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Cape Town - Former Springbok coach Nick Mallett was not impressed by the quality of rugby on display in Saturday’s Rugby Championship Test between Australia and South Africa in Brisbane.
The Wallabies eked out a 23-17 win over a struggling Springbok side, despite the South Africans racing to a 14-3 lead early in the game.
“Both teams tried hard, but it was just a good little battle between two B division sides. It wasn’t as though they were playing for the Championship. They were just trying to fight their way out of a corner and South Africa unfortunately came out second best,” Mallett said in the SuperSport studio after the game.
The Wallabies broke a six-game winless run which included a 3-0 home drubbing against England.
“I’m just concerned about the fact that a poor Australian side, lacking confidence after being shown up by England and New Zealand, created more scoring opportunities than we did. The Boks had an opportunity, especially going 14-3 up, to get a win away from home and they couldn’t do the job.”
The Boks are Christchurch this week where they face a daunting task against the world champion All Blacks.
“These two teams and Argentina are around about the same standard. And compared to what the Boks are going to face next week, it’s like night and day. The New Zealanders do not miss opportunities like the Boks and the Wallabies missed in Brisbane.
“We had an encouraging start, with good, accurate carrying in the lead-up to the first try. But remember, our second try came from an Australian error where Bernard Foley took the ball far too flat and then tried to throw a skip pass. We had Adriaan Strauss intercept it and from there managed to get to 14. If Australia had executed better and gotten that pass away slightly earlier, they would have scored. Which is why I say both teams made tactical and individual errors.”
