Patchwork Lions humble Boks

It’s tempting to suggest that by wearing white armbands to protest Bakkies Botha’s two- week ban for foul play, the Springboks had things other than a rugby match on their minds here yesterday.

Simnikiwe Xabanisa, Sunday Times 

But the sadder truth is that John Smit and his men tried, but just weren’t good enough to beat a British & Irish Lions side hellbent on redemption after losing the first two Tests of the three-match series.

The Springboks were outplayed, out-muscled and out-thought. The only thing the Lions didn’t win, perhaps, was the fisticuffs that broke out 10 minutes before the final whistle.

But even then, the Lions won a penalty that put them further ahead.

The point of this game for the Lions was to salvage some pride. And, as performances go, they don’t come prouder than invoking the spirit of the 1974 “Invincibles� — Ian McGeechan’s men equalled their feat of inflicting the biggest defeat on the Boks in the 118-year history of contest between these two great foes.

The Lions, who fielded a patchwork side of the last-man-standing variety, also equalled the record for the greatest winning margin in a performance laden with attitude.

A mark of how seriously the visitors took this game was the sight of makeshift centre Tommy Bowe doing his utmost to prevent the Boks scoring through winger Odwa Ndungane with three minutes left.

He succeeded, too, the Sharks man being adjudged by the TMO to have put his boot into touch. But as it was Smit who raised the Unity Cup, it was all too little, too late.

One wonders if the Lions’ management made some selection mistakes during this series. The obvious answer would be yes, if the performances of the two Williamses, Martyn and Shane, were anything to go by.

Seeing that the breakdown was a key area to the Boks’ humbling here yesterday, Martyn Williams probably should have started the first Test.

Similarly, the manner in which the elusive Shane Williams troubled the Boks and finished suggested he may also have done better in Durban, where the Lions spurned a slew of chances.

For the Boks, this game was about establishing the strength of their depth ahead of their Tri-Nations opener in three weeks.

But helped by the disjointedness 10 changes can make to a team, it was one of those games where nothing seemed to work for the Boks.

By the time the dust had settled around the resets at the scrums, one got the sneaky feeling that prop Phil Vickery left with his reputation as the “Raging Bull� intact.

In the lineouts, the Boks predictably ruled the roost, with Juan Smith deputising admirably for Botha at the front of the line.

The problem was that they could not get a single drive going, owing to some stoic defensive work by the grandfather of lock forwards, the 35- year-old Simon Shaw.

The breakdown was, to put it mildly, a massive balls-up. If it wasn’t referee Stuart Dickinson’s whistle, the Lions were robbing the Boks or counter-rucking them off the ball.

Indeed, all three of the visitors’ tries came from turnover ball; a Fourie du Preez knock-on from a lineout; the Boks getting counter-rucked off their ball; and a Ugo Monye intercept from a Wynand Olivier pass.

Owing to the unfamiliarity among the Bok backs, the defence was all too easily and frequently breached as players shot out of alignment.

After being lauded for taking their chances and breaching the Lions defence from first-phase possession in the previous two Test matches, the Boks’ attack yesterday was also stymied by the changes to the team.

They had three clear chances all game, the irony of that being that the Lions struck within a minute of the first two botched attempts. And with the rolling maul being stalled and the pick-and-drive being met head-on, the Boks resorted to some pretty unimaginative up-and-unders.

Scorers
South Africa 9 — Penalties: Morne Steyn (3).

British & Irish Lions 28 — Tries: Shane Williams (2), Ugo Monye. Conversions: Stephen Jones (2). Penalties: Jones (3).