South Africa now knows how Wales felt at the beginning of this Rugby World Cup. The Springboks scarcely deserved to beat the Dragons, and after watching Sunday’s quarter-final, the Wallabies didn’t deserve a place in the semi-finals. They were “under the pump” as they like to say Down Under for the duration of the match bar when they scored. But whenever they did visit the South African 22, they put points on the board. Considering how much time South Africa spent encamped in Australian territory, a reward of nine points is an extremely poor return for their efforts.
There is a lot of vitriol spewing forth from the republic and its media concerning the performance of New Zealand referee Bryce Lawrence. The Australians were initially uneasy about Lawrence being appointed for this fixture. He was seen by those who wear canary yellow to have allowed the Irish to get away with murder at the breakdown during their group game, which the Irish won. While he might have had Australian blood on his hands that day at Eden Park, in Wellington it was green in colour. Lawrence was extremely poor, and Australia should be commended in a sense for taking advantage of the situation. They played the referee better than the Springboks, and considering how bad Lawrence was in the Ireland game, perhaps he unconsciously over-compensated.
He was bad, with the breakdowns representing a Libyan civil war so messy was their governing. But Australia won, and having scanned this morning’s papers, Peter Bills, the highly respected New Zealand scribe, admonished Lawrence but focused on the Springboks lack of finishing as the real reason why they lost.
He is absolutely spot on. Fourie du Preez, who overall had a fine game, coughed up the ball with the try line beckoning. Pierre Spies, rugby’s definition of a flat-track bully, decided to go it alone when moving the ball through the hands would have been the better option. He got tackled into touch. There were charge downs metres away from the try line which led to turnovers that didn’t result in points. And Jean de Villiers, who along with Pat Lambie were the stand-out backs, could have done better with his pass to set-up the Sharks fullback as he headed towards the whitewash.
It’s the end of an era for the likes of John Smit, Victor Matfield (a fine performance), Du Preez, Bakkies Botha and coach Peter de Villiers, who walked instead of being pushed. It should also be the end for players of reputation but little substance as the tournament progressed, such as Spies and Bryan Habana, his courage notwithstanding. The next Springbok coach has a job on his hands.
Australia didn’t deserve to win, but they won’t care. In the face of accusation, our rivals Down Under will point at the only thing that matters: the scoreboard.
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