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Comment: Rob Houwing, Sport24 chief writer
Cape Town – It seems the Springboks, perhaps understandably, are trying to paint a picture of sudden Australian self-doubt and insecurity ahead of the Tri-Nations opener in Sydney on Saturday.
Fat chance of that, though ... I can’t see how the Wallabies will be anything but chastened and thus seriously up for it as they face the under-strength South Africans.
You could hardly blame captain John Smit for rubbing salt into Aussie wounds, following one of their most embarrassing defeats in history at the hands of relative minnows Samoa: he suggested there will be “pretty strong pressure” on the Wallabies over the next few days as they contemplate the challenge of his own, largely experimental charges.
But I suspect that the 32-23 reverse to the Samoans -- a game which the world’s No 2-ranked side incredibly never even looked like winning -- will only have the effect of stinging the Australians into remedial action.
So any element of surprise the much-publicised Bok “B-team” may have hoped to spring on the host nation must have gone up in smoke, courtesy of Sunday’s wholly unexpected events.
Needless to say, the Wallabies have clearly only stiffened their resolve now to return to a senior-staff combo as quickly as possible for the meeting with Smit’s troops – they will reportedly roll out big guns like Quade Cooper, Will Genia, Kurtley Beale, James Horwill and others like David Pocock and James O’Connor assuming they pass fitness tests.
Forget the generous five debuts Robbie Deans allowed against Samoa; there won’t be any such charity against the Boks as Operation Redemption kicks in with some earnest.
What will really be irking Australian rugby, too, just a week after the nirvana of the Reds’ great triumph in Super Rugby, is that the line-up which started against the Pacific islanders wasn’t completely made up of rookies: they still fielded such crusty competitors as Nathan Sharpe, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Matt Giteau and Stephen Moore, whilst even Genia got almost half an hour of game-time off the bench without being able to turn the tide.
The Wallabies also sported the in-form Reds wing alliance of Digby Ioane and Rod Davies, although the latter, in particular, was given a gruesome old baptism to Test rugby by his fire-breathing opposite number Alesana Tuilagi, the 114kg, Lomu-like Leicester Tigers bulldozer.
Yet despite Australia fielding several established bankers, Samoa were obviously miffed by the sense of Aussie complacency both ahead of and then during the match, when the Wallabies, already 10-0 down, spurned a dead-easy penalty shot at goal in the dangerous assumption that a looming try-fest in their favour was a fait accompli.
Even when they slipped 0-17 behind just short of the half-hour mark, Australian TV commentator Greg Martin was saying things like: “This is the time for all Samoan fans to be taking pictures of the scoreboard”.
Again, it appeared to be a suggestion that the underdogs’ ascendancy would be short-lived.
And afterwards Samoan lock Daniel Leo was quoted by the Sydney Morning Herald as saying: “There was probably a bit of under-estimation on the Wallabies’ part. We fed off the fact that they were using it as a trial match ... we were quite offended.”
Damning as well was how spooked and cowed the Australian team looked in the handling department, where an unusually amateurish pattern of fumbling took root – an unwanted tribute, no doubt, to the typically bone-crunching tackling of the Samoans, still iconic and borderline for legality in this facet even with Brian “Chiropractor” Lima now very safely in retirement.
The Wallabies are unlikely to be caught so woefully cold and complacent again.
Their “kids” will have been politely told to put their pyjamas on and go to bed.
No, this weekend it will be the full-strength Wallabies’ turn to feel “offended”, instead, as they eye-ball the pretty greenhorn Springbok side immediately before kick-off.
My take is that the Bok task just got much tougher, not easier.
Thanks Samoa ... but no thanks, after deeper contemplation.
Cape Town – It seems the Springboks, perhaps understandably, are trying to paint a picture of sudden Australian self-doubt and insecurity ahead of the Tri-Nations opener in Sydney on Saturday.
Fat chance of that, though ... I can’t see how the Wallabies will be anything but chastened and thus seriously up for it as they face the under-strength South Africans.
You could hardly blame captain John Smit for rubbing salt into Aussie wounds, following one of their most embarrassing defeats in history at the hands of relative minnows Samoa: he suggested there will be “pretty strong pressure” on the Wallabies over the next few days as they contemplate the challenge of his own, largely experimental charges.
But I suspect that the 32-23 reverse to the Samoans -- a game which the world’s No 2-ranked side incredibly never even looked like winning -- will only have the effect of stinging the Australians into remedial action.
So any element of surprise the much-publicised Bok “B-team” may have hoped to spring on the host nation must have gone up in smoke, courtesy of Sunday’s wholly unexpected events.
Needless to say, the Wallabies have clearly only stiffened their resolve now to return to a senior-staff combo as quickly as possible for the meeting with Smit’s troops – they will reportedly roll out big guns like Quade Cooper, Will Genia, Kurtley Beale, James Horwill and others like David Pocock and James O’Connor assuming they pass fitness tests.
Forget the generous five debuts Robbie Deans allowed against Samoa; there won’t be any such charity against the Boks as Operation Redemption kicks in with some earnest.
What will really be irking Australian rugby, too, just a week after the nirvana of the Reds’ great triumph in Super Rugby, is that the line-up which started against the Pacific islanders wasn’t completely made up of rookies: they still fielded such crusty competitors as Nathan Sharpe, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Matt Giteau and Stephen Moore, whilst even Genia got almost half an hour of game-time off the bench without being able to turn the tide.
The Wallabies also sported the in-form Reds wing alliance of Digby Ioane and Rod Davies, although the latter, in particular, was given a gruesome old baptism to Test rugby by his fire-breathing opposite number Alesana Tuilagi, the 114kg, Lomu-like Leicester Tigers bulldozer.
Yet despite Australia fielding several established bankers, Samoa were obviously miffed by the sense of Aussie complacency both ahead of and then during the match, when the Wallabies, already 10-0 down, spurned a dead-easy penalty shot at goal in the dangerous assumption that a looming try-fest in their favour was a fait accompli.
Even when they slipped 0-17 behind just short of the half-hour mark, Australian TV commentator Greg Martin was saying things like: “This is the time for all Samoan fans to be taking pictures of the scoreboard”.
Again, it appeared to be a suggestion that the underdogs’ ascendancy would be short-lived.
And afterwards Samoan lock Daniel Leo was quoted by the Sydney Morning Herald as saying: “There was probably a bit of under-estimation on the Wallabies’ part. We fed off the fact that they were using it as a trial match ... we were quite offended.”
Damning as well was how spooked and cowed the Australian team looked in the handling department, where an unusually amateurish pattern of fumbling took root – an unwanted tribute, no doubt, to the typically bone-crunching tackling of the Samoans, still iconic and borderline for legality in this facet even with Brian “Chiropractor” Lima now very safely in retirement.
The Wallabies are unlikely to be caught so woefully cold and complacent again.
Their “kids” will have been politely told to put their pyjamas on and go to bed.
No, this weekend it will be the full-strength Wallabies’ turn to feel “offended”, instead, as they eye-ball the pretty greenhorn Springbok side immediately before kick-off.
My take is that the Bok task just got much tougher, not easier.
Thanks Samoa ... but no thanks, after deeper contemplation.
