THIRD TEST REPORT?South Africa 9 The Lions 28:A LITTLE late maybe, but hardly too little. The Lions made their slow retreat from South Africa today at least having averted a first-ever whitewash in South Africa – an indignity they scarcely would have deserved to share with the misadventure to New Zealand four years ago.
Of course, the emphatic nature of this win will merely make the regret at losing the first two Tests all the more acute. One will never know whether they would have won this third rubber had the series been on the line, but all the Lions could do was beat what was put in front of them, and that they did emphatically.
The Springboks’ strength in depth is perhaps not quite as strong as they presumed it to be. Their back three were unimpressive, although Odwa Ndungane was a tad unlucky not to be awarded a late consolation try – which was ironic given the lack of conclusive video footage for the critical Jaque Fourie try in the second Test. But the Bulls full-back Zane Kirchner was again a huge disappointment, Chiliboy Ralapelle was anything but hot, they are hugely dependent on Fourie du Preez and seriously short of locks when one dips below the Victor Matfield/Bakkies Botha combination.
Having revamped their team, and with the series already won, the ill-conceived armbands proclaiming “justice” over the Botha’s two-week ban also showed that their heads clearly weren’t in the right place. Victor Matfield’s headgear, with the word “Justice” writ large on it, lured the cameras regularly and the lock’s first clear-out seemed also like a statement on behalf of his secondrow partner.
Dear Lord, of all the things that could be righted in this benighted country with institutionalised poverty, wearing armbands over a rugby player’s two-week suspension hardly ranks as the most compelling case for a protest. It also underlines, perhaps, the vacuum at the top of Sarfu rugby and the Springbok management that the players were not advised accordingly.
It will be interesting to see what Regan Hoskins, president of Sarfu and a member of the IRB board, thinks of this risible protest. After all, these are IRB regulations that the players wore their armbands over. An investigation, public rap and fine seem highly probable.
The Boks had spells when they cranked up the tempo and put width and depth on their game, but for large tracts of the contest Morne Steyn and co simply hoofed the ball in the general direction of Rob Kearney. The Irishman lapped it all up again, once more setting the tone with a counter-attack off his first catch in another virtuoso fullback performance.
In stark contrast to the first Test, by Saturday the Boks’ scrum and maul scarcely gained an inch, though admittedly the Lions’ pack had made significant progress in these areas, both through selection and on the training ground. Spoiling effectively if not always legally in the air and in the scrums, it was a masterful effort in all-round forward play, for which Warren Gatland can take a bow. How they must still privately rue their forward selection for the first Test.
Here there was accuracy in pretty much everything the Lions did. Try though Heinrich Brussow did – he was the only one who seemed up for the fight until the red mist descended late on in tandem with Ralapelle’s half-time replacement by that pacifist Bismarck du Plessis – the Lions’ clearing out at the breakdown was generally ruthless and effective.
They also manufactured a few turnovers of their own, with the immense Paul O’Connell, Jamie Heaslip and Martyn Williams leading the way. The Welsh veteran couldn’t possibly sustain his stunning start to the game, whereas O’Connell gave his most complete, leader-from-the-front 80 minutes of the tour. For all the carping about O’Connell in a small portion of the media, no one eclipses Matfield though the Munster man did do so in Ellis Park.
Out wide, Shane Williams rediscovered what he was looking for after the early try he craved, though his man-of-the-match award was faintly ridiculous. As he acknowledged afterwards, Williams owed a huge debt to Heaslip, who kickstarted a veritable tour de force by laying on that early try with a barnstorming run and sumptuous inside pass across his body. That was typical Heaslip. He may not make as many eye-catching solo runs as other number eights, but he translates a high proportion of them into big plays or tries.
In his 34th game of a stellar season, Heaslip was simply sensational – augmenting all that effective toiling he does at the breakdown and in the tackle with a host of support runs, carries and offloads. His hard, straight line through two tackles and offload to Kearney at the start of the second half was as good as the play for Williams’ try. He seemed to be everywhere.
Williams took a superb line for that try, and did remarkably well to hold on to Rikki Flutey’s Campese-like flick over his shoulders to run in the second try. This was the high point of a huge game from the Kiwi-born England centre who, along with Tommy Bowe, led the way in a magnificent defensive display.
Taking the space afforded them by the Boks’ deep alignment, the Lions cut down the space and opposition carriers with gusto – none more so than Joe Worsley in a trademark tree-felling effort. When they were outflanked a couple of times in the second half Bowe produced try-saving covering tackles on Kirchner and Ndungame. It’s been some tour for the Monaghan man, who finishes as one of only five players to have played every minute of the Test series – Heaslip, O’Connell, Mike Phillips and Stephen Jones being the others.
The Welsh halves also contributed mightily to that defensive effort, Jones making three covering tackles in about five minutes in the second period, while Phillips was so up for the physical challenge that the Lions pushed him into midfield for the last 25 minutes. How they must also regret not doing that in the second Test. The high point of that defensive effort was Ugo Monye picking up an intercept try before the Boks lost their heads and allowed Jones to kick the Lions out of sight.
At least they earned some rewards for their mighty efforts and inventive rugby. They deserved that much.
SOUTH AFRICA: Z Kirchner (Bulls); O Ndungane (Sharks), J Fourie (Lions), W Olivier (Bulls), J Nokwe (Cheetahs); M Steyn (Bulls), F du Preez (Bulls); T Mtawarira (Sharks), C Ralepelle (Bulls), J Smit (Sharks), J Muller (Sharks), V Matfield (Bulls), H Brussow (Cheetahs), J Smith (Cheetahs), R Kankowski (Sharks). Replacements: F Steyn (Sharks) for Fourie (24-28 mins) and for Kirchner (57 mins), B du Plessis (Sharks) for Ralapelle, R Pienaar (Sharks) for du Preez (both half-time), P Spies (Bulls) for Nokwe (65 mins), G Steenkamp (Bulls) for Mtawarira (71 mins), D Carstens (Sharks) for Smit (71-73 mins). Not used: S Sykes (Sharks).
LIONS: R Kearney (Leinster and Ireland); U Monye (Harlequins and England), T Bowe (Ospreys and Ireland), R Flutey (Wasps and England), S Williams (Ospreys and Wales); S Jones (Scarlets and Wales), M Phillips (Ospreys and Wales); A Sheridan (Sale Sharks and England), M Rees (Scarlets and Wales), P Vickery (Wasps and England), S Shaw (Wasps and England), P O’Connell (Munster and Ireland, capt), J Worsley (Wasps and England), M Williams (Cardiff Blues and Wales), J Heaslip (Leinster and Ireland). Replacements: T Croft (Leicester and England) for Worsley (30-35 mins and 66 mins), R Ford (Edinburgh and Scotland) for Rees (37 mins), J Hayes (Munster and Ireland) for Vickery, H Ellis (Leicester and England) for Flutey (both 55 mins), A-W Jones (Ospreys and Wales) for Shaw (67 mins), D Wallace (Munster and Ireland) for M Williams (76 mins). Not used: J Hook (Ospreys and Wales).
Referee: S Dickinson (Australia).
