The Springboks were punished for their poor defence, ill-discipline and errors as they fell to a disappointing defeat to the Wallabies.
Springboks skipper Andre Esterhuizen tries to power through the Wallabies defence during their one-off Test at the Optus Stadium in Perth on Sunday. Picture: Janelle St Pierre/Getty Images
An extremely poor performance from the Springboks was almost papered over by an incredible comeback that fell just short, as they went down 42-38 to the Wallabies in their one-off Test at the Optus Stadium in Perth on Sunday.
The Boks produced a dismal defensive effort, and error strewn performance overall, as the Australians seemed to run through them at will, and by the 63rd minute were trailing 42-17.
But an incredible final 10 minutes saw the hosts concede four yellow cards, to be reduced to 11 men at a point, while the Boks ran in three converted tries, one of them a penalty try, to give themselves a sniff of what would have been an undeserved comeback win.
Captain on the day André Esterhuizen, who became the 68th Springbok captain in history when he led the team onto the field, readily admitted after the match that his team just weren’t good enough.
“We always knew it was going to be a tough battle coming down here. Australia are always a hard team to beat. It was a very intense game and quite quick for a Test match,” said Esterhuizen in the on-field TV interview.
“They capitalised on all our errors, and I think discipline let us down. Especially in that first half, we let them in too many times and that really hurt us.”
Changes
Esterhuizen explained that they couldn’t blame the performance on the huge number of changes made to the team, with only two players surviving from the 15 that started their win over the All Blacks in Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry finale in Baltimore two weeks ago.
“I don’t think we were too disjointed. I just think it was discipline that was the key factor that let us down. All of us have been training together over the last 18/19 weeks. So we know each other well, we know the plan well, it is just about getting in and executing (the plan),” said Esterhuizen.
“I am very proud of the fight we showed at the end, but we definitely need to be better than that.”
Wallabies captain Harry Wilson was absolutely thrilled with his team’s win, and looked to be a very relieved man, after his high tackle on Malcolm Marx was the first of his team’s four yellow cards during the final 10 minutes, that almost led to a disastrous implosion.
“I am so proud of the group. We bested the world champions in our own back yard. We were excited and we were up for it,” said Wilson.
“It was a crazy last 10 minutes. But that first 70 minutes, the way we played, we implemented our game plan, we knew exactly what we wanted, we stepped up to the physical battle and I am really proud of the boys.
“It was massive (the forward battle). We knew as a forward pack that we had to step up there, and we thought the boys were great. With the backline I just loved the way they backed themselves. It wasn’t pretty early, there were a few errors, but we said we are going to keep going and backing ourselves.”
