Handre Pollard. Handre Pollard. Handre Pollard.
He has not missed a kick in the World Cup — and he did not miss one last night. He did it from 50 metres, two minutes from time. He did it — as he has done it all his career. This player needs to be appreciated.
One point is all you need to win a game. One point is what the Boks did. But wow, it was ugly for the preceding 77 minutes. A lost breakdown at the first go, a lost lineout at the first put in, a lost ball at the first up and under and a second lost lineout on the second go.
The Springboks in the first five minutes made more mistakes than they did a week ago against France in the quarterfinal. The scrum: No dominance. The lineout: Impotent. England were ahead 6-0 after 10 minutes.
It was a victory for the Boks because better teams would have buried the Boks in those first 10 minutes. England, at 3-0, should have backed their forwards to turn 3 to 10, but when they went for the three, they complimented the Boks.
England, though, in the opening quarter played traditional Bok rugby — conservative and reliant on box kicks — and the Boks had little answer for their own formula. More followed. Twice, the Boks could have kicked for posts and they went for the lineout. Twice, they were repelled. Then they got penalised at the scrum.
Nothing, in the first 20 minutes, went for the Boks. They had reserved their worst 20 minutes of the tournament for the opening 20 of a World Cup semi-final. It was even worse for the Boks in the 20-30 minute period.
The Boks had just won one lineout and lost three. England had five. Manie Libbok was subbed at 30 minutes. Many would think it a harsh call because Libbok had done nothing wrong and his forwards had done nothing right.
This was not personal. The conditions, the lack of flow in the game and the Boks’ inability to get any forward momentum, made it the only call. One team played as if they had nothing to lose. This was England.
One point is all you need to win a game. One point is what the Boks did. But wow it was ugly for the preceding 77 minutes."
The Boks, in that opening quarter, just looked limp. The 23 that had left everything on the field at the Stade de France a week ago against France, gave nothing in the first 40 minutes. They were punched out — not by England but by France a week earlier.
When the two teams changed ends, England would have wondered how they had only 12 points, via four penalties? South Africans would have been mystified that the Boks actually had six points, courtesy of two penalties.
The Boks, in two World Cups under the Rassie Erasmus/Jacques Nienaber era, reserved their worst ever 40 minutes at the World Cup for the opening half against England. It did not get better in the first five minutes of the second half. The Boks were just not at the races and the changes came quickly.
Eben Etzebeth, colossal against France, was benched after 45 minutes and so were Cobus Reinach and Damian Willemse. This was a game that called for the famed Bok bomb squad, but going with a five-three split, this was not in the Bok arsenal.
Hindsight is the science no one has, but in hindsight the Boks selections were all wrong. Even the best get suckered by emotion. And Erasmus and Nienaber rank among the best as international coaches.
When a coach subs Duane Vermeulen, Siya Kolisi, Steven Kitshoff and Etzebeth on 55 minutes, it tells you they got the selections wrong. This was nearly a disaster and it should never have been.
Emotions must be put to one side this week. The Boks played their “get out of jail” card. They are in the final. It should never have been this close.
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