Lions spared humiliation by meddling of De Villiers
Brian O'Driscoll of the British and Irish Lions is tackled by Jean de Villiers of South Africa. Photo: Duif du Toit, Getty Images
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Monday June 22 2009
The Springboks just about avoided landing right in the middle of the enormous cowpat put in front of them by their own coach in Durban.
Peter de Villiers complained afterwards that his team looked "a bit flat" after they had carved out a 26-7 lead with just 47 minutes gone. Well, the 'Boks damn nearly fell flat on their faces once De Villiers had got to work wrecking their rhythm and breaking up the team that had earlier managed to put the Lions to the sword.
This much is clear: had the likes of Bakkies Botha, John Smit, Jean de Villiers and Tendai 'The Beast' Mtawarira stayed on for another 15-20 minutes, the South Africans would have been far, far away even if the Lions had still scored their two converted late tries.
The ultimate condemnation of the Springbok coach's unjustified meddling was that his captain, Smit, had to return to the fray in the final moments to drag his shaken team across the finishing line.
Make no mistake, the Springboks were within an ace of losing a Test they ought to have won at a canter. In the end, it was only Morne Steyn's hammering tackle on Lions' wing Ugo Monye which knocked the ball from the Englishman's grasp as he was about to cross the line, that ensured the 'Boks got home.
For a side needing, in De Villiers' words, "an injection of enthusiasm and speed," the Springboks seemed to have done alright in most people's view. The Lions were subjected to a pace, dynamism and intensity which they found a shock to the system.
Perfectly good international players back in the northern hemisphere like Jamie Heaslip, Tommy Bowe and Alun-Wyn Jones struggled to adapt to such heightened standards.
ragged
Afterwards, the Lions clung to the life raft of hope that what happened in the final quarter when they threatened to run the South Africans ragged, can be a precursor to events in Pretoria on Saturday.
Undeniably, Brian O'Driscoll and Jamie Roberts offered a sumptuous master class at centre, two players in a class of their own in the Lions team.
But surely the tourists must accept two factors: firstly, that they only got control once most of the South Africans' best, most powerful players had left the field and, secondly, that until then they were crushed up front by the incessant physicality of the South Africans. That only changed when the Springbok coach put a stop to that authority. Had they been allowed to continue with the same side in the same vein I have no doubt the Springboks would have passed 35 points, maybe more.
They were overwhelmingly superior in the set scrums, where loose-head Mtawarira put Phil Vickery through the mincer. The Lions scrum was destroyed by the pressure.
You could say the good news was that the Lions played such fine rugby in the last quarter. And even before that, they did create some chances. The bad news is that the Springboks got away with it and will surely play for the full 80 minutes in Pretoria. After being wrapped in cotton wool for three or four weeks by their coach prior to this game, they will almost certainly be better prepared, with greater accuracy, timing and precision in their game this weekend.
But the clearest fact to emerge from Saturday was this: O'Driscoll and Roberts excepted, these Lions just aren't good enough.
- Peter Bills
