Ken Borland

There were no nasty surprises for South Africa as they thrashed neighbours Zimbabwe by 10 wickets, with 7.2 overs to spare, in their ICC World T20 match at Hambantota on Thursday.

12th over – Kyle Jarvis returns and his first delivery is cut hard to backward point by Hashim Amla, but Vusi Sibanda can’t hang on to the catch going to his left. Amla gets a let-off on 29.

11th over – A touch short from Ray Price and Richard Levi slashes the ball through the covers for a fine boundary.

9th over – Nicely controlled and crisply struck as Levi slog-sweeps Prosper Utseya for a one-bounce four.

6th over – Two cracking drives on the up through the covers for four by Levi off Brian Vitori.

5th over – Amla creates room for himself so well and his quick hands allow him to lean back and slash a perfectly good delivery from left-arm spinner Price through extra cover with great timing for four.

4th over – In the slot from Jarvis and Levi pulls it from off stump over mid-on for a one-bounce four.

2nd over – Levi top-edges a hook at left-arm paceman Vitori for four.

1st over – Jarvis drags a slower ball down short and wide, Amla waits for it and cuts the ball powerfully through the covers for four. Jarvis again provides too much width on the last ball of the over and an edged slash by Amla flies to the third man boundary for another four.

Zimbabwe innings

Jacques Kallis was the hero as the South African pacemen blasted Zimbabwe and restricted them to 93 for eight in their ICC World T20 match at Hambantota on Thursday.

20th over – Ray Price ends the innings by stepping back and forehand-smashing Kallis between mid-off and extra cover for four.

18th over – WICKET – Kallis has four now and it’s the admirable Craig Ervine out for 37 off 40 balls. Kallis sends down a well-directed short-pitched delivery which the left-hander tries to run down to third man. But there’s steep bounce and the line is tight, so a cramped shot can only succeed in giving wicketkeeper AB de Villiers his fourth catch.

17th over – Dale Steyn has conceded just three runs in his previous three overs, but now Ervine half-steers/half-edges him past the slip for four. WICKET – Steyn ends with a well-deserved wicket as Prosper Utseya (5) tries to fend off a fast, short-pitched delivery on leg stump and can only glove the ball, wicketkeeper De Villiers taking a superb diving catch.

14th over – WICKET – Kallis now has tremendous figures of 1.4-1-2-3 as Graeme Cremer (6) gloves an attempted hook at a bouncer and is caught behind by De Villiers.

11th over – Two wickets in two balls for Kallis in his first over! WICKET – Stuart Matsikenyeri (11) comes down the pitch and slaps the ball hard, but straight to Robin Peterson at cover. WICKET – Elton Chigumbura goes back to his first delivery, but it’s full, the bat is nowhere near the ball and he’s plumb lbw for a royal duck.

9th over – Johan Botha tosses up the first ball of the over and Ervine responds with a beautifully-played drive through the covers for four.

8th over – Robin Peterson joins Botha in the attack but a flatter, quicker delivery is brilliantly reverse-swept for four by Ervine.

5th over – Albie Morkel joins the attack, but his first delivery is short and angling across the left-hander and Ervine punches the ball crisply through the covers for four. WICKET – But three balls later, Morkel gets in on his brother’s act with a wicket of his own. Hamilton Masakadza (6) gives himself room, Albie Morkel follows him and a cramped drive, on the up, loops to deep mid-on.

4th over – WICKET – Morne Morkel strikes again as Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor plays an awful shot. Taylor backs away to leg and then plays a half-hearted cut shot as Morkel puts the ball outside off stump, presenting a comfortable edge for De Villiers and Taylor is caught behind for four. The first boundary of the innings comes after 23 balls as Masakadza bashes a delivery straight down the ground as Morkel over-pitches a touch.

2nd over – WICKET – A brilliant delivery from Morkel bowls Vusi Sibanda for a duck! Morkel gets a ball to jag back and bowl Sibanda through the gate, hitting the top of off stump.

1st over – A fantastic opening over from Steyn. All six deliveries are pitched just outside off stump, swinging away and he concedes just a single as Masakadza comes down the pitch and then defends the ball into the covers.

South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer believes the current Springbok team will become stars of the future despite a lean recent run that has seen them lose to New Zealand and Australia and be held to a draw by Argentina.

“I have a special feeling about this team going forward. We’re on the right track and the results will come,” Meyer told journalists at the O.R. Tambo International Airport on Monday after the team’s return from New Zealand, where they were beaten 21-11 by the All Blacks in Dunedin.

“I thought we scrummed well and I’m very happy with our front row. The combination we used in the loose forwards was superb against the best loose trio in the world and we have four great locks going forward.

“There were lots of positives from Dunedin, especially from the forwards, and I believe we did enough to win that game. I think it instilled that self-belief in the team that they can beat anyone anywhere,” Meyer said.

South Africa dominated the first 50 minutes of the Rugby Championship test, but missed kicks at goal cost them 20 points.

Flyhalf Morne Steyn, the hero of their 2009 and 2010 campaigns, was responsible for 11 of those missed points and the waning influence of the Springbok backline has also been blamed on the 28-year-old pivot. But Meyer believes Steyn, who has started all seven matches this year under the new coach, still has a future at international level, pointing to the resurgence in form shown by wing Bryan Habana, South Africa’s all-time leading try-scorer who struggled with his form last year and played just six of the Springboks’ nine tests.

“I don’t want to knock individuals but the missed kicks were crucial. Morne is mentally tough though and if you look at what happened to Bryan Habana, with the right guidance he is now playing phenomenal rugby again. I don’t want to boost myself, but I’ve always been great at getting the best out of players and the mental break will do Morne well. We’ll look at the situation after this weekend’s Currie Cup matches and then decide who will play,” Meyer said.

Meyer said the way the Springboks dominated the All Blacks in Dunedin showed that the controversial game plan they were using was the right one.

“The guys were very unhappy not to win, but sometimes we’ve played worse rugby in New Zealand and won, it was just the goalkicking that let us down. Otherwise we did enough to win, it was the right game plan and we kept them under pressure, we just couldn’t convert that into points.

“It was 3-5 at half-time, but it could have been 15-5 if we’d made our kicks, that would have built pressure and they would have had to chase the game. There’s always criticism about the game plan, but I believe we got it 100% right, we just didn’t put the kicks over. We had them under pressure,” Meyer said.

The Springbok squad for their last two Rugby Championship matches, both at home against Australia in Pretoria on September 29 and New Zealand in Soweto on October 6, will be named on Saturday night after the Currie Cup games have been completed.

South Africa have an outside chance of still claiming the title if they register bonus-point wins in both those home fixtures and the All Blacks lose in Argentina without getting a bonus point.

Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer has a degree in psychology and he will surely need to have sessions with Morne Steyn on the couch – and bring Dean Greyling along for good measure – after South Africa’s infuriating 21-11 loss to the All Blacks in Dunedin on Saturday.

Meyer has persevered with Steyn at flyhalf for all seven Tests this year, but surely a man of his intellectual capacity and people skills must now realise that the hero of 2009 and 2010 is mentally shattered and devoid of all confidence.

The Springboks wasted 20 points with kicks at goal, with Steyn missing three penalties along with a conversion, while Francois Steyn (2) and Johan Goosen also missed three long-range penalties between them.

It is hard to remember a substitute having a more disastrous impact than Greyling did. The front-ranker clearly needs his head read after conceding some of the stupidest penalties possible on a rugby field, including a shocking assault on the face of Richie McCaw that is bound to have some more serious consequences than the yellow card he was issued with.

The inexperienced Springbok pack was magnificent in a come-of-age performance that saw them match if not edge the All Blacks up front, laying a platform that was ultimately wasted by Morne Steyn and some laborious backline play.

There were some promising signs from the backline, but great try-scoring opportunities were butchered in the fifth minute, on the half-hour and on the hour mark.

With three minutes remaining and the All Blacks 18-11 up, the Springboks were then gifted another golden opportunity when Keven Mealamu threw a lineout ball five metres from his own line straight to Greyling, who promptly dropped the ball.

The Blue Bulls prop should have had the good grace to want to be swallowed whole by the Forsyth Barr Stadium turf, but instead he then cost South Africa even a bonus point for their efforts when he stupidly handled the ball in a ruck, allowing All Blacks flyhalf Aaron Cruden to kick a penalty after the final hooter.

Greyling’s first act after coming on to the field in the 50^th minute was also a blatant hands in the ruck, Cruden’s penalty allowing New Zealand to draw level just two minutes after Bryan Habana’s brilliant individual try.

There were times in the first half when the All Blacks were floundering against the Springboks’ suffocating defence, physicality in the collisions and pressure game. But the goalkicking woes drowned out all conversation about those major positives.

Fullback Israel Dagg’s wonderful attacking instincts saw him feature prominently in the move he finished for the All Blacks’ opening try in the 20^th minute and the hosts led 5-3 at half-time. At that stage, South Africa had already missed 15 points via missed kicks at goal.

But the Springboks regained the lead in the 50^th minute through Habana’s brilliant try. Flip van der Merwe won the lineout throw and, even though Francois Louw stumbled in receiving the pop off the top, he found Habana roaring through on the angle. South Africa’s all-time leading try-scorer burst through the first line of defence before he chipped over the fullback and regathered the ball to score in the right corner.

The next half-hour was dominated by Greyling, although Morne Steyn also kicked away some good attacking ball with aimless kicks. If it were the navy, they would be consigned to port immediately by the good ship South Africa, because their heads are clearly not in the right place.

But there are huge positives to be drawn from the game for the Springboks, even if the result was a major disappointment.

The ferocious performance of the pack, led by flank Willem Alberts and lock Juandre Kruger, is at the head of the list, while the defence was also much improved as the Springboks warded off several dangerous attacking forays by the New Zealand backs.

Springbok rugby may well have moved out of the ICU ward on Saturday and, if Meyer can correctly diagnose where the mental deficiencies are, he may well be able to produce pleasing results in Pretoria and Soweto in coming weeks.

http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-09-15-crushed-by-the-all-blacks-south-africas-national-facepalm-moment

Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer will continue to rely on Morne Steyn as his flyhalf as the South Africans head into a daunting Rugby Championship Test against New Zealand in Dunedin on Saturday.

While Steyn seems to have his goal-kicking boots back on these days, his tendency to stand so deep on attack literally puts his backline on the back foot and the Springboks’ attacking efforts thus far in the competition have been timid in comparison to those of the mighty All Blacks.

Meyer has resisted the temptation to start with the 20-year-old Johan Goosen and there are good arguments to support his decision.

Throwing a baby (in international terms) into the cauldron of Test rugby in New Zealand, with your pack most probably going backwards and Richie McCaw, Kieran Read and Liam Messam running at you, could be catastrophic: both in the short-term (the match) and the long-term (Goosen’s overall confidence).

Never mind only owning one cap and seven or eight minutes of Test experience, Goosen has played less than an hour of rugby in the last four months thanks to the shoulder injury that ended his hugely promising SuperRugby campaign.

But in the short time that he was on the field in Perth, Goosen hit the line and beat defenders well, and we can only hope Meyer gives him even more game time this weekend – as Steyn, frankly, is not providing any spark or linking particularly well with his backline.

Pat Lambie has his supporters for the flyhalf position, but the Sharks talent has started just a single Test at number 10 before, last July in Wellington against the All Blacks, and that did not go well, the Springboks getting thumped 40-7 with a second-string side.

Game management/control is the one area of his play that Lambie still needs to work on (the Sharks preferred Freddie Michalak at flyhalf in SuperRugby) and it seems the 21-year-old’s role at international level at the moment will be limited to that of substitute.

Meyer has made two changes to the team that lost so disappointingly against Australia last weekend, both of them amongst the forwards.

Eben Etzebeth has been suspended for a feeble headbutt and Flip van der Merwe takes his place. Let’s hope the Bulls lock doesn’t see yellow.

The other change will add some much-needed pace and pressure on the ball. Although the Test is in New Zealand and an Arctic front has brought snow, high wind, sleet and rain to Dunedin, the match is being played in the Forsyth Barr Stadium, which has an enclosed roof.

As Meyer himself pointed out, it will be a bit like playing on a clear winter’s day in Pretoria, and that will suit the All Blacks’ fast-paced game perfectly. The Springboks will be in serious trouble if they don’t find a way to slow down their opposition’s ball, and Francois Louw has been brought into the starting line-up to do just that.

There are also changes to the bench, with Juan de Jongh called up to hopefully provide some much-needed attacking verve in midfield.

Dean Greyling, who can play both sides, is the reserve prop because of the uncertainty over the fitness of both tightheads in the squad, Jannie du Plessis and Pat Cilliers.

Critics of the Springboks’ recent form will be angry that Meyer has still not started on the road to adding a greater attacking dimension to his team. But the All Blacks on home turf are perhaps not the side you want to be facing when you’re setting out on a journey.

Besides, no one will be surprised that Meyer, who would call his conservatism continuity, has once again relied on what has served him well in the past.

The Springboks’ best chance of getting back on track is probably back home when they take on Australia at Loftus Versfeld on 29 September.

Team: 

15-Zane Kirchner, 14-Bryan Habana, 13-Jean de Villiers, 12-Francois Steyn, 11-Francois Hougaard, 10-Morne Steyn, 9-Ruan Pienaar, 8-Duane Vermeulen, 7-Willem Alberts, 6-Francois Louw, 5-Juandre Kruger, 4-Flip van der Merwe, 3-Jannie du Plessis, 2-Adriaan Strauss, 1-Tendai Mtawarira. Substitutes – 16-Tiaan Liebenberg, 17-Dean Greyling, 18-Andries Bekker, 19-Marcell Coetzee, 20-Johan Goosen, 21-Juan de Jongh, 22-Pat Lambie.

http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-09-12-boks-vs-all-blacks-were-in-for-hellof-a-show