Rugby Championship: Five takeaways from Australia v South Africa as Springboks reap reward after fine display

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Following a 24-8 victory for South Africa over Australia in their Rugby Championship clash, here’s our five takeaways from the match in Sydney.

The top line

With delicious symmetry from the earlier fixture on Saturday, the Springboks proved again that a week is a long time in rugby as they turned around a crushing defeat in Round Three with a much improved display to overcome an inaccurate Wallaby team by 24-8.

It was an ill-tempered match at times, but one where the South African power was just too much for Australia to cope with as quite consistently they were schooled in the collision. The Springbok backline looked liberated from the stodgy crabbing affair we’ve seen in recent times and with dominance in all areas of the set-piece, including the aerial battle, the Boks were great value for their victory.

Again, the symmetry continues – an under-fire openside flanker who just happens to be captain put in a monumental performance – Siya Kolisi was everywhere in an all action display that saw his side record their first win on Aussie soil since 2013.

Jacques Nienaber will be delighted with the result, but even more so, he’ll be thrilled with the performance of his skipper and his backline.

Revelations

Canan Moodie has already been described by Jake White as a potential 100-capper for South Africa and judging by his first foray into the Test arena, White may well be right.

A delicious box kick from Jaden Hendrikse saw the massive and dominant figure of Marika Koroibete gathering himself ready to catch; ‘no worries, mate’, say the Aussie fans, knowing the skill of their big wing under the high ball. Yet, quick as a flash, Moodie arrives at pace, leaping onto the ball and leaving Koroibete grasping for thin air as the young Bok winger sprinted clear to score on debut and to rather hoist the big man on his own petard of plays.

Alongside Moodie, Damian Willemse was, absolutely thrilling in touch, offload and footwork in parts. He might not be the traditional South African fly-half and there’s no doubt he’s a much higher risk player than Handre Pollard, but with high risk can come great rewards and the Bok backline looked so much more penetrative and imaginative with Willemse at 10.

Only time will tell if the Boks are prepared to trade tee accuracy and gameplan delivery for flair and attacking potential, but on Saturday’s showing there was enough promise evident for the young Stormer to continue in the pivot role.

Australian inaccuracy

Last weekend, the Wallaby precision at breakdown, in the air and in defence, was peerless. They won the battle of the back-row, the front-row and gained parity in the line out. This weekend, all of that was turned on its head. The Springbok back-row were huge, both as starters and finishers with Kolisi the player of the match, Jasper Wiese hitting the most carries in the game and Franco Mostert adding urgency (and a try) to the blindside flank.

The Springboks just about shaded the scrum battle despite another great showing from James Slipper but elsewhere, the litany of collision penalties, the number of turnovers or spillages into contact just took away any platform Australia could create and that was all created by the suffocating power of South Africa in defence.

Rob Valetini was again exceptional and Darcy Swain, with Pete Samu, made huge impact off the bench, but by then it was too little too late and Australia will walk away knowing that anything less than total accuracy and precision in every aspect of their game against South Africa will result in a loss.

Pantomime

With the undercurrent of Nic White’s theatrics last weekend, this game was played with ill-temper and vocal sledging threatening to boil over at every single contact point. White himself played up to his billing, niggling and harrying the big boys, playing the part of a moustachioed villain that was reminiscent of Terry-Thomas in the great comedy films of the 1960s.

Sooner or later, it was going to boil over, and in the 72nd minute, as Makazole Mapimpi scooted over for a try in the corner made by a wonderful pass from Willie le Roux, so all hell broke loose in an unedifying spectacle that started with an over reaction from Mapimpi as he pushed and sledged Koroibete which resulted in a free for all that could have seen a number of cards of various hues.

Referee Ben O’Keeffe was right when he called the Springbok wing out for starting the fracas, but with Eben Etzebeth and Allan Alaalatoa continuing their assaults way beyond what is reasonable, both lucky not to get yellow at the very least, and with potential eye and head contact in the incident, both men were lucky to finish the match on the pitch. The duo will be sweating in the next 48 hours whilst the citing commissioner unpacks the ugly incident with calm precision without matchday pressure.

What started as comedy turned into drama and the game can do without the antics we saw at the end.

Implications

The first point is that yet again, Australia played a lot of the game without a recognised fly-half. Losing both your 10 and 12 in a match is unfortunate, but that’s what happened, which resulted in White dropping back to outside half to try and control the match.

Noah Lolesio is a talented lad but going into the game with no back-up (simply because there is none available) cost Australia dearly and their number 10 crisis is the equal of anything the British are experiencing in Downing Street right now.

Nevertheless, the Aussies know they can score tries and they’ll realise that working on accuracy, discipline and regaining their aerial game are very achievable before they host New Zealand on September 15.

South Africa will have learned more positive things about selection in this match than the rest of their games in the Rugby Championship put together this season. With threat at 10 and pace in the back three, they looked lethal with ball in hand, sharp and precise rather than cumbersome and lumpy for the first time this year. Their back-row looked mobile and faster than of late and their accuracy was laudable. Nienaber knows that the Boks need to score more tries in the modern game than of late and Sydney was a step forward in the right direction.

In closing, a shout out to the magnificent Allianz Stadium – it is truly a wonderous arena and the packed crowd celebrated rugby in it with fine vocal support. Let’s hope we see a lot more of it and its wonderful playing surface in the years to come.

READ MORE: Springboks end Australian hoodoo with dominant victory over the Wallabies

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