Rugby Championship Review - South Africa 28 - 8 Australia

The interesting thing about Southern Hemisphere rugby is that, although the standard of rugby is great, it's all pretty predictable.  Of late, it's been the All Blacks running away with it without looking like they're trying too hard, the Wallabies and Springboks battling it out for second place and, since they joined, the Pumas propping up the rear but receiving patronising pats on the back for 'brave' performances in the process.  The only position that has genuinely been up for grabs, it seems, is second.

But perhaps that's about to change this year.  The South Africans have well and truly outclassed the Wallabies in every facet of play this year, to the extent that the men in gold haven't so much as been beaten into third place, but buried there.  They've never looked like a team worthy of challenging the Kiwis or the Springboks – partly due to injuries and partly due to form, as there is no doubt that they have bags of talent – and now they face looking over their shoulders at the hungry Pumas.  The Argentines came close in Perth to turning the Wallabies over and they will surely be optimistic over their chances in their own back yard next week.

The Springboks, on the other hand, have pushed themselves out of the 'midtable' quagmire (if you can say there is a mid-table in a league of four) to genuinely pose themselves as a threat to the New Zealander's crown, with incisive running rugby out wide now complementing their ever-powerful pack.  It's fair to say that, in the build up to the contest between the Springboks and Wallabies at Newlands, a fair gulf in class and form had emerged between the two sides, where previously there had been none.  The visitors, though, are too proud to accept that as a finality, and they arrived in South Africa determined to put the record straight.

Any doubts though as to who the dominant force was going to be were fairly swiftly removed, despite Christian Lealiifano actually knocking over the opening points of the game.  Morne Steyn levelled two minutes later with a penalty of his own, before Adriaan Strauss – looking more and more like a demented Wurzel Gummidge every day – battered his way past a flapping Quade Cooper to claim the game’s opening score after 12 minutes.  Steyn’s conversion inevitably followed, and the crowd barely had time to catch their breath before the Springboks were at it again.

From the restart, the South African pack powered the ball upfield before spinning it wide, where Jean De Villiers threw a magnificent pass to winger Willie Le Roux.  The speedster drew the cover and passed inside to Zane Kirchner, who stepped inside Folau to score a sensational try.  Steyn’s conversion took the score to 17-3, before another Steyn penalty pretty much took the game out of sight with just 19 minutes on the clock.  The South Africans had enjoyed a John-Candy-share of possession, and things then went from bad to worse for the Wallabies as Michael Hooper was ludicrously yellow carded for flipping Eben Etzebeth over his shoulder, despite replays showing that the lock jumped into the tackle.  Willem Alberts’ reaction of throttling Hooper from behind and slamming him onto the ground, on the other hand, was somehow deemed not worthy of punishment.

Luckily, for the visitors, they defended valiantly with the man disadvantage and Adam Ashley-Cooper pulled off a superb try-saving tackle on the flying Brian Habana, although Steyn followed this up with another penalty.  It had been a miserable first 40 for the men in gold, redeemed only in part by the fact that Flip van der Merwe was shown yellow on the cusp of halftime for leading with the elbow in the tackle.  It was scant consolation after being outplayed so comprehensively. 

With a man advantage, the Wallabies brought on Will Genia to try and take the game to the hosts, but they were about as threatening as the Andrex puppy in attack.  This, combined with the Springboks taking their foot off the gas, ensured that a dull 30 minutes with no points ensued, although the crowd were treated to two huge hits from Ben Mowen and Sitaleki Timani.  It was only with 9 minutes to go that the men in green – down to 14 men following Duane Vermeulan’s trip to the bin – finally woke up to the possibility of a bonus point, with sharp thinking from Fourie Du Preez sending Willie Le Roux over in the right hand corner.  It was another example of the veteran nine’s class, and he had been showcasing it all game.

In credit to the Wallabies, they prevented the hosts from claiming that fourth try and in fact scored one of their own, despite losing Timani to the sin bin.  It fell to debutant Chris Feauai-Sautia, who collected a Cooper cross-field kick from a quickly taken lineout to leave the final score looking marginally more respectable at 28 – 8 to the Springboks.

For the South Africans, this was a routine win, which should concern Ewan Mackenzie.  For both men though, the real crunch encounter awaits next week.