Springbok View - Final Word

By Warren Gatchell

Firstly I would like to congratulate the Lions and their fans on one of the best, hard-fought, well-supported series' in a long time. What impressed me most was how the Lions were able to lift themselves after the demoralizing defeat in Pretoria a week ago and totally outplay the Boks in Johannesburg, one of the toughest places for touring teams in the world.

The Boks missed the physical presence of Bakkies Botha but for the whole team to play a Lions test with the "justice 4" white strip was odd. Especially silly was seeing a piece of white tape on Victor Matfield's forehead with "Justice" scribbled on it; any on-looking Lions back must have felt a bit uneasy with the towering Matfield donning such strange war-like text.

Overall in the series the Lions outscored the Boks by seven tries to five. I find this an interesting statistic considering the Boks outscored the Lions nine tries to three in 1997, yet lost the series. I think it says a lot about the rivalry between the Lions and the Boks and how the more ruthless team, not necessarily the most expansive, usually edges the series in the end.

The Boks dominated for 50 minutes in the 1st test and 30 minutes in the 2nd test yet it was the Lions that were the only team in the test series that managed to dominate for 80 minutes.

A lot can be said of the 10 Springbok changes to the starting XV but it must be noted that lock Bakkies Botha and Schalk Burger were both banned and unavailable for selection regardless. Injuries to Andries Bekker and Danie Rossouw further depleted the lock reserves, the latter due to that rather painful head clash with BOD.

If anything the selections for positions 11-15 were based on form in the Super14 and had a lot of support and enthusiasm by the South African rugby public prior to the 3rd test. Therefore, the Lions must get full credit for their victory in Ellis Park.

I felt the presence of Bryan Habana and JP Pietersen could have resulted in another try from the line out being finished off but that would only have made the losing margin a bit more respectable.

June/July is traditionally used as a time for trying out combinations in the Southern Hemisphere rugby calendar. Coach Pieter de Villiers' mindset was to build a bit of depth ahead of the 2009 Tri Nations which kicks off for South Africa in three weeks, and with the series in the bag this was the only chance he had to do so.

Ultimately, the Boks lost the game at the breakdown: there wasn't any urgency there and the Lions ripped into the hosts which completely negated the running game planned for Saturday.

Jamie Heaslip had a fantastic game, as did Martyn Williams and I couldn't help but think McGeechan picked up a few tips from the 1st test in getting his players to take the opportunities when they presented themselves.

Tactical kicking, an area in which the Boks are usually right up there, was poor and Rob Kearney had a field day. Every time a kick missed touch Kearney replied with interest or better still grabbed the ball back from thin air! This usually started an incisive counter-attack which put the Boks under tremendous pressure.

The Lions edged the Boks in the scrum and the absence of Bismarck du Plessis was felt. Once du Plessis came off the bench to provide that extra bit of grunt in the scrum it wasn't too long before Vickery went off.

The Springbok backs were a little too individualistic on Saturday but in blooding new players Pieter de Villiers has discovered a few Boks for the future. It's strange to think that Morne Steyn earned his first cap at the 1st test. Heinrich Brussouw has proved himself at test level and will be an asset for the future, even more so with Burger missing the first three matches in the Tri Nations.

On the home front I was disappointed by the lack of Springbok supporters during the tests. Hopefully this can be a lesson to future Lions tours that a full stadium is much more important than milking the occasion for as much money as possible.

To compare with euros isn't fair as €80/90 is around the same most would pay in Ireland for a Six Nations or Autumn international ticket. A fairer comparison would be taking your average ticket in Ireland and multiplying the price by three. I couldn't imagine a full Croke Park or Lansdowne Road at €300 per ticket, could you?

It's been a long wait since 1980 for the South African public to celebrate a win against the Lions. The series was an extremely close-run thing, and in the end it all hinged on a single penalty, much like 1997 which was won with a last-minute drop goal by Jerry Guscott.

What was going on in Ronan O'Gara's head that day in Pretoria I'll never know but for his efforts O'Gara will surely receive a warm sunny welcome the next time he visits South Africa!

Warren Gatchell is a Springbok supporter who has lived in Ireland for three years.