FOR someone whose coaching philosophy is largely tailored around reducing the impact of whimsical officiating, Saturday’s Rugby Championships defeat at the Patersons Stadium would have been tinged with irony for Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer.
His team had ticked most of the important boxes, but in the final analysis a highly contentious yellow card to Bryan Habana and his team’s failure to go for the Wallaby jugular when they had 20 minutes of dominance at the start of the second half conspired against his side in their
24-23 defeat.
As much as Meyer tossed and turned upon late night reflection on the impact of the card on proceedings, he should hopefully not have lost sight of his team’s culpability in the defeat.
The Springboks had established clear dominance in the third quarter but did not display the inclination to squeeze the life out of the home side. Instead the Boks were content to boot the ball into Perth’s drizzly night sky hoping the Wallabies would fluff their lines in the back three.
Although the Wallabies didn’t have the distance on their kicks to prevent the Boks from setting up camp in their half it also meant that the tourists, with their limited ambition, were satisfied to try and keep the hosts at arm’s length.
That worked until Habana was carded for a high tackle by Irish referee George Clancy which set the game on course for a thrilling climax.
Unlike the Boks the Wallabies opted to hold on to the ball, not out of sense of duty to the paying public with bums on wet seats, but as a mode of survival at the prospect of facing the Boks’ vaunted lineout and inevitable maul.
Bok lock Victor Matfield explained keeping the ball under the protective blanket of the forwards became a lottery. “They countered us well but I’m not so sure it was done all legally. We have to check it in our reviews,” said Matfield.
“When you looked at the weather you’d probably have thought that, that would be a significant part of the game,” said Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie about the preponderance of tactical kicking by the visitors.
And while the Springboks’ tactical kicking in conception and execution fell short of the mark they still seemed on course before the yellow card threw them into a flat spin.
The Habana sin binning in his 100th Test was a painful reminder of the potential for peril when the natural flow of the game is disturbed by unforeseen circumstance. Meyer’s team had left the door ajar and the Wallabies simply jumped in.
Springboks let Oz off the hook
His team had ticked most of the important boxes, but in the final analysis a highly contentious yellow card to Bryan Habana and his team’s failure to go for the Wallaby jugular when they had 20 minutes of dominance at the start of the second half conspired against his side in their
24-23 defeat.
As much as Meyer tossed and turned upon late night reflection on the impact of the card on proceedings, he should hopefully not have lost sight of his team’s culpability in the defeat.
The Springboks had established clear dominance in the third quarter but did not display the inclination to squeeze the life out of the home side. Instead the Boks were content to boot the ball into Perth’s drizzly night sky hoping the Wallabies would fluff their lines in the back three.
Although the Wallabies didn’t have the distance on their kicks to prevent the Boks from setting up camp in their half it also meant that the tourists, with their limited ambition, were satisfied to try and keep the hosts at arm’s length.
That worked until Habana was carded for a high tackle by Irish referee George Clancy which set the game on course for a thrilling climax.
Unlike the Boks the Wallabies opted to hold on to the ball, not out of sense of duty to the paying public with bums on wet seats, but as a mode of survival at the prospect of facing the Boks’ vaunted lineout and inevitable maul.
Bok lock Victor Matfield explained keeping the ball under the protective blanket of the forwards became a lottery. “They countered us well but I’m not so sure it was done all legally. We have to check it in our reviews,” said Matfield.
“When you looked at the weather you’d probably have thought that, that would be a significant part of the game,” said Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie about the preponderance of tactical kicking by the visitors.
And while the Springboks’ tactical kicking in conception and execution fell short of the mark they still seemed on course before the yellow card threw them into a flat spin.
The Habana sin binning in his 100th Test was a painful reminder of the potential for peril when the natural flow of the game is disturbed by unforeseen circumstance. Meyer’s team had left the door ajar and the Wallabies simply jumped in.
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