While the Wallabies said the Springboks shut them down better this week, their attack was not as potent as at the start of last week's game.
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt praised the Springboks’ performance that saw them win 30–22 in Cape Town on Saturday, but said it still wasn’t as strong as the first 20 minutes they played at Ellis Park the week before.
The Springboks got off to a flyer in Johannesburg last week, scoring three tries and a penalty within the first 18 minutes, leading 22–0, before taking the foot off the pedal and failing to match the Wallabies’ intensity as the Australians fought back to a historic 38–22 win.
It was the first Wallabies win at Ellis Park since 1963 and only the second out of 13 matches there.
Springboks ‘suffocated us better’
Looking back now that their tour of South Africa is over, with one bonus-point win and one defeat without a losing bonus point, Schmidt and captain Fraser McReight congratulated the Springboks for how they came back.
“They shut down the space quite well and were on the front foot,” said McReight, who earned man of the match in the first Test for making 21 tackles and two important turnovers.
“So it is difficult to put your head over the ball when the gain line is moving past. They did really well there. There were a few times we were over the ball and tried to slow it down but I guess the depth wasn’t the greatest and they did a good job.”
Schmidt said while the Wallabies were “disjointed” having lost fullback Tom Wright and scrumhalf Nic White early, before centre Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii also left the action at half-time, but the Springboks played very well to secure the win.
Still, he said he had never seen the Springboks play as well as they did in the first 20 minutes of their defeat at Ellis Park.
“We couldn’t breathe,” the coach said of the early exchanges at Ellis Park. “They were on us, they got the first four kicks back. They didn’t quite have the same success today.
“But they know how to wear you down, and they were very physical. I think it’s hard to compare week to week. It was hard work to create those spaces today. I think they suffocated us better. On the other side I don’t think our cohesion was so good losing all those players early on.”
Wallabies could not match kicking game without key players
Still, he said he thought Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus should be concerned with how the Wallabies made about half a dozen line breaks, though they missed their fluency.
“We didn’t finish them well enough, and that’s credit to a Springbok side who put a lot of pressure on defensively.
“I think they had 35 kicks in play. They certainly peppered us with balls in the air and balls behind us. It wasn’t something we didn’t expect, but losing both Joseph, who is very good in the air, and Tom Wright, probably didn’t help us much.”
