then empty before the final whistle Erasmus spoke of his “embarrassment” at how “awful” his side had been.
It was evident matches against the Barbarians, Italy and Georgia had left the Boks undercooked for opponents battle-hardened by the mentally as well as physically demanding trilogy of Lions Tests.
That should not detract from the historic achievement of Joe Schmidt’s team. Australia had not won in South Africa since 2011. A year ago in this same tournament the Wallabies led Argentina 20-3 and collapsed to a record 67-27 defeat.
Just last month, after an opening loss to the Lions at Suncorp so comprehensive few could see beyond a 3-0 series outcome, they were once more condemned as unfit for purpose.
Australia’s stock of truly top-class players is still lower than Schmidt would like, but what Sydney and now Jo’burg has shown is their soft underbelly is no more.
Lions legacy
The 2027 World Cup down under is suddenly an occasion to get excited about and not dread. Rather than close the curtains for fear of humiliation on home soil, there will be a clamour to get out of the house and into the stadium.
The 2025 Lions have no such future to look forward to. Their lifespan was not much longer than that of a moth. First game in June, last in August. Done and dusted.
Which is why legacy for them is so important. Until this weekend their reception from historians was cool, damned by faint praise in some quarters. Now we know better.
The Wallabies they were up against were no mugs. Quite the contrary. Farrell was already of that view. As the Gallagher brothers took to the stage in Dublin the rugby world, belatedly, joined him in agreement.
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