Ordinary I should be sleeping but here I am at 3am in the morning sitting in my car in the parking lot, thanks to another meaningless crime stat in South Africa. The front window of my shop smashed open from a midnight break in and all I can do is sit here and guard the hole until the start of the business day shortly after sunrise.

So I am in a shit mood. Biding the time in my car, whilst everyone sleeps, I reflected over the Boks defeat in Perth. The joy of last weeks historical win in New Zealand replaced by those feelings of gloom and despair that come from the agony of defeat.

I also caught up with some articles on the net about the match whilst sitting with my laptop in the dark and quiet parking lot…and there I see it…yet another whinge from the Bok coach.

Ladies and gentlemen…it gets a bit embarrassing . Pieter de Villiers needs to learn to lose graciously and not whinge every time the Boks come unstuck. Sure, its not nice being on the losing side. But we cant go around throwing our toys out the cot every time we find ourselves on the wrong side of the scoreline.

As disappointing as defeat is, our coach has to acknowledge that  the Boks were outplayed by a far better and smarter team. Congratulations and acknowledgment for the better and classier side while no doubt disappointed with your own shortcomings would  be the better response to the loss. There is no point bitching about the ref and biased officials every time your team falls short of the winning margin.

So let me say what our coach should have said. Well done and congrats to the Wallabies. They deserved their win. Their loose forwards were outstanding and they cleaned up every scrap of ball. Our guys were outplayed in most area’s of the match. If rugby was scored like boxing, with judges awarding points round by round, the Ozzies would have won by a margin of ten to twelve.

I always thought that without Gregan, Larkam and a Latham styled fullback, the Wallabies may be found wanting. It was not long ago that I felt Berrick Barnes was a very pedestrian player…and that at provincial level. I would never have considered him anywhere near test standard. But boy, he has stepped up to the plate for the Ozzies.  Lote Tuigiri is another I always thought was over rated by the Australians over the years, but his form this season has been outstanding. And against our Bokke yesterday, he was in a mean mood with his devastating runs.

The Wallabies scored two tries when it counted. The Boks on the other hand had their chances as well, but let it slip with knock ons, missed passes and as with the case of Bryan Habana. ..dropping the ball in the in goal area. Ok, lets give credit to Ryan Cross for a brilliant tackle. But Habana by his own admission should have sealed that score.

Overall this was a disjointed display by the Boks. But not entirely unexpected after two mentally and physically sapping games in Kiwiland. One of the TV commentators made mention of the Boks been softened up by their two encounters against the All Blacks. I wouldn't entirely discount that. Three internationals will always be gruellingly testing. And so it proved.

How we missed Bismarck du Plessis. Like the Abs last week paid the price for Thorns Spear/Non Spear tackle on John Smit, we this week paid the price for Bismarck du Plessis free facial on one of the All Black forwards.  Schalk Britz was a failure. For every reason Jake White previously stated why he would not select Britz during his tenure, we saw it in Perth. 

Another quick observation and here I examine the captaincy of Vic Matfield. In my opinion he may suffice as a provincial captain but he does not inspire quite the way an international leader should. In the absence of John Smit, I honestly feel that Jean de Villiers is more inspirational than Vic Matfield. In the last 8 minutes against the All Blacks last week, you could see Jean de Villers calling the troops and taking command following Matfield's yellow card. And we all know how those last eight minutes ended.

With the home leg ahead for the Boks, where do we make changes. First off, we need to replace JP Pieterson with a player in form. We have to search our Currie Cup for the best available talent or alternatively, we need to consider either Conrad Jantjies or Frans Steyn on the wing. Jacques Fourie should be ready for the home leg and that should sort out our stability in the midfield.

I will add that without Adi Jacobs , we lost a lot of attacking penetration in the midfield. And there I will concede as one possible area, the coach got right. What he got wrong was the axing of Percy from the entire match 22. The Boks really missed his steady influence from the back. Questions will surely be asked whether Frans Steyn is an able substitution at center.

The Ozzie’s clearly did their homework for this test and it showed evidently the way they bottled the little holes and gaps that Ricky Januarie was so successful at plugging through against the Blacks. In the absence of Fourie du Preez, Ricky Januarie would be our best option at scrumhalf. But Fourie du Preez is busy playing himself into form in the Currie Cup and is available for selection. That is good news for the home leg.

On the selection score, I would also be very tempted to give Peter Grant a start ahead of Butch James.  And an all Shark front row of BJ, Bismarck and Beast. Speaking of front rows, friend or foe of the Boks, didn't you guys just love that breakaway run by the big Beast from inside his 22. Even in defeat, these are the moments you can take to heart and savour.

Yet, I am still trying to shake that feeling of gloom that comes after defeat. And its not helped by a breaking in our store. Incidentally, our second breaking in two weeks. The first one ironically also occurred early Sunday morning, following the Boks loss against the Blacks. Two Trinations defeats followed by  two break ins. How's that for coincidence.   For without, this article would not have been posted!

Next week, the Ozzies and the ABs thrash it out and how I am looking forward to this neutral clash. Its going to be titanic. The Boks can enjoy some well deserved rest and hopefully coach Puppet once home, will receive a glutton of free tutoring on how to respond after both defeat and victory. I said it before, perhaps he would be be better served with a media manager or even tossing the interviews over to Dick Muir before he causes more embarrassment for Bok rugby and Bok fans alike.

To the Ozzie fernsters. Congratulations.  Enjoy your win, your guys deserve it.  And like the Boks had two cracks at breaking a hoodoo, the Ozzie’s will also have two shots at breaking that elusive win in the republic. There is everything to play for.

My tip for Sydney. The All Blacks to win by three.