This time the Springboks started like angry bees but it was a moment of sheer brilliance from debutant Canan Moodie that ensured they capitalised on it and marched on to an emphatic 24-8 win over the chirpy Wallabies in Saturday’s Castle Lager Championship clash in Sydney.
It was sweet revenge for the Boks after their disappointing defeat to the same Wallabies at the Adelaide Oval the previous week and the five log points they garnered for the win puts them right in the mix for Championship honours, with little separating the four teams as the South Africans head into the two back-to-back games against Argentina that will end the campaign.
Although this was a game where the Boks sizzled from the kick-off and put behind them the passive starts of their most recent games, the South Africans looked like they may have wasted too many scoring opportunities as they approached halftime just 7-3 ahead.
But then came a well targeted hoisted kick from scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse and a stupendous leap from Moodie, who then sprinted the remaining 30 metres for a spectacular try that opened a proper gap on the scoreboard for the Boks just at the right time. Franco Mostert scored not long after the break as the Boks found their attacking shape, and that was effectively the game as the Boks went on to claim a bonus point win that puts them well back into the race for the Championship trophy and ends a nine year win drought in Australia.
WALLABIES PROVIDED HOT AIR BUT LITTLE ELSE
The Wallabies scored a late consolation try but were well beaten and the blunt assessment of the home team’s performance this time was that they provided a heck of a lot of hot air through their constant chirping but very little else in a game where, frankly, the Boks could easily have won by more.
Damian Willemse, playing flyhalf at this level for the first time, won the man of the match award for a solid performance that provided plenty of promise for a future more extended role in the No 10 jersey. However, he did make some mistakes, and Willemse might be the first to admit that the award could just as easily have gone to his skipper Siya Kolisi.
This was a game where Kolisi’s ball scavenging was to the fore, as he forced three breakdown turnovers that were crucial in robbing the Australians of momentum, and also his carrying. His little surge down the left flank created the space that the Boks capitalised on through excellent and pinpoint short passing to send flank Mostert over in the right corner shortly after halftime.
Mostert would have been a strong candidate for man of the match too as he produced a busy performance as replacement for the injured Pieter-Steph du Toit.
The other Damian, Damian de Allende at inside centre, also played a strong role, and it was the No 12 who rounded off an attack that was sparked by a Hendrikse quick tap by going over between the uprights after nine minutes. It was an important score for the Boks had been completely dominant and they completed the try scoring move after three penalty advantages.
BIG DIFFERENCE WAS THE BOK ATTITUDE
It was the kind of moment that eluded them the previous week when they did get the bit between their teeth, and it was the first time the Boks had taken the early lead since their equally emphatic win over the All Blacks in Nelspruit four weeks ago. Let it be said though that the big difference for the Boks was their attitude, with the angry bee attitude they took onto the field being a marked contrast to the passive approach that blighted them in the first quarter last week in Adelaide and before that in Johannesburg.
Faced with a Bok team playing with proper intensity, and with the big men knocking Aussie would be tacklers back whereas last week in the early minutes the boot was on the other foot, the Aussies looked stunned. They came pretty close to spitting the dummy too, and were only able to stay in the game because the Boks did retain their habit in the first half of making way too many mistakes.
For the latter parts of the first half, when the Wallabies were coming back at them, they also lacked attacking shape. But while the Boks again showed signs of perhaps conspiring against themselves with ball in hand, their defence was outstanding and they were back to the suffocating style that won them the Rugby World Cup and the series against the British and Irish Lions.
And faced with that, the Wallaby discipline also went south.
The Boks were awarded several penalties in the early minutes and it wasn’t until Mapimpi challenged for the ball when he’d been ahead of kicker Hendrikse in the 15th minute that they were able to kick the ball into the Bok half for the first time and get some breath. Given how dominant the Boks were, they really should have been a lot further ahead when they got to the 39th minute just four points ahead. It looked like it might be another tough talk from coach Jacques Nienaber was required at halftime but then up popped the 19-year-old Moodie to score one of the best individual tries scored by a Bok in a long time.
MIXED UP THEIR GAME
The Boks never got the ascendancy they would have liked in the scrums or for that matter in the mauls, where the Wallaby defence was outstanding. So it did require them to mix up their game a bit, and they did that well, with the Boks troubling the Australians both when they carried the ball and when they kicked it.
There was a chance for the Aussies to come back into the game in the second half when they won a succession of penalties and referee Ben O’Keefe, who was excellent with the whistle in comparison to Paul Williams the previous week, placed the Boks on a warning. Had the Boks lost a man then, when they were 14 points ahead, the Wallabies could still have come back into the game.
But instead the Wallabies had the penalty they’d been awarded deep inside Bok territory overturned because of an illegal clean out by prop Allan Alaalatoa, and the Bok kick from the penalty relieved the pressure. The Bok lineout, perfect in the first half, went walkabout a bit in the second, with three lineouts going against the throw.
MAPIMPI’S TRY MADE BONUS POINT SECURE
The Boks made sure of the bonus point though with a thrilling attack in which the feature was a great pass from De Allende as Mapimpi went over in the left corner with nine minutes left on the clock. Marike Koroibete was too late to repeat what he managed in Adelaide the previous week and when Mapimpi gave him a rub on the head to drum it in that he’d got it right this time, it was the spark that set off the mass brawl that was always threatening given the vocals that were going on and clearly picked up over the television microphones.
The upshot was that Mapimpi was carded after the try was awarded, and then Willie le Roux followed him a few minutes later after an attempted intercept was deemed a tap down by the referee. So the Boks ended with 13 men and it is why the Wallabies managed their try to Pete Samu, but the game had already been won and lost by then and the Boks go marching to Argentina with a very real chance of winning their second Championship title.
SCORES
South Africa 24 - Tries: Damian de Allende, Canan Moodie, Franco Mostert and Makazole Mapimpi; Conversions: Damian Willemse and Frans Steyn.
Australia 8 - Try: Pete Samu; Penalty: Noah Lolesio.