Ken Borland

Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber said he will be looking at the replay of their first Rugby Championship Test against Australia again just to check whether they should have been given more reward in the last couple of scrums and whether their chasers were obstructed in getting to the aerial ball, but he was clear that the Wallabies deserved to win and his team lost 26-28 because of their own ill-discipline.

South Africa were leading 26-25 in the final minutes when they dominated successive scrums, but referee Luke Pearce only ordered resets. Then, after the final hooter, the Wallabies wheeled a scrum to isolate the eighthman and won a turnover penalty, which Quade Cooper slotted from long-range, on the angle, to snatch victory at the death.

It was Cooper’s seventh penalty and he also converted Australia’s try in a faultless kicking display in his first Test in four years. But it was those seven penalties conceded which cost the Springboks, according to Nienaber.

“Conceding 23 points off the tee, that sums it up, our discipline was poor. We scored three tries to one, but we gave them 23 points and that’s the reason we lost. We did brilliantly to get back in the game in the second half, but then we lost in the 82^nd minute, again because of discipline, we conceded a penalty. Australia played well and they deserved to win.

“In our third-last scrum I thought we had good dominance, but obviously the referee saw a different picture that didn’t show clear dominance. We need to make sure our pictures are aligned with the referee’s and we knew that it would be a struggle to get our wings into the aerial contest, but it’s tough to say now if there were any line-changes, I can’t say with absolute conviction,” Nienaber said.

The Springbok coach clearly did not want to make excuses and he also did not want to use the fact that his team have recently been released from their Covid bubble and returned to normal life on the largest island in the world, and were playing in front of a crowd for the first time since the World Cup, to justify an unfocused performance.

“We weren’t great today, we were just a bit off our game, especially discipline. It was not a polished performance, so we need to fix those things we got wrong. Conceding anything beyond 10 penalties in a game makes it a real grind to win and we must be smarter than giving away stupid penalties. Our scrums were fairly solid but there were two scrums which Australia got points off at crucial times –just before halftime and then the last kick.

“But it was lovely to play in front of a crowd again, it’s what the players wanted. In the first 20 minutes we were quite dominant, we had control of the game but then we lost it. We created opportunities, we scored three tries and Sbu Nkosi and Lukhanyo Am were both over the line. But Australia are a quality side and this is a tough place to win,” Nienaber said.

Duane Vermeulen will be there to check the momentum of the Wallabies, and Faf de Klerk is also back to cause mayhem in defence, but the selection that is most telling in terms of how the Springboks want to nullify Australia on Sunday is that of three loose forwards on the bench.

Marco van Staden, Kwagga Smith and Jasper Wiese, all of whom are mobile enough to play openside flank, are all on the replacements bench named on Wednesday, and coach Jacques Nienaber confirmed this was to counter Australia’s expected efforts to speed up the Rugby Championship game at the Super Stadium on the Gold Coast.

“It’s because of how Australia play – with pace, tempo, massive continuity and an awesome skill-set as they look to stretch you from touchline-to-touchline. It looks weird to have three loose forwards on the bench, but then one of our locks is playing as a starting loose forward in Franco Mostert. So in effect we are starting with three locks.

“We think the Wallabies are going to play a quick, high-tempo game. We have a plan around the substitutions, but things happen in the game and we must adapt. So although Duane will take some time to get used to the pace of international rugby again, the number of minutes he plays will depend on how the game unfolds. But he knows the shortcuts on the field … ” Nienaber said on Wednesday.

While the attacking skills of the injured Cheslin Kolbe will obviously be missed, Sbu Nkosi is back on the right wing and the Sharks star is also no slouch in the try-scoring department. The 25-year-old Nkosi has dotted down eight times in 12 Tests, which compares very favourably to Kolbe’s nine tries in 18 Tests.

“All our players have their own ‘circus trick’, personality and energy that they bring to the team. So when you lose what one player brings, you gain something else from the other player coming in. There’s not that much to choose between our players and we are very fortunate to have that depth. Sbu has scored a few fantastic tries already, like Makazole Mapimpi, he’s also a bit of a try-machine, he knows where the tryline is,” Nienaber said.

The British and Irish Lions were successfully able to check the Springboks’ momentum in the second half as they turned a 3-12 halftime deficit into a 22-17 win in an enthralling first Test in Cape Town on Saturday.

A focused Springbok side had ticked all the boxes in the first half, putting in an impressively controlled performance considering how much talk there has been about them being underdone. In contrast, the Lions seemed to be the side who were over-excited by the magnitude of the occasion, conceding several penalties.

Springbok flyhalf Handre Pollard gave a polished display and kicked all four of his shots at goal in the first half. South Africa dominated territory and held on to the ball with composure, building phases and pressure. Their defence was also typically effective and, having taken the 12-3 lead, they had to repel a concerted onslaught from the Lions. They did so, but the Lions also missed a couple of penalties and made other errors that prevented them from closing the gap.

The momentum carried into the second half, however, and the Lions were given a great attacking platform by two soft penalties – Kwagga Smith getting up with the ball after he had been tackled and then a high tackle by Eben Etzebeth, who had been the dominant force around the rucks.

Four minutes into the second half and the Lions had the first try, hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie going over from the lineout drive.

The fire in the Springboks was not quite quelled just yet though and they roared back with Willie le Roux dotting down in the corner, but the try was disallowed because the TMO ruled he was in front of the kicker.

But two minutes later, TMO Marius Jonker awarded the try after Pieter-Steph du Toit had picked up a wayward pass, burst clear and passed out wide to Makazole Mapimpi. Du Toit then attempted to collect the wing’s deft kick infield, but seemed to over-run the ball, with scrumhalf Faf de Klerk then picking up and scoring. Jonker ruled that Du Toit’s hands had missed the ball, which bounced off his leg.

In both cases, replays suggested the under-pressure South African TMO was quite correct.

Pollard crucially missed the conversion and it was the first sign that the Boks were starting to flag, to lose their intensity.

The Lions went back to basics, adopted the tactics associated with the Springboks – the box-kick and the rolling maul – and the home side were not able to handle their own weapons being turned against them. The territory statistics turned around totally.

The pressure led to a trio of penalties kicked by Dan Biggar, in the 52^nd, 57^th and 63^rd minutes. The coup de grace was landed by replacement Owen Farrell, with a penalty two minutes from full time.

The failure of the bench to make much impact will probably be the biggest concern for the Springboks, seeing as though it was the key component of their World Cup triumph.

Scorers

South Africa – Try: Faf de Klerk. Penalties: Handre Pollard (4).

British & Irish Lions – Try: Luke Cowan-Dickie. Conversion: Dan Biggar. Penalties: Biggar (4), Owen Farrell.

Loftus Versfeld has been a busy check-in, check out counter this week as Springbok flank Marcell Coetzee arrived for duty with the Bulls, on the same day that the departure of loose forward Tim Agaba, the former Springbok Sevens representative, was confirmed.

Coetzee has been a phenomenal performer for Ulster, when fit, over the last five years and was recently named the Pro14 Players’ Player of the Season. The 29-year-old is currently recovering from a hamstring injury but will certainly have his eye on a return to the Springbok loose trio for the series against the British and Irish Lions.

The fact that the owner of 30 Springbok caps is considered one of the star signings amongst a host of big names being lured to Loftus Versfeld was shown by the brand new Bulls bakkie that was waiting for Coetzee upon his arrival at his new home.

The 31-year-old Agaba will be playing in the black-and-yellow of the French Second Division side U.S. Carcassonne. He will join the South African contingent of locks – Claude Dry, Rynard ‘Ligtoring’ Landman and Christiaan van der Merwe – at the 122-year-old club that is languishing in the lower reaches of the Pro D2 division in France.