Jake White's men have no answer to French flair
The Springboks and Jake White's unbeaten run at home has come to an end. France sent the Boks packing by recording an impressive 36-26 victory in Saturday's one-off Test at Newlands in Cape Town -- a margin that belies the superiority of the visitors.
Not only was it South Africa's first defeat at home in more than two years (after 13 matches unbeaten on SA soil), but it was also the first Northern Hemisphere win over a southern rival this year.
And to rub salt into the festering South African wounds, the French will now also overtake South Africa in the official IRB world rankings, going second to New Zealand -- a fair reflect based on what transpired at Newlands.
It was a simple case of the flat-footed Springboks having no answer to the French flair. Four tries to one says it all. It was a win that was worth a lot more than just ten points.
The South Africans have relied on defence and penalties to win games for too long. Now it has come back to haunt them, as they looked very ordinary -- in fact, simply second rate.
Maybe this is the wake-up call for White and his Boks. The rest of the world are scoring tries and entertaining. Six tries in four tests this year means they are way off the pace.
But first let's talk about the French -- they were absolutely sublime.
Not only did they match the much-vaunted Bok pack, they actually toyed with them.
At scrum time the South Africans looked like a ten-ton truck in retreat on a downhill. There has always been questions about Eddie Andrews's scrummaging ability. On Saturday he was exposed in the most cruel fashion. Sylvain Marconnet was the master who taught the pupil a lesson, one that will remain etched in the minds of the more than 40,000 Newlands spectators and millions of television viewers' for a long time.
Andrews is simply not an international prop. It improved somewhat when CJ van der Linde came on in his place in the second half, but by then the damage was done.
White's selections were questioned before the game. He defended his decision not to name a specialist fetcher among the loose forwards. He said you must have "15 fetchers". He had none on Saturday.
Rémy Martin, who came on as a replacement for the injured Thierry Dusautoir in the 14th minute of the match, had a field day. The Boks turned over more of their own ball in this game than they did all of last year.
Again, they were exposed in an area where White defended his selection. White was wrong. The critics were right, as painful as it might seem.
But the most crucial aspect of the game was the decision making of the Springboks. Their halfbacks -- Fourie du Preez (at No.9) and Jaco van der Westhuyzen (No.10) appeared clueless.
The French had two masters in Damien Traille and Dimitri Yachvili. There were those who questioned the selection of Traille at fly-half, who said the French have problems and not enough depth in this department. Traille controlled the game like a veteran -- cool, calm and always in command.
And then there is the Boks' much-vaunted defence!
De Wet Barry was brought in from the cold because of his experience and fearless defence. From the moment he knocked the ball with his first touch until the second Vincent Clerc try in the 73rd minute, the Stormers centre had a nightmare. The ease with which Florian Fritz brushed him aside said it all.
Either Barry is past his prime or he is carrying an injury. He looked out of his depth.
For the French it was a day to remember. Their first ever win at Newlands and prop Pieter de Villiers was tearful afterwards, because he had played his junior rugby at this ground. Then he headed to France, because he was not rated by the powers that be in South Africa, and became an international star. He probably played his one and only test at Newlands, but it was memorable. After Marconnet had taken care of Andrews, De Villiers took to Bok veteran Os du Randt and finished the destruction of the South African scrum.
The early play belonged to the visitors. First the Boks turned over the ball from the kick-off and then they failed to clear the ball from their 22.
Soon the French were on attack and looking dangerous. Then came a typical moment of French brilliance.
They looked like going nowhere, when Vincent Clerc changed direction and then launched a cross-kick. The bounce was awkward, missed by Brent Russell and then collected by Cédric Heymans, who sprinted over for the first try of the match. The conversion was wide, but the French had signalled their intentions.
Not only were they at Newlands to play, they were also going the stretch the Bok defences to the limit.
The rest of the half's scoring consisted of five penalties (four of those to the Boks) and a Florian Fritz drop-goal. The four Percy Montgomery penalties gave the Boks a 12-11 lead at the break -- a somewhat fortuitous advantage.
Most of the creativity of the half came from the French, with the Boks content to kick the ball back to the French.
The Boks also had some puzzling decisions by Australian referee Stuart Dickinson to thank for their lead. The French were often shaking their heads in disbelief and often would have been justified in asking exactly what they had done wrong. Admittedly some calls were justified, but there were far too many questionable calls, and with Dickinson seemingly intent on neutralising both the scrum and the ruck, the French were denied their rightful advantage.
The Boks came back after the break and enjoyed ten minutes of total dominance.
They controlled the ball, took it through phases and it looked as if their forwards would be in command for the rest of the game.
They soon won a couple of penalties, which Montgomery slotted, and then came a rare moment of creative brilliance by the Boks.
From a line-out the Boks drove hard, Pedrie Wannenburg broke on the blind and found space, he offloaded to Fourie du Preez, who drew the cover and then gave to Brent Russell, who shrug of a couple of desperate tackles to score the Boks' only try.
The conversion was wide, but the Boks looked good at 23-11.
But that only served to wake the French from their half-time slumber.
Within a minute Vincent Clerc scored his first try, coming from a great chip by Traille. Yachvili converted and at 23-18 it was game on!
The French were soon on attack again. A great break by Yachvili put Traille in space and the fly-half was over for the third French try. Yachvili converted for a 25-23 lead.
Traille then slotted a second drop-goal, followed by another Montgomery penalty -- 28-26.
Then came the clincher.
Fritz bust through in the midfield, where he left Barry for dead, and a slick offload to Clerc gave the French their fourth try.
A late Yachvili penalty sealed the win.
Man of the match: Few Springboks put up their hands on the day. Pedrie Wannenburg had his moments, Percy Montgomery's goal-kicking was solid and Os du Randt put in some really big hits. But the real heroes were the French. Damien Traille controlled the match and dictated the terms. Cédric Heymans was great on the left wing, appearing all over the park, and Vincent Clerc scored two tries on the right. But our man of the match award goes to replacement flanker Rémy Martin. He snaffled Bok ball all night and was a rock on defence.
Moment of the match: It has to be the clinching try, Vincent Clerc's second try in the 73rd minute -- when Florian Fritz showed De Wet Barry up and offloaded to Clerc for the score.
Villain of the match: Nothing much, except for one moment of idiocy by Springbok fly-half Jaco van der Westhuyzen, striking Serge Betsen from behind. He was penalised, but was lucky to have stayed on the field -- it should have been a red or yellow card.
The scorers:
For South Africa:
Try: Russell
Pens: Montgomery 7
For France:
Tries: Heymans, Clerc 2, Traille
Cons: Yachvili 2
Pens: Yachvili 2
DGs: Fritz, Traille
The teams:
South Africa: 15 Percy Montgomery, 14 Brent Russell, 13 Wynand Olivier, 12 De Wet Barry, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Jaco van der Westhuyzen, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pedrie Wannenburg, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Joe van Niekerk, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Danie Rossouw, 3 Eddie Andrews, 2 John Smit (captain), 1 Os du Randt.
Replacements: 16 Gary Botha, 17 CJ van der Linde, 18 Albert van den Berg, 19 Jacques Cronjé, 20 Enrico Januarie, 21 Wayne Julies, 22 Gaffie du Toit.
France: 15 Julien Laharrague, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Cédric Heymans, 10 Damien Traille, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Thierry Dusautoir, 6 Serge Betsen, 5 Jerôme Thion, 4 Fabien Pelous (captain), 3 Pieter de Villiers, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Sylvain Marconnet.
Replacements: 16 Raphaël Ibañez, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Lionel Nallet, 19 Julien Bonnaire, 20 Rémy Martin, 21 Pierre Mignoni, 22 Thomas Castaignède.
Referee: Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
Touch judges: Tony Spreadbury, Rob Debney (both England)
Television match official: Simon MacDowell (Ireland)
Assessor: Jim Bailey (Wales)
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