This year was a mix bag for South African rugby supporters, I think. There were some extreme highs and some awful lows.

The worst was undoubtedly the tri-nations and in particular the three losses against New Zealand. I and most other bloggers have lamented about that extensively so I won’t say anything more about it apart from the fact that I believe, in hindsight, one or two injured Springboks could have made a difference in at least two of the tests against New Zealand and in the test in Bloemfontein against Australia. In particular Fourie du Preez which I believe would have been international player of the year had he played test rugby this year.

This brings me to the highlight of my year and that is the way the Bulls played and won the S14 this year. I am not a bulls fan never was in fact I use to dislike them to the extreme when I was younger. Maybe it is an age thing or maybe it’s because I am living in New Zealand but I’ve moved beyond provincialism. It is actually quite a nice space to be in as it allows you to really see the rugby and not just your team and its mistakes and/or how the referee is doing your team in. I need to get in the same space with regard to test rugby but that I deem that to be something way off in the future for me. There is just have too much emotional attachment with South African rugby with me.

Back to the Bulls and Fourie du Preez.

I was extremely impressed with the innovation and adaptability of the bulls. What I particularly liked about the bulls is that they played according to their strengths and that they came up with innovative plays within that context. They didn’t try to play for the pavilion or like anybody else but embraced and enforced their own unique style. The bulls also proved to me during this season that they are a multi-dimensional team. A team that can adapt the way they play during a match. They were able to vary their attack, they showed patience with the ball in hand and they were clinical in execution.

The bulls showed trust in their game plan and they didn’t go panicky went things did go wrong but showed self-belief and the ability to patiently enforce a game plan even when behind on the scoreboard.

The pods are a Bulls invention. The Stormers and even New Zealand (to some extend) duplicated it but does not do it as well as the bulls.

The Bulls was extremely effective with the pods to get across the advantage line and to punch holes in the defensive lines of opposition teams. They sometimes used two pods sitting flat on the defence line standing two meters from each other. FdP then used a flat pass to either the first or second pod; it kept the defence guessing.

As a variation on that they used angled runners (Spies or Danie Rossouw) steaming in between the two pods. They scored two tries with that against the chiefs.

Another variation with the pods is instead of waiting flat on the advantage line the receiver will take the ball at pace with rear support the moment he hit contact.

Another variation is a deep throw in the line-out mauling the ball infield then changing direction with a pod on the blindside or just shifting the ball to a pod standing infield whenever the maul gets static.

Their back line play also improved dramatically from previous seasons under the tutorship of Slapchips Pieter Rousseau. I liked how they used Morné Steyn to run a 45 degrees line and then in passed to a player (one of the centers) coming in on an angle.

The most impressive for me was how they kept on rotating what they were doing. They for instance would use the infield pod repeatedly until the defence start lining up for it just to shift to high kick and charge doing that repeatedly until the defence starting to hang back and then they will switch to doing three or four mauls and then suddenly two pods flat passing to the first pod then to the second pod. Next moment they send the ball wide just to bring it back into contact and then flat pass to Spies coming on an angled run through the two pods.

Never a dull moment this year watching the bulls.

There was nothing stereotype about their game and they used the perception that they are one-dimensional to their advantage making the opponents think they are doing the same thing over and over but mean while reading the defence and waiting for the right opportunity to change whatever they were doing.

Fourie du Preez had a terrific season and he was the general or the playmaker and the man who controlled proceedings. Without a doubt on this year S14 form the best South African scrumhalf I’ve seen in my life.

The Bulls are my team of the year and Fourie du Preez my player of the year.

Another highlight –as a WP supporter since I can remember- was the improvement in Stormer and Western Province rugby this year. Allistair Coetzee impressed me immensely and is my coach of the year mostly because he took a team with less superstars (than is the case with the bulls) to a super 14 final and then repeated the feat with Western Province (something that Frans Ludeke could not do with Northern Transvaal without his Springboks).

Lastly, the emphatic win against England. That win gave me hope for next years WC campaign .

4 August 1976 – South African Universities 9 / All Blacks 21

Terry McLean in his book “goodbye to glory” starts his piece on this match with the following paragraph:

June 25. Jan Smuts Airport. All Blacks arrive. Big crowd. Much cheering (but crowd neither as big nor cheering as loud as it used to be). Danie Craven. Jannie le Roux. Handshaking. “Welcome. Glad you could make it boys. Season wouldn’t have been the same without you.” Craven again. “South African Rugby is much better than it was when the Lions were here two years ago. You will see. Much, much better. The new Currie Cup competition has stirred everything up. You will see. We will be waiting for you. And don’t forget – there are five tests. Ja, man, five. South African Universities. A great team. You will find them very hard.”

It was indeed almost a complete Springbok team with some incumbents like Dawie Snyman, Edrich Krantz, Peter Whipp, Gerrie Germishuys, Boland Coetzee, and John Williams, some oldies like Joggie Jansen and some future Springboks like De Wet Ras, Barry Wolmerans, Wynand Claassen, Eben Jansen, Louis Moolman and Daan du Plessis. In the entire team only Wouter Hugo the OVS Captain (a team who would win the Currie Cup in 1976) and Doug Mather would never play for the Springboks.

Wouter Hugo in his OVS university blazer. He was one of only two players (the other being Doug Mather) in the Varsity team who never played for South Africa.

De Wet Ras in his Shimlas rugby jersey. He launched, yet again, almost every ball he received into deep cosmos space.

Unfortunately they -the Varsity team- didn’t show up on the day. Fact is, as I’ll explain a little further down the line, the students were outwitted and outplayed.

It was altogether a disappointing day for the 60 000 odd spectators including Prime Minister John Vorster who showed up to see how the All Blacks were going to get beaten in the fifth test. Mclean writes:

Ja, man, the fifth test. A great team? Pshaw. John Williams was a great lineout forward. The greatest. No gazelle ever leapt so high. Count the possession score -23 to 12 to Varsities. All Blacks damned lucky to get 12.

Gerrie Germishuys some player, too. He couldn’t help it but be. Class, just class. Mind you Kit Fawcett did bring him down like a ton of bricks. Gave you the heart to go on. Made you think, well, Kit could be the kid for the Test. Dan du Plessis mighty useful at tighthead. Hard player, medical man. Conscientious cove, dead ringer for Lawrie Knight.

No flies on Boland Coetzee, either. Good lively forward, nicest man in the Springbok team.

As to the rest, pack ‘em up and put ‘em away.

Mustn’t exaggerate. The boys did take time to get weaving. After 12 minutes: S.A. Universities 6, All Blacks 0. Ras penalties, 29 m and 40 m. “Sully” was sore about the second award. Whaffor, Ref?” Not much joy, either, in seeing Joe Morgan, first time with the ball, 17 minutes gone, trying to dropkick. Shocker. Ball never rose above its own height. Shocker penalty by Sutherland, too, from 47 m. Duck with both wings shot off would fly higher, straighter.

And then, tramp, tramp, tramp, the boys were marching. Going slotted one in from 41 m. Morgan capped with a try, a brilliant move infield by Mitchell involving Bruce Robertson and Sutherland. Sid Again. Half-time 9-6. The rest, men against boys. Great try by Jognstone. Pick-up of kick-ahead by Mitchell and a plunging run for 20 m. Smart try by Seear, too. Straight though a hole in the lineout wall.

“Class, just class”, writes Terry McLean of Gerrie Germishuys (with the ball in the picture above). Louis Moolman, on the other hand, (in the background) didn’t impress McLean at all and he writes: “Louis Moolman not the cove he was for the South African XV. Beard longer maybe longer, but possession skills streakier. Only three out of 10 – OK, make it four”

It was the “new” scrummaging strategy the All Blacks (reminded of -because it wasn’t really new in the sense of it being a new invention-  during the WTVL game, I believe, and refined during the TVL game) some scribes opinionate which made all the difference in this game.

The students’ vaunted front row was having problems with Bush and Johnstone and the inability of Doug Mather to hold rampant Bush put a strain on the rest of the pack. New Zealand first got the Universities knotted up in the scrum with a series of perfectly executed “wheels” whenever Barry Wolmarans put in.

The effect rippled through the ranks and long before the end, the Varsities looked a beaten, dispirited, leaderless bunch. Wolmerans had to scramble for every ball as the scrum screwed away from him. As a consequence his service suffered and the whole Universities game began to deteriorate. “Kanonpoot” De Wet Ras was, as usual, in howitzer mode and the few balls the Varsities got was launced like howitzer mortars downfield all because someone long time ago made the mistake of telling De Wet that he can kick a ball a mile.

Somehow the old truism “he that’s good with a hammer believes everything is a nail” applies to most South African flyhalves –in particular to De Wet Ras and Gerald Bosch- of the mid 1970’s.

The match labeled as the fifth Test became something of a sick joke as a contest. Not to distract from the All Blacks’ victory, but it was a palpably poor collective effort by the students; totally lacking leadership and commitment to physical confrontation. John Williams chances to become a Springbok or provincial captain for that matter took a serious nosedive along with the reputations of several other front runners, including new cap right wing Edrich Krantz.

Batty –playing with an orthopedic brace- gave Krantz such a runaround at Loftus that one shudders to think what damage he could have caused if he had been fully mobile. Krantz’s aspirations to play in the second test in front of his home crowd in Bloemfontein were buried at Loftus in funereal silence.

Edrich Krantz here with the ball playing for the SA University team against the All Blacks of 1976. Krantz was exposed on defense by that explosive bundle of tricks Grant Batty to such an extent that he lost his place in the test side.

The South African crowd was stunned into disbelief at the ease with which the All Blacks second stringers toyed with the cream of South African University rugby strength. The kiwi pack that comprehensively outplayed the “Springbok” students contained only two men –props Brad Johnstone and Billy Bush – who were to play in the second test 10 days later.

This match brought Joe Morgan out of the shadows into the test spotlight and confirmed Kit Fawcett’s exciting potential. Apart from the Terry Mitchell, in the place of Bryan Williams, the backline that played against the students was the second test backline. Going and Doug Bruce strike-up a happy partnership as halfbacks and the backline ran with pace and purpose against the students.

Doug Bruce who combined well with Going against the students which convinced the kiwi selectors to maintain him in the No10 spot for the second test.

Gary Seear scoring for the All Blacks after busting through a hole in the lineout.

New Zealand controlled the game from about the 20^th minute and apart from a Wolmerans intercept (see picture) which didn’t lead to anything apart from given the Univesities a odd moment to run a few yards, the Universities were totally outclassed.

Grant Batty and Boland Coetzee strike up an acquaintance. The crowd loved it.

Grant Batty –knee brace and ball tucked in wrong arm despite- slipped past (in the picture above) past Joggie Jansen who was way past his best.

Peter Whipp gave the crowd a rare moment of excitement with an attempt to break while well covered. Whipp was another incumbent who lost his place for the second test. No13 in the picture is Bruce Robertson and the Varisty player on the left running up in support is Wynand Claassen.

Teams

The match official was Dr Johan Gouws from Eastern Transvaal; match attendance was 55 000 to 60 000.

Run of play

Some additional thoughts and post match happenings

Although taking a sarcastic angle on Danie Craven’s remark that SA rugby has much improved in his narrative about this game Terry McLean does agree on some other places in his book that SA provincial rugby has shown much improvement since 1970. He writes:

The fact was, as All Blacks as experienced as Alan Sutherland, Ian Kirkpatrick, Sid Going and Bryan Williams could testify, that South African Rigby at provincial level which the 1976 All Blacks encountered was immeasurably stronger than that which the team of 1970 had so often so effortlessly overcome.

To put the matter in perspective, and bluntly, the Big Four of South African provinces – Western Province, Orange Free State, Transvaal and Northern Transvaal- would on their form against the ’76 All Blacks beat any province in New Zealand, decisively.

Transvaal would simply crush any New Zealand provincial pack.

Six players walked out of their Burgerspark Hotel dining room the first night after waiting 30 minutes for service. Choet Visser –the liaison officer- took them to a nearby restaurant. The following day Visser and hotel management had some hard words but reached a satisfactory arrangement.

Kerry Tanner collapsed in his room with acute influenza and was rushed to hospital.

Ian Kirkpatrick, Bill Osborne and Hamish Macdonald were taken aloft by the South African Air Force. They hit speeds of almost 1000mph in Mirage Jets, an experience described as both “fantastic and frightening” by the players.

Andy Leslie and Tane Norton visited 1 military hospital to offer comfort and talk rugby to some of the unfortunate troops who had been injured on border duty. A free-lance photographer John Rugbython accompanied Leslie and Norton. His pictures were cabled to New Zealand and published. Permission was refused for publication in South Africa. Bring back memories of the police state we lived in during those years, doesn’t it.

The first 50 of a group of 1000 New Zealand supporters arrived in Johannesburg to follow the tour.

The word student was of course used in the most liberal sense as many players with only tenuous links with student rugby were picked for the University team ahead of others who were genuine students pursuing degrees. The row generated such heat that at one stage it looked as if the awarding of colours to the XV would be in jeopardy. The way the “students” performed –it was felt afterwards- perhaps they didn’t deserve the colours.

31 July 1976 – Transvaal 10 / All Blacks 12

In the end it was the five crocks which cost Transvaal the match. Transvaal started the match with five players not fully fit and that contributed to 1) running out of puff in the last 5 minutes 2) losing a vital line-out in the last minute and 3) Bosch –one of the crocks- botching it up by missing a penalty kick in the last minute.

“Pa” Pelser’s remark after the match: “They are a great side. They beat us fairly and squarely” was much appreciated by the New Zealanders. Fact is that the burden of carrying suspect players told on Transvaal and the fade out in the last 15 minutes prevented them from registering their first win in 48 years over the All Blacks.

Kevin de Klerk needed an injection for his damaged ankle ligaments; Johan Strauss played with seven stitches in a leg ripped by a saw; Johan van Wyngaard moved cautiously on his injured leg; Bosch and Ellis both spend most of the week in run-up to the match in bed with flu.

Gerald Bosch shouldn’t have played on two accounts. One he was still disturbed by the furious arguing over whether he should have left the field at Durban. He had been hounded over the weekend and in next few days as reporters has sought unceasingly for the Bosch answer to all the quarrelling about the legitimacy of the subbing. Second, he developed complications from playing with the flu in the first test and hardly had a practice kick during the ensuing week as he struggled to shake of the after effects. Bosch succeeded with only two of seven kicks excluding a failed drop kick attempt but including a kick in the last minutes which would have won Transvaal the match.

Gerald Bosch didn’t have a happy day with the boot and probably shouldn’t have been playing at all as he was still struggling to overcome the ill effects of flu.

Johan Strauss

Dave Frederickson

Richard Prentis

The Transvaal front-row who gave the All Blacks a torrid time in the scrums

Transvaal decided to play a strengthened, heavier front row with the recall of Springbok Dave Frederickson, a retreaded prop, as hooker, the ironman Johan Strauss at tighthead and another future Springbok prop Richard Prentis packing on the loosehead side of the scrum. They attacked the All Blacks in the right place namely up front and the All Blacks for the first time on tour felt the slow poison of a well-drilled scrummaging machine. Kevin de Klerk also proved a handful in the line-outs and by halftime Transvaal was leading 10-3. It could have been more but Bosch missed with his first two penalty attempts and with the conversation of Corrie Pypers try.

Pypers scored a stupendous try in the 26^th minute bulldozing his way down the left touchline like a tank eluding Billy Bush first then storming through Bryan Williams and Duncan Robertson before crashing over in the tackle of Kit Fawcett.

McLean provides this illustrative description of the Corrie Pypers try:

Corrie Pypers, just a new boy in such company, sold two or three dummies to Paul Bayvel at a forward tussle about halfway. Mired in the expectation of a ball to touch, the All Blacks let Corrie be. Whereupon he turned about, with the touchline only a meter or so from his left shoulder, and began to run. Bush, too sour in mind to concentrate, because of a continuing contest with Frederickson, failed the first and easiest tackle. Williams, Fawcett and Duncan Robertson suffered next; and even the ranks of Ponsonby could scare forbear to cheer as the magnificent Pypers completed his run with a try at the corner.

Corrie pypers breaking away with Kevin de Klerk, Jan Ellis and Paul Bayvel in the background.

McLean also has this on the Transvaal forwards, the referee, Kevin de Klerk and Jan Ellis:

Transvaal had vast forwards who averaged more than a stone heavier. The mid-afternoon Johannesburg temperature was 25 degrees and down at the bottom of the bowl it must have been degrees warmer. “It was hot,” “Stoney” Steenkamp, the referee agreed. He contributed to the heat. His 33 penalties, 17 of them to Transvaal, exacerbated players and public. “Pa” Pelser, the Transvaal coach, raged that 9 of the penalties against his side had been at the scrum. The All Blacks did some raging to.

You never saw more scientific lifting than was done of the lock Kevin de Klerk, as he won one ball after another at lineouts. The hems of his shorts were almost up around his waist, so high and long was he held aloft. But Stoney did nothing which might explain the fractures of body which were the saddening features of the game.

Jan Ellis, perhaps because he had been turned by age into a rogue elephant, pursued the All Black skipper and delivered upon him, as his back was partly turned, a punch Luis Firpo might have esteemed (Read more about Firpo here). Leslie saw it coming too late to duck. In fact he turned the wrong way, straight into the blow. At first, so it was thought in the dressing-room after no-side, the jaw was broken. Later, the X-ray revealed a hairline fracture of the cheekbone.

Was it true Ellis spent the evening patting himself on the back for his feat –the only one of the game which was of account?

As this group of pictures indicate Jan Ellis had at least one run with the ball during the match which is a bit more than old Terry McLean would like to give him credit for.

Another Corrie Pypers picture. He scored his second try in his second match against the All Blacks and this try was according to accounts one of the great tries scored at Ellispark.

It is probably no co-incidence that Leslie suffered the same injury Morné du Plessis did against the same team and the boast by Ellis at the after-match party that Leslie had looked for it and got what he deserved struck a sadly inappropriate note. His outburst won him few friends and there was far less sympathy for him than there might have been when he was dropped only one test away from a record 39 appearances for South Africa.

New Zealand’s try was a team effort. Duncan Robertson created it by flattening Bosch with a devastating tackle. It led to a penalty which New Zealand tapped. Ian Kirkpatrick stormed through a gap, the forwards drove over the tackle ball like a black tidal wave. The ball popped out and in a flash went through the hands to Williams who put on the supercharger to score an excellent try in the corner. Williams then converted his try with a super kick right from the corner after having been succesful with only one of 6 previous attempts at goal.

Bryan Williams also kicked the penalty that mattered in the 38^th minute to take the All Blacks to a 12-10 victory.

The game featured little back play, being a fascinating battle for forward supremacy between two excellent packs. It was a grinding day for the kiwi’s that was to teach them more than it apparently taught the Springbok selectors. From it was born a secret scrummaging strategy, the brainchild of Tane Norton and which had a profound impact on the second test two weeks later. In essence, it hinged on the All Black tighthead prop becoming the key man on the opposition put-in; boring in at an angle to impede his prop and so hampering the hooker in his sight of the ball and timing for the hook. Wrapped up in the plan was the timing of the “heave” so that the opposition ball won turned into slow possession. It culminated in both Derek van den Berg and Robert Cockrell getting the sack after the second test.

Frederickson left the field replaced by Gerald Venter in the 64^th minute and this conspired to ruin what could have been a perfect day for the Transvaal pack- who received genuine praise from the All Black team afterwards. Venter missed Kevin de Klerk in the dying seconds of the match, close to the All Black line, with Bosch set for a drop at goal. To the Transvaal forwards’ horror, Venter lobbed the ball feet above de Klerk’s head –to No7- where Lawrie Knight made a fine take allowing the All Blacks to clear.

Kit Fawcett had one of his better games and got New Zealand running with some outstanding counter-attacking runs. He also produced the tackle of the day stopping Johan van Wyngaard stone dead as he raced towards the New Zealand posts.

Teams

*     Replaced by Gerald Venter in the 64^th minute. ++ Replaced by Lawrie Knight after 43 minutes.

The match official was Stoney Steenkamp from OVS and the crowd attendance was 75 000.

Run of play

Bosch failed with a conversion and three attempts at penalty. Williams failed with 6 attempts at penalties.

28 July 1976 – Western Transvaal 3 / All Blacks 42

Oliën Park, Potchefstroom.

Fine, cool, light north-east breeze.

Crowd: 24 000.

Referee: Mike Kessel (Natal).

Teams

*     Sutherland was replaced by Leslie in the 78^th minute. The Western Transvaal backline still used the old numbers system with the centers wearing 11 and 12 and the left wing No13 on their backs. My sources differ with regard to the two All Black wings Bryan Williams and Neil Purvis; one source put Purvis on the left wing and the other one Williams. Williams normally played left wing and only moved to the right when Grant Batty played so I’ve put him on as No11.

Before the game incidents/issues/stuff

The NZRFU ruling that the All Blacks should fly out of Durban on the Sunday following the test was changed, and after spending the day on the beach, the players travelled to “Potch” via Johannesburg on the Monday morning.

Potchefstroom and WTVL rugby looked after the AB’s and the kiwis was much impressed with the carafe of fresh orange juice and a giant bowl of fruit every morning in each players room.

Run of play

Williams failed with two attempts at penalties from 51 and 45 m. Bruce was wide with a second drop goal. Coetzer failed with a penalty as did Keevy (from just 22 m) and Bonthuys with two more.

About the match

This match was interesting for a number of reasons. First impression of the 42-3 smashing (including scoring 7 tries) the All Blacks gave Western Transvaal was that it was a rebound reaction -after the disappointing loss in the first test- against one of the weak South African provincial sides.

There was however much more to this game than meets the eye.

There is and was significance for many New Zealand journalist in the fact that the 1976 All Blacks produced their best form by far on tour against WTVL. Immediately after the match it was speculated as to whether New Zealand’s performance in this match was an indication of a changed approach.

Was the tougher meaner attitude evident of the All Blacks forwards going to set the tone for how they are going to play for the rest of the tour?

As it turned out the tougher meaner attitude was certainly evident for the rest of the tour but the team was not able to reproduce the form which they showed against Western Transvaal.

It is in that –inability of the team to reproduce the cohesive all round form they showed in this match- that some scribes, about the 1976 tour, find significance mostly because Alan Sutherland was appointed Captain for this match.

Sutherland –a man many thought would never again play for New Zealand after some off the field antics and some remarks he made regarding both Leslie and the current All Black coach in the media- was a surprising choice as Captain and it was without a doubt a special moment in the career of this old school hard core New Zealand forward’s life.

General perspectives is that his attitude, leadership and inspirational leading from the front had much to do with the way in which the killer instinct came out against Western Transvaal. “There is only one way to lead a team,” said Sutherland, “and that is to have the blokes tearing down the walls of the dressing-room before you hit the field. For me, Rugby is a hard game. So you play it hard. Bloody hard!”

Western Transvaal was no walkover in 1976. Their early efforts of the year, in which they lost against Natal and Eastern Province, had been succeeded by thrilling victories over both Northern Transvaal and Western Province.

Their strength was undoubtedly in the pack with future springbok prop Okkie Oosthuizen as well as Warren Jevon and Sakkie Raath in the front-row and a loosetrio of Piet Ellof, Giel Ellof and Jakkies Jacobs who was brilliantly complemented by Martin Benade at scrumhalf in the matches against NTVL and WP.

The All Blacks was well aware of the danger posed by WTVL but under Alan Sutherland’s leadership the All Black forwards took WTVL on up front. The All Black scrum devastated WTVL, the non-test lineout men Frank Oliver and Gary Seear winning the line-out battle 23-2 and the All Black loosies the ruck contest 11-1.

The All Black forwards to a man stepped-up and you could have thrown a blanket over them as they drove into rucks and mauls. When WTVL resorted to underhand tactics –Kevin Eveleigh being kicked in the head; Sutherland rudely trampled and Kent Lambert receiving a boot in the face the All Blacks took no-nonsense.

It also didn’t take them long to figure that the key to WTVL success in the scrum was Jevon with some slant tactics in the front-row.

McLean has this excellent piece on Jevon:

When some of Jevon’s unpleasant activities became even more disturbing than the constant warbling for penalties called by Martin Kessel messages of gloom began to impinge on Jevon’s ear.

If the situation was not straightened at the next scrum, so he learned, it would at the one after; or maybe the next after the one after. Jevon’s brow creased in anxiety.

He had begun play as a burly man, singularly broad of shoulder. Now, before all eyes, he seemed to be wilting, turning into a little prairie flower not at all anxious to do anything but get the hell out of it as fast as he could. Came the moment when actions succeeded words.

The front row parted and Executioner Oliver struck. Jevon did not ask for more. He lay in a glimmer with a broken nose and some badly bruised vitals.

Eveleigh preferred not to have the large gash in his scalp which was bleeding profusely treated –until his horrified team mates insisted- with the result that he smothered most of the forwards with his blood.

The backs, relishing the endless stream of good possession gave a sparkling display and ran in some fine tries starting in the second minute of the game when Bryan Williams rocketed through at centre to put Bill Osborne across.

The last 15 minutes of the match yielded 18 points with tries by Seear, Leslie, and Purvis all converted by Laurie Mains.

Doug Bruce and Bill Osborne play tricks during the WTVL game.

Bryan Williams slipped though the centers to create the first All Black try within 2 minutes after the game started. For his own try in the 42^nd minute Williams used his exceptional strength to haul two defenders across the line. The WTVL player on the ground in this photo is Johan Bonthuys.

Gary Seear scoring his try in the 65^th minute with left wing Jannie van der Merwe in close attendance.

The most encouraging display of all was perhaps from Laurie Mains who, after two early mistakes, gave a dashing attacking performance and started to land his kicks from all over the park.

After the game reactions/occurrences

The one eyed refereeing by Kessel (27 penalties against the All Blacks and only 7 against WTVL) caused some furrowed brows in the All Black camp but not even that could take the gloss of this performance.

The disgraceful behavior of a moronic minority of naartjie throwers, who pelted Kiwi supporters and players with a torrent of the fruit, left a decidedly sour taste in the mouth of many New Zealander, who had risked so much to keep the rugby bridgeheads open.

The huge victory was tempred by the injury to Sutherland. There was talk of replacing Sutherland and sending the big Marlborough studmaster home. As it turned out, Sutherland was back in action the following Wednesday against the star-studded South African students XV at Loftus.

Coach Jay Jay Stewart and the rest of the team were in buoyant spirits the night after the match and the beer flowed with some lusty singing on the 120 km bus drive back to Johannesburg.

The tour was back on track.

The All Blacks had desperately wanted a reassuring win at Potcheftroom to bolster their morale. Now came the biggest provincial test outside of WP so far on tour.

Transvaal and Gerald Bosch was waiting at Ellispark.

In my previous post I’ve stated that I came to the conclusion that the Springboks are not that far of the pace. In that post I’ve argued that the primary reason why the wheels came off in 2010 is because they’ve lost the plot psychologically.

I also said that some curative work needs to be done in three main areas but after pondering a bit about it I realized there is a bit more to it. So here is what I think need to receive attention in the Springbok team.

There are three major areas that need remedial work but there are also some secondary issues that need to be addressed. For the purpose of the discussion I’ll distinguish between Major Problems (MP), Secondary Problems (SP) and Flow Problems (FP).

MP areas are where we are behind the ball game; it is crucial in terms of success or failure. If not corrected the rest of our game sufferers and we’ll struggle to win test matches.

SP areas are concerns that will improve once MP concerns have been adequately addressed but need attention because it influences the MP areas.

FP are minor concerns that will almost correct itself once MP and SP have been satisfactorily addressed but need additional consideration and attention because if improves flow, strike rate, ability round off and put teams away.

The three Major problems that needs to be addressed

• Most important is the breakdowns. If you compare this year’s AB’s with last year’s AB’s then you’ll see that speed, power, explosiveness and team work at the breakdowns is the primary difference. Everything else flow from the dominance and structure at the breakdowns. The Springboks this year have not shown the same amount of structure, teamwork, organisation and most importantly explosiveness at the breakdown than either the Stormers or the Bulls. Team selections –especially the loose trio combo’s- have been part of the problem but essentially New Zealand has stepped up in that department and we did not.

I believe everything will fall into place once we step up at the breakdowns. As long as we get forced back at the collisions and get tackled behind the advantage line we will lose and no single players or “possible new star” is going to safe us and change things around for us. What is required is more physical presence; explosiveness and most importantly better team work at the breakdowns. Better team work, lower body positions, and more numbers quicker at the breakdowns that goes in with speed and commitment is the difference between us and NZ in this facet of the game.

As a side note the role that Pocock played in the Ausssie team was quite fascinating for me. He showed that thefetcher can still be influential towards the outcome of a game. Pocock had crucial turnovers in all his matches against New Zealand, this year, mostly arriving as the second man at the tackle. This allowed him to immediately go for the ball. It seems to me that teams need to practice this namely hunting in pairs with the first player going for the tackle and withdrawing immediately allowing the next player to almost instantly graph the ball; the first player can then re-enter the contest by helping to stabilise the second player. If the tackler withdrew by charging over the player (tackle and then getting up by charging forward) on the ground he prevents the opposition from getting to the ball.

• More consistency with team selections especially regarding the scrumhalf, no 6 flanker, props, centre combinations and the back three. Rugby is about combinations. There are at least 5 crucial combinations namely the tight three, the locks, the halfbacks, the centres and the back three. The No8 and 9 combo is also crucial and we are constantly breaking these combinations up with starting selections and subbing and then we wonder why we loose the ball in contact and why our backline can’t perform. The halfback, loose trio, centre and back three combo’s are constantly interrupeted in starting selcetions and with subs. It is a bleddy mess. This needs to be sorted if we want to show any progress in the way we play.

• Defense. We don’t have commitment problems and have won at least one WC with defense. Our defensive structure or pattern is flawed at the moment or there are senior players that don’t stick to the pre-arranged structure. This need to be addressed in no uncertain terms.

Backline play can probably be added as one of the main three but I placed it under secondary problems because I believe it will improve drastically once we sort the breakdowns and are more consistent with combinations we select.

Secondary problems needing attention

• Protection of our ball on attack. Brusssow and Stegman can make a difference in this regard but generally if we blow-over with more speed, explosiveness and numbers at the breakdowns protection of the ball will be less of a problem. We lose the ball because we are either to upright or enter the tackle to slow and with inadequate leg pumping and with the blow-over cavalry arriving to slow. We go into contact with the idea to arm wrestle and not to blow-over.

• More aggression and speed on the counter. A team is most vulnerable the moment they: a) start with an attack (first tackler is crucial) and/or b) the moment the attack breaks down. We need to be more aggressive and faster with tackling at A and our counter rucking at B but more importantly our counter attacking need to speed up in the golden two seconds after we’ve created turnover ball. Our approach is to stop playing and slow down the game (with high five’s) so we can go back to set piece when we created turnover ball so as if the turnover in itself is the victory. It is what you do with the turnover ball within the first two golden seconds after you’ve won it that determine whether you score tries. We also end-up way to often in an arm wrestle at the breakdowns. The NZ style is to hit the first ball receiver hard and in numbers and blow him over turning the ball over in the process at speed and then to send it away from the contact point at speed with the attackers running into space. We need more aggression and more speed with our first tacklers and our second wave blow-over cavalry need to enter the tackle area in more numbers, explosiveness and speed. We then need to use that turnover ball with decisiveness, aggressiveness, speed and precision attacking space. A classic example of picking up the pace after winning a turnover is to watch how France has beaten NZ in two tests in NZ in 1975(I think it was). Also go and watch that last try NZ scored against us in the Soweto test. De Villiers (I think it was) went into contact with Spies and at least one other player in support trying to protect the ball (attack broke down which is a moment of vulnerability) and NZ just blew us of the ball within seconds and send it wide almost instantaneously; so fast that some of our players still thought we had the ball.

• Variation on attack. We are way to one-dimensional, repetitive and therefore predictable on attack and if what we are trying to do doesn’t work we run out of ideas after the third phase so we end-up kicking the ball away. We need more starter moves from set piece and our playmakers need to mix it up constantly.

• Learn or start to attack space and stop trying to smash through the defense. The pods is all about batter ramming through defenders and that is fine but we need variation with the pods itself (bulls with FdP was excellent in this regard during the S14) and we can’t pod for 80 minutes. Angled runners smashing it up are OK every now and again as a variation to the pods but not for 80 minutes. We need to work on our ability to put players in space by utilizing deft passes, clever running angles and quicker recycling of ball after aggressive commitment at the breakdown.

• Backline play. This will improve once we get the blow-over right at the tackle area. The Aussies played the ball wide on almost every occasion with the Cooper lying flat; receiving flat ball but then passing the ball behind a flat lying dummy runner to a runner coming from behind angling slightly sideways and running with speed onto the ball. This create space on the outside. Cooper scored the Aussies first try against New Zealand in the last test these two countries played this year by being the deeper runner with somebody else acting at the first flat lying receiver. The second try came when they suddenly altered this practice (going flat and then deep behind a dummy runner) with Cooper sending a second flat pass to Gitau who left it for the Aussie No13 who run a clever line slightly against the traffic but straight into space between the two NZ centers. Like a hot knife through soft butter, he went before stepping past Corey Jane for a brilliant try. The most important thing for me is that the Aussies showed that you don’t need to play like the AB’s to be successful in the modern game. The Aussies can of course do this because they have precision at the breakdowns; few teams in world rugby can recycle a ball and maintain phases like they do. We need to get that (ball recycling or blow-over at the breakdowns) right first and then start to work on more innovative backline play. A little more innovation and variation to our backline play is what I would like to see next year.

Flow problems

We are not using our back three enough and could benefit by bringing them more into the game ala the Crusaders. We’ve got some exciting players in the back three, I think, players like Habana, Basson (if he survives his drug issue), Mvovo, Aplon and even JP Pietersen (what happened to him?) but we never use them. We need to work on ways to get the ball to the back three with quick long passes and then play off them with locks and props also showing up in support out wide –how many tries have NZ forwards like Tony Woodcock scored this year by showing up on the wing- close to the goal line. The inter passing and supportive runners coming from different angles at speed once the ball are spread to the fringes is something we need to work on. The Crusaders’ main game plan and attacking strategy against the bulls was to play the ball wide and attack channels 3 and 4 in numbers. They did this in the following manner:

• The backline lined up a little deeper and they used blockers or dummy runners (forwards standing flat on the defensive line in front of the backline players) which allowed them to get the ball wide.
• They used long passes (mostly only two or three passes) to quickly get the ball wide.
• They had numbers waiting in dept out wide (mostly No 15, the opposite wing, the centre’s doubling back and one of the big forwards). They always had more players than the bulls out wide.
• They varied this strategy of taking the ball wide with two long passes by having players (mostly the flankers and no 8 or Brad Thorne) coming from outside inwards on an angle to set the ball up. This drew the drifting defence in. They then quickly recycled the ball and send the ball wide with Ellis breaking blindside and 15 coming in at speed to create the man over situation.
• Whenever they went into contact they recycled the ball only once or twice which kept the bulls big players and fetchers out of the game and limiting the risk of losing the ball.
• In the line outs they didn’t take any risk and went for the safe throws on 4 and 5 and then spread the ball wide at speed away from the bulls pack.
• Generally the whole Crusader team knew the strategy was to attack the outside channels and every one made sure they supported on the outside. They never allowed the bulls to get momentum because they kept the ball in hand.

Our tactical kicking need some consideration. Kicking has become an art in the modern game. Kicking to re-arrange the back field and how the wingers defend is crucial to keeping the ball and attacking with purpose. The Kiwis initially in the Tri-nations basically ran everything. Then, tactically, they introduced the short kick – grubber and chip kick behind to push the wingers back and make the 9 defend out of the line. This reduced the front line to 11 defenders, creating space. Then, they (the AB’s) started kicking long – forcing the wingers further back – and therefore taking 2 defenders right out of the line which meant the next time they receive the ball they can explore this space by running and passing. They kept the defence guessing allowing them to have various attacking options – run, pass or kick plays. A kick or run philosophy in attack is now vital. Look at how the defence position, then use kicks or running, passing plays to manipulate the defence. Both the Aussies and the All Blacks use the kick quite a lot; grubbers and long kicks to push the defenders back. It was not all just smash-up and blow-over. The latest tendency seems to be to play what is in front of you; read the defence and apply counter tactics to manipulate and change the defensive line-up in order to create space.

More aggression and speed at the start of a maul. We are way too static when we set ourselves up for the maul at the line-outs. The catchers should drive-up with more aggression immediately after catching the ball in the line-out and the rest of the pack then needs to join at speed enveloping the ball carrier with two players driving in on his sides. Essentially, the catcher turns with his back towards the defenders as he catches the ball but starts driving into the opponents with the help of his two supportive players, on either side, the moment he touches the ground.

What happened to the rolling maul? The idea with the rolling maul is to act like water if it gets blocked going one way it just roll around in the direction of least resistance. We are driving the ball up lately and are not using the rolling maul any more. I think we can take our mauling to the next level by starting to incorporate some old fashion rolling.

These are the things I would have been discussing and working on with the team if I were the coach. I would like to hear exactly what PdV learned from this year and what he think need to be improved. 

It being the end of the year it is a good time to review what actually happened this year with the Springboks. Coming last in the tri-nations, losing at home against Australia (on the Highveld first time since 1963), losing all three test matches against New Zealand and then the gut wrenching lost against Scotland was almost too much for this ardent Springbok supporter.

It is all over, done and dusted, now but I have been pondering non-stop (I hope PdV is doing the same thing) about our season.

What exactly went wrong and how bad was it really?

So with this in mind I went back to the first tri-nations test this year at Eden Park and watched the whole agonizing 80 minutes –something that I couldn’t do before because of the soul wrenching pain it causes me to see the Springboks so demolished- all over again.

Personally, I think the match at Eden Park was the match that turned our year into not such a good one. Yes, I want to say bad but after watching this match again and bearing the won against England in mind I think we are not so totally of the pace than my emotions forced me to believe as the season progressed.

We went into the match with a massive amount of confidence after probably our best S14 season ever. The body language of the players and coaches at the start of the Eden Park test is something to behold. The coaches shook hands after the national anthems as if we’ve already won the test. The players were parading on the park as if they were super stars and there was an air of dare I say the word cockiness around them that speaks volumes about our mindset going into this game.

Very few people, I think, including me gave the All Blacks any change of winning this test match. The general feeling –after the S14 humiliation of NZ teams- were that the All Blacks just don’t have the bulk and power up front to stop the bulls/stormers Springbok combo’s that were so dominant during the S14.

Looking at that match again, we actually -in spite of going into the match way to overconfident and sure of ourselves- didn’t play badly in the first half. The match changed for us after the Bakkies Botha yellow card mostly because they scored a try in that 10 minutes and we had to start chasing the lead which put them in a situation where they could start to manipulate the tempo of the game.

Even with Bakkies off the field we were still controlling the ball quite effectively and the ball went down the backline quite smoothly on a number of occasions. True we got smashed back at the breakdowns more often than not and we did lose possession way too often to be comfortable about it but in essence we were right in the game and came very close to scoring on a number of occasions. Our biggest problem in this match was lack of urgency; we didn’t go into the collisions with enough speed, low enough body positions and leg drive. So we were playing with back foot ball most of the time and in spite of that looked a lot better than in the latter tri-nations tests.

We also lacked urgency with the ball in hand; we demonstrated a complete inability to pick up the pace because we got smashed back at the tackle area but our inability to pick up the pace stemmed mostly from lack of urgency when we were carrying the ball. We tried to smash through tackles as individuals; that collective urgency was missing when we carried the ball and when we went into contact.

It was January who kicked the box kick that culminated in the first try but the try resulted more from lack of urgency in the chase than from a totally dismal box kick. January actually didn’t have an entirely bad game but he was the one that got most of the flag for us losing this match. The lack of urgency was caused by our over confidence and super arrogant attitude going into this match. In fact I belief if we did less well during the S14 we might have won this test as we would then have entered the match with less of a self-assured attitude that are going to re-write the history book and that this team is going to be the best Springbok team ever as Francios Louw so arrogantly stated before the test.

Pieter de Villiers said afterwards it is not a train smash and that we will be able to re-group and stage a comeback. As it panned out is was a total train smash. We were emotionally and psychologically unable to cope with the media induced hype that followed the All Blacks’ comprehensive won at Eden Park.

The New Zealand media in particular was in awe –and I still feel more than a little irritated by that hype and their general attitude that the All Black created a “new” way of playing rugby- about the new style, the faster modern game that is so far superior to the Springboks old style kick and chase game.

The truth is that the difference between the two teams was not that big at all at Eden Park. We lacked urgency and lost our focus, confidence and internal rhythm especially in the second half but were right in the game. The fact that we were unable to score a try and the intensity of the after match hype resulted in the Springboks starting to doubt their game plan. We consequently went into the second test against the All Blacks unsure of ourselves and tentative in execution and it got worse after we lost that test as well. That we lost these two test matches had much to do with NZ improving their ability/technique under the the high box kick which culminated in their back three preventing us from milking tries with our kick and chase pressure approach. Our ability to hold on to the ball and to recycle at speed was a concern and another major reason for our inability to score tries. We left NZ seriously doubting the way we play and their was critisism regarding team selections.

We were on the floor when we played Aussie in Brisbane and that was by far our worst performance during the tri-nations.

At this stage we were starting to see some personnel changes in the side and that didn’t help our cause at all. The Soweto test was crucial for the revival of our confidence and we were by far the better team that day on the field but lost the test due to some super silly mistakes like Morné Steyn missing with a penalty line kick. It was the pressure that was getting to us and we were gravely lacking composure at this stage. The fact that we lost that match in the dying minutes was the cherry on the cake in terms of Springboks not believing in what they were doing anymore.

We went into the EOYT with injuries to quite a number of key players and with our back against the wall. The Ireland win was massive and the bok forwards as well Ruan Pienaar had sterling performances but the effect of the tri-nations was clearly evident in our tentative backline play and in our one-dimensional approach. The media response was that the rain prevented the Irish from playing the modern faster game and that sort of produced a platform from which our old style rugby could still work. We walked out of that test still nowhere because the rainy circumstances re-inforced the hyper critical and chip on their shoulder kiwi media’s view that we play one-dimensional rugby.

A sort of self-fulfilling prophecy syndrome was at work within the Springbok camp.

We were scared shitless at this stage when it comes to running with the ball and went into the Wales match convinced we should keep it tight which made it a lot easier for them to read and counter our moves. We were unsure and tentative when we took the ball up lacking that confidence in what we are doing in comparison of how we played in the first tri-nations test at Eden Park. Scrutiny and criticism of senior players like Habana were now intense and this worked in on the team as well, I belief.

We came out of the Wales match, again, against the floor, seriously doubting our game plan after almost losing that test. Wales looked better with the ball in hand and we believed at this stage that we had to prove to the world that we can play the faster game plan.

So on a rainy day on a drenched Murray field we went on the field with desperate desire to prove that we can run with the ball and ended-up failing dismally for playing the wrong game plan. The drugs scare probably also worked in on the players psyche with everyone saying that even our reputed forwards strength and dominance is not real but the result of popping pills.

It was Eddie Jones who made the difference, yet again, and who helped us to see, at last, how we’ve fallen into the self-fulfilling prophecy trap.

Eddie came out just before the test against England stating that South Africa might have bigger problems than they think because they are not trusting the coach and the game plan any more.

I wrote about that just before the England match (see here) and think those remarks by Eddie changed the psyche of our team.

The result was a comprehensive and inspiring win against a resurging England team.

All is well that end well is an old truism and it might well prove to be the case for the Springboks. I think our unsatisfactory performances this year had much to do with the fact that we lost our composure and self-belief and less with our players not being able or lacking the necessary skills/ability.

Our backline play still need some remedial work but with less personnel changes from game to game and with FdP and Jaque Fourie back in the mix and with a settled centre pairing (JdV and Jaque Fourie) and some starter moves being introduced by the likes of Carel du Plessis things can change around pretty quickly.

Our defensive system need some work but this is fixable.

Brussow will be back next year and with Stegman now a Springbok as well and in much better physical shape next year we might see some improvement with regard to our play at the breakdown.

I don’t think we are far of the pace. We’ve got three areas in our overall game that needs some curative work but we’ve got the players and the time to sort that and with key players like FdP, Jaque Fourie, Brussouw, Bekker, Burger and Gutro Steenkamp back we might see a vast improvement in execution, composure, and results next year.

24 July 1976 – South Africa 16 / All Blacks 7

King’s Park, Durban.

Glorious summer’s day, temperature 30 degree’s.

Crowd: 45 000.

Referee: Ian Gourlay (Natal).

Teams

The first test of the 1976 series was a classic encounter in almost every sense with lots before and after match controversy, some excellent tries; the match also panned out differently than expected with the NZ forward pack surprising the springboks with their physicality and superior technique and the Springbok backline outplaying the New Zealand backline. The match was eventually won by the team who made the least amount of mistakes.

Here are the pictures of the Springbok team originally selected and above are the names of the players who eventually played. Dawie Snyman had to withdraw because of a hamstring injury on the Wednesday before the test and was replaced with Peter Whipp with Ian Robertson moving to the fullback position.

Before the game incidents/issues/stuff

The drama started with some controversial team selections on both sides and ended with those selections being instrumental to the outcome of the match. On the New Zealand side the selection of Duncan Robertson –normally a flyhalf- on fullback ahead of the two touring fullbacks Laurie Mains and Kit Fawcett was a shocker. Laurie Mains did not impress up to this stage on tour in particular with his place kicking which cost NZ the match against Western Province. The Kit Fawcett saga was a much more interesting story with Fawcett’s selection for the touring side being questioned by many as he was not even able to maintain his place in the starting line-up of the Auckland university team. Just after arrival he made a remark, to a female reporter, to the extent that the All Blacks expect to score more off the field than on the field which irked the All Black management to the extreme.

McLean has the following on Kit Fawcett and his omission from the team for the first test:

Fawcett bounded into the team on the strength of a fine trail a month before the team was chosen without any succeeding recommendations. A bouncy 21-year-old, potentially an outstanding athlete, he was soon found to be the eternal youth, in excelsis –brash, super-confident, harum-scarum. He had scarcely begun the tour before he was announcing that one of his pleasures in life was not conforming. His genial greeting to John Stewart of “Hi Coach” while the All Blacks were preparing in East London for their first match produced such a ticking-off as might have reduced even an insensitive man to whimpers.

Kit, or, as he was known to his family, “Louie”, bounced along, charming himself each day with some new facet of his personality. In the background, Jay Jay” took to muttering that if some other bastard did not break Kit’s leg, or arm, he would.

When Jay Jay Stewart announced that, as for the first test, Duncan Robertson would play fullback, it was said to him: “It is a criticism that, if you believed Duncan was the man for the job, you did not play him a couple of times in the back before the test”. “I am aware of this,” said Stewart. “It is a fair comment. But I kept on hoping that Fawcett would come right”.

Fawcett’s relaxed style clearly did not fit into the All Black culture of respect for traditions and for senior members of the team. This and some on the field incidents which demonstrated lack of discipline and commitment to a pre-arranged game plan which caused the team to leak tries against provincial sides had much to do with the decision to play Duncan Robertson on fullback.

On South Africa’s side the inclusion of Edrich Krantz –a 21-year old winger from Free State who captained the SA u/21 side to South America the previous year- was the big surprise as was the inclusion of Ian Robertson, the Rhodesian fullback, on centre which broke-up the established Whipp/Oosthuizen Western Province centre combination. Jan Ellis was playing in his 38^th test match equaling Frik du Preez’s national record. The three Transvalers in the team –Ellis, and the halfback combination of Bayvel and Bosch- were considered, before the match, as key to Springbok victory. As it turned out all three had very average matches.

The three Transvalers -Paul Bayvel, Jan Ellis and Gerald Bosch- in the Springbok team who was considered to be key players for the Springboks.

Derek van den Berg one of two members of the South African team who followed in the footsteps of their Springbok fathers.

Two Springbok players followed in their father’s footsteps. Derek van den Berg was the son of Mauritz who locked the scrum in all three internationals in 1937. The other one, who received a lot more attention, was Morné du Plessis who completed a unique double when he emulated his farther Felix by leading the Springboks against New Zealand. Morné was also primarily responsible for coaching the forwards. The Springboks, under the guidance of Morné looked impressive in their workouts. Selection convener, Johan Claassen stayed true to his word that he would not don his tracksuit at the training when asked who would really be handling the coaching of the side. Ian Kirkpatrick –the former Springbok centre and coach- put the backs through some slick handling drills, done at smart pace.

Morné du Plessis leading the Springboks on the field in the fists test of the 1976 series. Du Plessis was captain and coach and it was his infectious enthusiasm, will to win and leadership more than anything else that rubbed off on the 1976 Springboks and which settled the team in the nerve-wracked first and lifted them to victory in the crucial third test.

The preparations were, however, severely hampered when Dawie Snyman –the vice-captain and a vital link in the plans as an attacking fullback- had to withdraw due to a hamstring strain. Rumours buzzed about the Springbok camp when it was learnt that Snyman was flying home on the first flight and not staying for the test. Was there distention in the camp and did Snyman withdrew because we was told to pull out? That was just some of the questions and speculations flying around.

The biggest disaster was yet to come and on the Friday morning Gerald Bosch was in bed with a heavy dose of flu running a temperature of 102 degree. It was going to be a desperate close race to get him in any sort of condition to play a rugby test and this news had to be kept from the enemy at all cost as it could gave them a serious psychological boost.

Here is Gerald Bosch being led off by the Springboks team doctor Jack Sweidan –to be replaced by De Wet Ras- 10 minutes before the end. The Springboks gambled heavily with Bosch in this test and he could not do himself justice missing with 5 normally easy penalties for him and with the conversion of Krantz’s try –which hit the upright- and two drop goal attempts. Those long kicks deep to the corners driving the opposition back on their heels were also missing from his game and there was no snap about his general play.

The general predictions before the match were that South African should dominate set piece forward play and that New Zealand would be the better when it comes to backline play.

Moaner van Heerden and John Williams on the charge in the first test. The Springbok forwards did not dominate as expected in this test but van Heerden was a menacing presence right through the series and made his presence felt in no uncertain way with an infamous stepping incident in one of the later tests culminating in some grim exchanges between him and the All Blacks in the third and fourth test. 

Run of play

Williams missed penalty kicks from 42 and 31 meters. He also missed the conversion of Jaffray’s try.

Bryan Williams had an average day with the boot.

Bosch missed penalties from 48, 45, 34, 22 and 48 meters. Bosch hit the upright when trying to converts Krantz’s try; he also missed two drop goals. De Wet Ras who replaced Bosch missed with a 48 meter penalty.

About the match

In between all the crises and controversies there was also some rugby, much of it error-ridden and nerve-wracked; some positively breathtaking in execution. In the end the 45 000 spectators and millions in front of the TV –this was in all likelihood the first ever Springbok test shown live on TV in South Africa- were served up a sort of match that one tends to equate with a test between the Springboks and the All Blacks.

South Africa kicked off and within a couple of minutes Gerald Bosch was having an attempt at goal –which failed- from near the halfway line.

Gerald Bosch kicking for goal in the first test with Krantz and Whipp in the background. Slotting goals under pressure of Test match demands require a clean bill of health. Yet the flu ridden Bosch -repute for his accurate place and drop kicking- although missing with 8 kicks were still able to contribute 5 points; slotting a penalty by halftime to make the scores 3 all and succeeding with the extremely vital conversion of Gerrie Germishuys’s try from an acute angle.

It was New Zealand who had the next scoring opportunity when Leslie chased a kick –initially he had a huge slice of luck as Boland Coetzee put him onside when the kick overhead touched him- dribbled it past Springbok fullback Ian Robertson and kicked it ahead for the goalline. He had three meters start on the nearest Springbok. A certain 6 points loomed, but then, at the last second as Leslie began to lunge for the try the ball developed a wicked curl and snuck around the upright, so that Leslie couldn’t get to it. “I’ve never been more frustrated than I was at that moment,” the All Black captain declared later.

Two interesting incidents during the first test. Above Tane Norton is landing a kick on Paul Bayvel. Bayvel didn’t get much protection from his forwards with the All Blacks dominating procedures upfront in this is one of quite a few occasions when the New Zealanders got to him. Below is a picture of the close-Andy-Leslie-try with players lying all over the place after the Springboks were able –thanks to a fortunate bounce of the ball- to dot it down.

It was all New Zealand for the first 15 minutes and there were a few more scoring opportunities for the All Blacks during this long period of almost complete dominance which they were unable to convert into points. Bryan Williams succeeded with a penalty in the 11^th minute but missed with a second one and Sid Going was only inches away from dotting down –a Springbok hand winning the touchdown fractionally ahead of Going- under the posts after Paul Bayvel got caught near the line as he tried to run his way out of trouble.

The Springbok pack was being outplayed and the much-vaunted line-out jumping strength was playing second fiddle to a big match-inspired Peter Whiting. Whiting’s controlled line-out deflecting was a revelation. The department, in which the Springboks based so much pre-test faith, was taken over by the Kiwi’s. With a stream of possession from line-out, scrum and more important ruck and maul, the New Zealand bombardment continued unabated.

Terry McLean writes:

A serious error of judgment by the Springboks was the apprehension that their leading lineout players, John Williams and Moaner van Heerden, would demolish Peter Whiting and Hamish Macdonald in the battle for the ball within the lines and that, at the lineout’s end, du Plessis, 1.98 meters tall, would make a mockery of his contest with Stewart or Leslie. The All Blacks won the lineout contest by 19 clear-cut possessions to 13. It was a remarkable achievement. But the sum of South Africa’s blunders big and small was much, much less than the sum of New Zealand’s.

Some pictures of the battle between the locks in the first test. It was intense and New Zealand made a serious mistake by not playing more with their set piece in the second half because Whiting and Macdonald outplayed menacing Moaner and the Jolly Jumper Johnie.

Big Moaner charged downfield on a few occasions in storming rage but the lack of Springbok drive on the sides of the scrum was glaringly apparent. Jan Ellis and Morné threw the ball to each other ineffectively behind the scrum making everyone wonder what exactly they were up to while what they needed to do was to drive the ball up. Ian Kirkpatrick, on the All Black-side, was almost unstoppable on the burst; running wide to make valuable yardage across the advantage line. Kirkpatrick was clearly the forward of the match his only mistake doing the runs maybe too often and getting isolated from his support creating turnover ball for South Africa in the process. The Springboks forwards owed a debt of gratitude to their inside backs for the way these little guys went in on defense pulling down, hustling, bustling and hampering the likes of Ian Kirkpatrick, Ken Stewart and Andy Leslie as they tried to punch holes in the South African midfield.

Jan Ellis and Ken Stewart chasing after the ball. Ellis was outplayed at the breakdowns and looked just a bit tentative with the ball in the hand not taking it to the All Blacks and it was no surprise when he was replaced by Theuns Stofberg for the second test.

Boland Coetzee here in action. He had to play a lot tighter but played well enough to get a recall for the second test.

The halftime score was 3 all and the All Black looked clearly in control. They opened the second half quite sensationally when they switched the kick-off with Leslie kicking to the wrong side. Morné du Plessis got to the ball first but then threw a pass that was superbly read and intercepted by the illusive and inventive little Grant Batty. He plucked the ball out the air and set-off; slipped inside Edrich Krantz as if debutant 21-year-old Free State winger was not there and with beautiful controlled running, cleverly supported by Stewart, the ball eventually went to centre Lyn Jaffray who scored in the corner. The score suddenly 7-3 in favor of the All Blacks.

Lyn Jaffray who scored at the start of the second half after some clever running by Grant Batty.

This was the supreme test for Du Plessis’s captaincy credentials and indeed for the character of the 1976 Springboks.

Nine minutes later the Springboks moment of glory manifest itself in a glorious Gerrie Germishuys try after the wingman legged it down the left hand touch line and eluded the defense of the two Robertson’s (Bruce and Duncan) with just a hint of an in-and-out.

It was a full backline move; the ball flowing down the backline for once. Peter Whipp quickly summed up the situation and send a long pass past Oosthuizen into the hands of Ian Roberston coming in from fullback.

This allowed Ian Robertson to pull Williams in on defense before putting the flying winger in space.

Germishuys had little room in which to manoeuvre but the sheer speed with which a ran into the ball allowed him to slip past Bruce and then with just a slight in and out he shed of Duncan’s attempt to get hold of him and scored a great try in the corner that set the crowd roaring. Bosch slotted the conversion and the boks where ahead and stayed ahead for the remainder of the game.

Gerrie Germishuys scoring a magnificent Springbok try in the left hand corner.

There was 7 minutes left on the clock when Bayvel broke from a scrum, going blindside. He showed a surprising turn of speed and was slipping away from Going when Sid in a despairing dive were able to ankle tap him. Bayvel started stumbling –eventually falling forward- but was able to slipped the ball backwards. Duncan Robertson was coming in at speed and bent to pick it up, missed, and swooping in to collect and score was Edrich Krantz.

Series of pictures showing Edrich Krantz’s try in his first test. At the top Bayvel breaking away. Second picture Bayvel at full speed with Going diving forward to ankle tap him. Third picture showing Krantz lying in disbelief on the ball after scoring. Fourth picture big Jolly Jumper John Williams walking hand over shoulder with Krantz after he helped the stunned Krantz -who was lying on his stomach staring at the ball in disbelief- on his feet.

The All Blacks came back with a vengeance after kick-off. They tried hard to score through spirited use of the backline, but the Springbok defence held. Five minutes from the end Ian Kirkpatrick stormed away from a line-out. Going kept things moving and when Doug Bruce got caught the whole pack enveloped him and drove forward in a wave of bodies that the Springboks seemed powerless to check. Only yards remained and a try looked a certainty when referee Ian Gourlay, “criminally” penalized Leslie, seemingly, for being in front of the ball. No such penalty exist, of course, and Ian Gourlay did not do himself or South African referee’s any favours with vague evasive responses after the match like “I don’t remember that” or “I don’t know” or “when was that?”

Sometime later, sources close to Gourlay reveal that he penalized Leslie for over-robust play. It appears that Leslie was penalized for kicking at Du Plessis’s groin after the boks skipper had grabbed his counterpart by the throat in a fierce exchange. Somehow even that just doesn’t have a ring of truth.

“I knew at that moment we could not win this test,” said a dejected Leslie later.

The last points came in the final minutes of the match when Duncan Robertson failed to find touch from inside his 22 and Ian Robertson slammed a low flying drop goal. 

After the game reactions/occurrences

Apart from the Leslie penalty in the last 5 minutes there were a number of other incidents which caused some controversy and spirited debate afterwards.

The replacing of Bosch 10 minutes before the end being one of them with the Kiwi’s complaining that South Africa bent the substitution rule by replacing someone who went onto the field ill and was not injured or indisposed by anything that happened on the field. They were also highly skeptical when it was revealed that Bosch left the field due to a blow to the head.

The All Blacks felt afterwards that they allowed this match to slip away by making too many errors; in execution; on the defence; not reading the game tactically well enough. There were defensive lapses on the All Black side with both the South African tries -scored by Germishuys and Krantz- which left the Kiwi coaching staff unhappy. Another critique was that tactically they should have played more with their forwards as they were clearly in control up front. You win test matches by not making mistakes under presuure and by taking your changes and the All Blacks, writes Terry McLean, came-up short in both regards in this test they failed to take their changes and they made collectively more blunders than South Africa.

They were warned before the match, by the survivors of 1970 series, about debilitations of Durban’s humility and it was felt by the South Africans that the heat got to them contributing to lapses in concentration towards the mid and later parts of the second half.

Grant Batty cooling off during the test which was played in 30 degree heat an which Terry McLean call the shirt-sleeve test.

Grant Batty also re-injured his knee in this test. Here he is curling in pain on the ground while being ignored by the South African players.

The Old Boys University women’s rugby team stripped for a nude calendar shoot at Wellington’s Basin Reserve on a Sunday morning, in an attempt to promote female rugby.

The drew their biggest crowd of the year.

Those venturing through the famous cricket ground were stopped in their tracks by a pack of naked flesh, as the team crouched, paused and engaged in a risque photo shoot.

Every season her side had struggled to attract numbers, as female rugby players were often branded as masculine and unfeminine, which discouraged many women from taking it up.

“Our calendar rails against this myth,” said lock Bekki Abernethy who appears here on one of the photo’s in the calendar.

“I’m blonde, I’m not exactly a big rugby player. I’m a girl doing her thing, we’re all normal girls, that’s what we were trying to portray.”

Abernethy had thought the calendar a great idea, until she found herself bouncing starkers on a backyard trampoline, clutching a rugby ball and bits of her body she didn’t care to share with the world.

Yes, I know it was the second stringers; it was a team full of young players; some of the players haven’t played for 4 weeks and were just a little of the boil; the team came back well and could have won had we landed all our kicks but let’s stop the damn excuses.

This game demonstrated exactly what is wrong with Springbok rugby. There is firstly a huge gap between our A-team and our second stingers. So stop this infuriating tendency to think some sort of young star is going to sort our problems. What huge difference did the Beast make when he came on?

Our backline play is in the second place terminally ill. Thirdly, we don’t know what to do with the damn ball once we have it and we are therefore just to one dimensional. The only thing we can do is power it up with the big forwards or maul of the lineouts. Apart from that we have nothing.

Our biggest problem –is there any of the frontline nations that is worse than us- is our total inability to control our ball at the breakdowns. It was extremely annoying to watch and our lack of precision, structure, organization culminating in poor ball control bordered on pathetic. Players like Lambie, and Jantjies will never be able to play to their full potential if we can’t improve this facet of our game. This is by far our biggest problem; our game is not on par with the rest of the world when it comes to the breakdowns. This is main reason why the players don’t back themselves to run with the ball and why we stick to set piece rugby.

We lost this game, the one against Scotland and came last in the tri-nations because of this exact same problem namely an absolute inability to string phases together; control our ball and keep the ball in hand.

Fifthly, our defense was shown up once again. Nonu went through –hallo Strauss- the midfield like there was no defense.

For the Hougaard fans. I am sorry but McLeod is in another class when it comes to scrumhalf play. He made an immediate difference with swifter clean out, better option taking and bringing more variation on attack. In the end it was the Sharks combinations that kicked in and nearly won the match for us.

Lastly, we were yet again unable to put in two good performances in a row. It shouts to the heavens that we have a coaching problem. We only play well when we are with our backs against the wall and when the players are massively psyched-up. We lacked leadership, structure, precision and urgency on the field against the Barbarians.

I’ve noticed over the last week some strong support –including Morné du Plessis- for PdV to stay on as coach after the splendid performance against England. Well everything I wrote so far –my seven points- has to do with coaching:

1. Gap between A and B players
2. Terminally ill backline play
3. Don’t know what to do with the ball
4. Inability to control the ball at the tackle area
5. Poor defense
6. Sharks combinations pulling us back into the game
7. Our inability to string two good perfromances in a row.

This is hard for me to say because as you can see from my blogs on the history of Springbok rugby I am an enthusiastic and staunch Springbok supporter but the type of rugby we are playing is getting just a bit too much for me. It is becoming increasingly harder to explain to my 9 and 10 year old boys why they need to support the Springboks. My support is not based on the quality of the rugby anymore but on habit, sense of obligation or something else that I have difficulty putting in word.