AUSTRALIA sent out an unambiguous message about how seriously their challenge should be taken at next year’s World Cup when their young and inexperienced team thoroughly outplayed the Springboks 30-13 in a Vodacom Tri-Nations test at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium yesterday.

In the end a loss in Wallaby  in a sloppy second half saw the try count squared at two apiece, and the difference on the scoreboard was the penalty goals slotted by the Australian duo of Matt Giteau and James O’Connor.

But if anyone points to that as an indication that there wasn’t much between these teams it would be disingenuous—from the opening 10 minutes it was obvious that the Wallabies were just several steps quicker and smarter than a Bok team that struggled to keep pace.

There was another yellow card early in the game, with referee George Clancy going on the assistant referee’s recommendation by sending Jaque Fourie for an early 10 minute rest for a fourth minute tip tackle. The Boks are sure to complain about it, but the reality is that anyone who has watched top rugby in the last while would know that referees do come down harshly on that kind of tackle.

Later in the game Wallaby flyhalf Quade Cooper was carded for a similar tackle, so it wasn’t as if this was an area where the referees were inconsistent. The yellow card handed in the second half to BJ Botha for lying over the ball on the wrong side was inconsistent as David Pocock had been allowed to get away with a far more cynical version of the same crime when the Boks were attacking towards the end of the first.

In any event, losing a centre does not quite have as big an impact on the game early on as losing a lock, as they did in the last two tests, and the Boks did well to prevent the Wallabies from scoring in the 10 minutes that Fourie was off the field.

But it made no difference whether Fourie, who by the way turned in an excellent individual performance, was on the field or off it, and if anything, the Wallabies looked better when it was 15 against 15.

Pace was their key ingredient, but they also played an impressive direct form of rugby, with the locks and skipper Rocky Elsom being used to power through the middle, where Will Genia was also outstanding.
As with the first two matches of the tour, the Boks’ first time tackling was woeful, although that said, they did have some good scramble to thank for the fact that the Wallabies did not score more than just the solitary Drew Mitchell try in the first half.—Supersport

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