In spite of gaining a valuable bonus point it is almost a certainty that the Springbok Tri-Nations campaign is all but over as they face a long haul to Australia to face the Wallabies in Sydney on July 7.
They then play the All Blacks in Christchurch on July 14.
Physically, it was the All Black powerhouses off the bench, fullback Leon MacDonald and Luke McAllister, that turned the tables on the Springboks as the majority of the capacity crowd of 53 000 watched in despair as their team disintegrated to concede two late tries.
In hindsight the release of the All Blacks starting line-up within a few hours of arrival in Durban — complete with a number of surprise selections — was an effective ploy.
The coaching staff had studied South Africa’s performances in the Super 14 and in the Tests against England, Samoa and Australia — all four won by the Boks — and had detected a weakness in their armoury.
That seemed to be fatigue — which in turn led to panic.
After dominating the first half, the Springbok pack all but disintegrated in the face of the enormous pressure. The All Blacks’s tries went to skipper Ritchie McCaw and Jo Rokocoko with Daniel Carter, after missing three penalty shots at goal, kicking three others and both conversions. The All Blacks’ extra points came from a drop goal by centre Aaron Mauger.
Uncharacteristically, the New Zealanders, often hustled into error by a tenacious Springbok defence, were guilty of many handling errors, some unforced, and from one of these, Bok flyhalf Butch James intercepted a dodgy pass by Mauger on the New Zealand 10m line and ran in to score under the posts. Earlier, Schalk Burger broke through the New Zealand defence from the lineout to go over the line.
Percy Montgomery slotted one conversion and two penalties but the defining moment came when Ruan Pienaar kicked a monster penalty from 55m to give SA an early 6-0 lead.
There were one or two scuffles among the players and a warning from referee Alain Roland of Ireland during one heated exchange. He then lost his patience and yellow-carded replacement flank Pedrie Wannenburg for a professional foul moments after he had come on as a replacement for Bob Skinstad.
Said coach Jake White: ”If you want to be the best in the world you have got to match the athleticism of a side such as the All Blacks. Their reserve bench strength was palpably of a higher standard than ours and in the end we lost a game we could so easily have won because of a lack of stamina.
”It could be said that the heavy pressures of seven weeks of intense Super 14 and Test rugby had taken its toll on a physically battered side that sorely missed the guiding influence of long-term injured skipper John Smit.”
White said that injuries to key men had also played a prominent part as Juan Smith, Pierre Spies, John Smit and Guthrie Steenkamp were ruled out of the All Blacks game. ”No side can really afford this sort of disruption. Now we have 10 weeks to prepare for France and the World Cup campaign.
The All Blacks may have got out of jail — as they suggested at the media conference — but the truth of the matter is that their planning was faultless.
Their timing of introducing fresh legs was clearly a well thought out strategy and at the end of it all the Springboks were found wanting.
The next month or so in the build-up to the World Cup in France will be a major exercise of careful planning before they line up against Scotland in Murrayfield on August 25 and then first round Cup games against Samoa in Paris, England at St Denis (the main World Cup Stadium in Paris), Tonga at Lens and the United States in Montpellier in September.
There have been suggestions circulating in local media circles that when White names his side for the return leg Tri Nations games in New Zealand and Australia he may opt to field a side devoid of a number of big names. – Sapa