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3 weeks ago
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Handré Pollard put in a commanding performance at fly-half as a more pragmatic South Africa beat Australia in their second Rugby Championship Test in Cape Town to reignite the defence of their title.
Australia stunned the world champions 38-22 in their competition opener in Johannesburg last Saturday as the hosts tried to play an expansive gameplan with ball in hand and were picked off. This time round they turned it into an aerial contest, marshalled superbly by Pollard, who kicked 15 points to go with tries by the wing Canan Moodie, the No 8 Kwagga Smith and the lock Eben Etzebeth.
Australia were in the fight all the way and put in another excellent display as they scored three tries through wings Corey Toole and Max Jorgensen and the hooker, Brandon Paenga-Amosa, but a good old-fashioned arm-wrestle is the Springboks’ forte.
“It was greasy out there, but we played well,” Pollard said. “Our defence was good at times, though we also gave away some silly penalties.
“We have wings who are unbelievable in the air and it is something the boys put a lot of effort into. We know there is a bigger plan with our squad and we trust the process. Our forwards also stepped up in those last 10 minutes to win us some penalties.”
Australia may rue the bounce of the ball that did not go their way at times, but it was another performance full of character and fight. Fraser McReight, captaining the side in the absence through injury of Harry Wilson, said: “It was a great physical battle out there and I am super proud of my boys. We fought right to the end.
“It has been a tough two weeks over here. There were a few moments where if we got the ball back our way, the result could have been different. But that is the beauty of rugby.”
Australia lost their full-back, Tom Wright, and scrum-half, Nic White, to injury in the first 13 minutes, and the centre Joseph Suaalii at half-time, but their bench again came up trumps again to keep them within touching distance of the Springboks.
A try for Toole on debut briefly had Australia in front early on, but South Africa led 20-10 at the break despite the visitors seeing plenty of possession. Australia had the chance to take the lead with 12 minutes remaining but James O’Connor missed a relatively simple conversion.
With the game in the balance, Etzebeth’s stretch close to the line extended South Africa’s lead to eight points and they held on for what was a much-needed victory after their second-half capitulation in Johannesburg.
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Rassie Erasmus, South Africa’s coach, said: “Sometimes it’s just about getting back on the horse … I don’t think this was a great performance, but when we lose a game, everybody starts analysing the squad and the passion of the fans comes through. So I think given the kind of pressure we were under this weekend, we did well …
“The big thing for us today was to try and win and not let them get a bonus point. But we have to go to New Zealand and beat them there twice if we want to have any chance of winning the Rugby Championship.”
Australia’s Joe Schmidt was able to take plenty of positives from another competitive showing. “I know it is a loss, but it was three tries apiece with a team that got destabilised early on. It does give belief,” he said. “This time last year the Springboks put two bonus point victories on us at a canter.”
He added: “I felt like we made more line breaks and created more dangerous attacks. We did not finish them well enough, but that is credit to the defence of the Springboks.”
