DAVID SHAPSHAK, Cape Town | Saturday 7.30pm
STRUGGLING against a strong north-westerly wind South Africa bounced back from a string of humiliating defeats to beat Australia 10-9 in a Tri-Nations clash at Newlands on Saturday.
In a hard-fought battle in which the Cape Town wind forced both teams to resort to unglamorous but sensible kicking the Springboks scored one try to none to reverse a losing trend that had seen them sink to four successive losses.
The World Champions dominated the first quarter with a return to their attacking flair, solid tackling and ferocious all round play.
“We’re very positive we can do well for South Africa in the World Cup,” said coach Nick Mallett after the match. “We needed this win before going to the World Cup.”
South Africa kick off their defence of the William Webb Ellis trophy in Wales on October 3 with a match against Five Nations champions Scotland.
“The mark of a good team is how they defend and they tackled out of their boots. I’m particularly proud of them.”
They were a much more settled and organised side with the return of experienced flyhalf Jannie de Beer and centre Brendan Venter — the latter crying off with injury after the restart.
The Wallabies’ backline, again demonstrating why they are widely considered the best in the world, looked dangerous when they moved the ball out wide, only to be brought down by a tenacious Springbok defence.
On the day axed skipper Gary Teichmann announced his signing for Welsh club Newport, his successor Joost van der Westhuizen, in his second Test as captain, led his team to victory for the first time.
“We worked on our communication and our defence, and best of all we worked on keeping the ball in hand,” the scrumhalf said. “We needed this in before going to the World Cup.”
Australia have not won a Test in South Africa in four visits since the Springboks’ re-emergence into international rugby in 1992.
There must have been a touch of nostalgia for another former Springbok captain, Tiaan Strauss, when, as a second half replacement, he ran on to the field for Australia where he played for much of his provincial rugby for Western Province, including a long spell as captain.
The tightly-contested first half produced only a penalty apiece – in the 15th minute by De Beer and 41st by Matt Burke — as both teams tackled manfully and limited their opponents with tiresome defence.
Another Burke penalty, in the 57th minute, took Australia into the lead until Robbie Fleck converted the Springboks’ pressure with a close-range try. De Beer converted.
Burke, showing signs of distress when he kicked, landed another penalty to take the score to 10-9.
His counterpart Percy Montgomery, the butt of most media criticism for his erratic, often below-par, performances, had a much improved game, taking the high ball confidently and making one crucial try saving tackle in the second minute.
“I take my hat off to Percy. He played very well this week after coming off a Test match where he was booed. That’s not easy for any rugby player in his own country. He’s had a really tough week,” Mallett said of Montgomery’s best performance this year.
“But I believe he has the right qualities, as he showed today.”
Mallett said he was relieved to reverse the losing trend and hoped the cruel run of injuries had ended. “Hopefully the injury bogey is behind us,” he said.
“These have been the most unpleasant four weeks of my life,” Mallett said, referring to the Springboks’ four successive defeats.
But while the South African rugby public will be much encouraged by Saturday’s play, the Tri-Nations crown has slipped through the Springboks’ fingers and with the World Cup just two months ago, the World Champions have a long way to go to retain rugby’s highest honour.
Scorers:
South Africa — Tries: Robbie Fleck; Conversion: Jannie de Beer; Penalty: De Beer (15).
Australia — Penalties: Matt Burke (3).
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