Rugby Championship: Five takeaways from Australia v South Africa as Wallabies get back on track

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Following a 25-17 victory for Australia over South Africa in the Rugby Championship, here’s our five takeaways from the match in Adelaide.

Top line

This was an absolutely seismic win by the Wallabies in Adelaide as yet again they found the method and the firepower to turn over the world champions South Africa.

The final scoreline flattered the Springboks, as with five minutes to go, they trailed by 25-3, but as the Wallabies tired, so Kwagga Smith crashed over for a brace to take off the sheen of bonus points from the Aussie effort.

After watching Australia play Argentina earlier this year, the one thing that was never in doubt was their ability to score tries; they run brilliant intuitive lines and they vary the point of attack in and out of carry with ease.

Once again, Rob Valetini and Fraser McReight were huge for Australia, with Matt Philip also showing just how well the Aussie maul works when he plays, and on the wing, Marika Koroibete put in a commanding performance in his customary committed style.

This was a huge step forward for the Wallabies but in South Africa, there’s going to be a lot of questions asked about selection, tactics and execution.

Marika

When a player starts to get referred to by only his first name in commentary then you know that player has made it. We’ve had Jonah, Jonny, Zinny and Richie – none of whom needed their surname added for identification – and now we have Marika, the exquisitely brutal Wallaby wing.

His tackle to deny Makazole Mapimpi what seemed to be a certain try was so thunderous that it was in danger of rocking the very foundations of the beautiful Adelaide Oval cricket ground. Timing, execution and power combined to hammer the Springbok wing so far over the touchline that one half expected referee Paul Williams to raise his arms for a six as Mapimpi was thrown over the boundary line.

And on the subject of the Wallaby’s ability to unlock defences, whilst Marika’s run to beat two was a great piece of execution, the space that opened up in front of him was purely down to the ability of the earlier Aussie attackers to run from deep, change the point of attack and play both sides off the carrier.

The headlines may just all be about Marika, but the work of his teammates in the lead up to his finishes are the vital things that allow the big man to shine.

Blunt Springboks

Whilst South Africa lost to New Zealand in their last outing, the green shoots of attack in the second half were clear to see, when Damian Willemse moved to 12 and he, with Willie le Roux, created space, passing and vision to allow the Boks to fire some big shots.

Coupled with this was Malcolm Marx’s brilliant 50 minutes off the bench, a game-changing performance that dovetailed well with the attacking ambitions of his teammates.

It therefore beggars belief that in the lead up to this game, the Springbok selection saw Le Roux dropped, Damian de Allende moved back to 12 where his stodgy handling handicaps his own backline, and Willemse moved back to 15 where his game involvement relies more about what he can do as a one-off than as a facilitator.

The game has moved on in the last couple of years. Sides like Australia, Argentina, France and Ireland score a lot of seven pointers and the Springbok method of sitting on slim leads and trying to own the scoreboard through penalties is simply not enough to beat the very best sides around.

They have no worries in set-piece, breakdown or carry, but now is the time to focus on injecting pace and creativity into their backline and the figures of Willemse in the midfield and Le Roux at full-back are key to this.

Wallaby wins

Irrespective of the scoreline, there were some big individual improvements from the Wallabies. Despite the loss of Michael Hooper, McReight has filled the skipper’s shoes with a lot of credit. He is a little looser than Hooper around the breakdown, but a very dynamic carrier who seems to have a very strong sense of smell for the try-line.

With Valetini tearing up trees each time he plays, Australia are sure to go back to their two openside back-row when Hooper returns and from what we’ve seen so far, that trio could be quite explosive.

At half-back, it was great to see Noah Lolesio recalled and responding to the faith placed in him. Over the last couple of weeks, Australia’s midfield has been dreadful in terms of game control and it was left to Nic White to cover the duties of both nine and 10. Lolesio isn’t the finished article yet, but he’s young and the best prospect Australia have and they need to stick with him.

Implications

For the Wallabies, this is a significant win considering they have an injury and unavailability list as long as The Ghan train that links Adelaide to Darwin.

Winning with your second string players is the gift that adds depth to any Test squad. Australia have fewer players than any other nation in tier one in professional rugby – other than Scotland – and whilst their first choice sides have always been great, the depth supporting that has never been as robust as others.

The most pleasing thing for Dave Rennie is that he’s building a squad that can be competitive. Sure, there’s some tweaking to do, but Australia are in a better place than they were after the series loss to England.

For the Springboks, the message is simple. Pick your best players to start and make sure you have the firepower to score tries. The issues are so obvious that it’s unfathomable why the management cannot see what the solutions are. South Africa are in a precarious place; another loss in a week’s time and make no mistake, the pressure with be on Jacques Nienaber to a level he’s rarely experienced.

READ MORE: Five takeaways from New Zealand v Argentina as Pumas continue to impress

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