Johannesburg - Let’s not kid ourselves South Africa, for nearly 60 minutes on Saturday the Springboks looked clueless, directionless and seemingly on course for a second straight beating at the hands of Ireland.It was a horror-show by the Boks - and that against a team that is far from being at full strength, that hardly ever plays at altitude and has only ever beaten the Boks once in South Africa, the week before in Cape Town.
Also, when last did we see a team come to Ellis Park and build a lead so easily as Ireland did on Saturday? Not even the great All Blacks teams have made the Boks look so inept at a venue that is supposedly so difficult to win at for visiting teams.
Yes, the final quarter and fightback was thrilling and deserving of applause, started by the wonderful try scored by Ruan Combrinck, but everything produced before that was without tempo, pace, rhythm and passion.
And we shouldn’t ignore that.
Had it not been for the Irish running out of steam and their coach Joe Schmidt getting the timing of his substitutions wrong and the Boks lifting their game thanks to the impact of a host of Lions replacements, the Boks could today be easily 2-0 down in the series with a game to play.
New coach Allister Coetzee was literally 20 minutes away from losing a home series to Ireland for the first time and starting his reign under a dark cloud. It could have been a nightmare for him, and his players, many of whom will, like last week, be playing for their Bok careers this weekend.
It’s certainly not Coetzee’s fault the players have failed to fire in the last two Tests. He’s done what every coach does and prepared his team as well as he can and he’s picked who he’s thought will do the business ... but he can’t actually do the business.
That’s up to the players and too many of them have let him down in the last fortnight.I said before the first Test in Cape Town that up to eight starting players had a lot to prove and so it was, and they again didn’t cover themselves in glory at the second time of asking on Saturday.
The Boks looked leaderless - and there are supposedly many of them in the team - in the first half on Saturday, they appeared to have no clue about the style of rugby they wanted to play and they hardly threatened the Irish tryline ... it was hugely disappointing.Coetzee has plenty to think about ahead of the Ireland decider this weekend.
But it’ll be after this weekend when he’ll have his biggest challenge ... deciding who to continue with going forward, because, if we’re honest, there are just too many non-performers currently turning out for the Boks.
The Boks will not be allowed to escape so easily again, not against better and stronger teams who they’ll be up against later this season. They cannot rely on altitude getting to the visiting team every time, they cannot rely on the bench to always make the impact.
The Boks need to wake up and start playing from the first minute. It’s time they showed the same urgency and intent of the last 20 minutes on Saturday from the beginning; if they don’t, well then, there are likely to be only tough times ahead.
The Star