 All Blacks 26 (McCaw, Rokocoko tries; Carter 2 conversions, 3 penalties; Mauger drop goal. Boer 21 (2 tries, conversion, 3 penalties).
The first genuine test match of the season, and what a ‘test’ it was, but the All Blacks, despite looking unable to hold onto the ball to save themselves, came though with the score on the right side of the ledger after 80 minutes.
Fourteen handling errors from the All Blacks – fourteen gifts of possession to the Boers from the All Blacks. The Bokke had one handling error. So that ledger balances out at -13.
Even though, the men in Black still came through to win the game 26-21, getting ahead for the first time in the match with about ten mintues to go, and then never looking like losing.
Why was that – the All Blacks were fitter, plain and simple. Reconditioning doubters, go and give yourselves a sound thrashing, the last 20 minutes or so, even though the All Blacks were down by 12-21, it was a matter of time before we stopped dropping the ball, and the win would come!
The Boers, as per usual played with passion, and little else. Their backline would have trouble creating space in the Gobi Dessert, but their forward pack was a handful, as they always are. Again, lacking the skills of the All Black pack, but up front, skills can be substituted for brute force and fire. But, once that force is met with force, then you need the skills to go give yourself that advantage. Again, like the Boer backline, it was lacking from the lads from the Republic.
Foul play – by Chirst those Bokke are dirty buggers, and still get away with so much in this day and age. Big Botha the lock and throwing McCaw to the ground after the Boer try, Skinstad having a go at McCaw as they run along in back play, and basically, any time McCaw is near the ball, he is attacked. Pre meditated targeting, ask yourself? Just lucky that McCaw is such a hard bastard eh!!
The Boers would have to have been disappointed though that all their passion and fire in that first 20 minutes only produced a 6-3 score line. And those points, and even the try just before halftime can be directly attributed to three of those All Black handling errors mentioned above. Throw in Mauger’s nicely timed pass to Butch James, and you have 18 of the Boer points on a platter, thanks to errors from the Men in Black. So when those handling errors are removed, you garner a score line of 26-3. mark my words, those errors will be removed, so the Boers had better try and work out how to create some point scoring chances themselves.
A couple of players for the Steroid brutes disappointed too. Skinstad showed why he is not starting tests, was he playing? But for his attack on McCaw, you would not have known he was there. Wonder boy Steyn showed up, and showed that he still has a long way to go in his decision making. Worth sticking with for sure, but perhaps his time will be Twenty11, not 2007. The All Blacks were applying the blow torch out there in the last 15 minutes, and the youngster forgot his asbestos suit.
The Boer lineout as per usual was class, but didn’t get stuck into the All Black one as much as I thought they would. Fifteen wins and three lost to the All Blacks patched up pack.
The scrum though, the All Blacks had the wood on the Boers here, big time. I think there was one ‘win’ for the Bokke in this department, and the All Blacks carried the day at the scrum face for the other 79 minutes.
Biggest pluses for the All Blacks in this test, was the composure. Even though thigns were going wrong, panic never set in. The try at halftime that gave the Boers a five point lead, didn’t rattle the boys at all. Came out after the half and Mauger closed the gap by three points before we even knew what was happening, before that pass which gave James the gift five points, and with 15 to go, the 11 point lead. Even then though, no panic, if anything, the upped the tempo of the game even more, and the Boers, out of breath, our of ideas, and in the end, out of defenders, could not hold on.
To sum up, an error ridden All Black performance, an impassioned Bokke performance, and the error ridden side came out with a 6 point win. So what does that tell you? Passion will only take you so far, you’d better have some skills to back up that fire the passion gives you. The Bokke don’t, and paid the price.
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