Boks bury old ghosts and send strong message
THE ghosts of the Springboks’ 49-0 humiliation at the Suncorp Stadium in 2006 have at last been laid to rest and even if the 33-7 result yesterday was not quite on the same scale, the domination was complete.
Very rarely have the Wallabies been unable to fire a shot at their Brisbane fortress but Siya Kolisi’s warriors stormed the ramparts at the first whistle and Suncorp was sacked.
In terms of the scoreboard, that 49-0 score inflicted on John Smit’s team could have been wiped out but for a sudden loss of concentration at the three-quarter mark when the Boks suffered three yellow cards in quick succession and at one point played with 13 men.
Many an Australian must have been dreading the last 20 minutes, the period when the Bomb squad detonates, and with their team on the ropes the knockout blow could have been sickening.
But the yellow cards to Malcolm Marx, Marco van Staden, and Jesse Kriel took the Springbok boot off the Wallaby throat and utter ignominy was avoided.
Looking back to that 2006 rout, a year later Smit’s team won the World Cup in France. The pattern of Springbok misfires in Australia and the Rugby Championship in general has been well-documented. Critics of the Boks say they are World Cup wonders and cannot be considered a great team because their record between World Cups is unflattering.
That point can be debated long into the night and South Africans will say that it is World Cups that matter and everything in between is detail.
But there are positive signs that this Springbok team is on track to rule the world not just at the four-yearly tournament. Springbok fans will be able to have their cake and eat it if Kolisi’s team continues to innovate as they did yesterday.
There were clever ploys such as using blind side wing Cheslin Kolbe to feed the scrum to give the backline an extra man in Cobus Reinach; some of the lineout variations were wonderfully inventive and the use of locks Eben Etzebeth and Pieter-Steph du Toit in the wider channels had a devastating impact.
That veteran pair thundered at dwarfed defenders and covered acres of territory. Du Toit was especially magnificent if you consider he was moved from flank to No 5 lock after late injuries to first RG Snyman and then Ruan Nortje.
A moment that sticks out is Du Toit galloping back to the tryline from the half line after the Wallabies had snatched the ball and counter-attacked. How Du Toit got back so quickly to help Willie le Roux save the day was remarkable.
The Boks’ ability to take in their stride the late injuries to two locks is an indication of the strength in depth that Rassie Erasmus is building.
Erasmus is still getting the best out of his World Cup winners but has added newcomers who excelled yesterday, notably Elrigh Louw, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Ben-Jason Dixon, and Gerhard Steenkamp.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu lived up to the high expectations and the tussle for the No 10 jersey between him and World Cup hero Handre Pollard will be fascinating. There is Manie Libbok, too, let’s not forget.
That is the competition for places that coaches dream of and Erasmus is creating it in almost every position.
Before we get too carried away, though, it has to be admitted that the rebuilding of the Wallabies is in its infancy under the respected Joe Schmidt, but when it comes to Brisbane, there is no poor Australia team.
This was only South Africa’s fourth Test match win in the Queensland capital in 59 years.
It was South Africa's 14th in Australia and only their seventh since 1993. This is a paltry return given that the Boks have played there almost every year since 1996.
For the historians, this win coupled with the 2022 win in Sydney gives the Boks back-to-back wins in Australia for the first time since 1971, when Hannes Marais’s “Unbeatable” white-washed the Wallabies 3-0.
