John Smit, on the occasion of his 100th cap, sank down on one knee at the end of the match and put his head in his hands. I knew how he felt. The problem is, in the build up to the game, the Boks had been studying the rugby manual instead of ‘Tales of the Supernatural’ which is where their attention should have been focused. When the black beast is down, cut it’s head off, stuff it’s neck with garlic and drive a silver stake through it’s heart. It’s all very well coming to us after the match and telling us you forgot to bring your silver stake, but at this level, those kind of excuses just don’t wash.
Time for the Boks to hold to hold their hands up – they were beaten by a better team. There’s only one team in the world at the moment that could have beaten the Bok’s playing as well as they did and that’s the All Black’s. Every Bok tackle was of bone shuddering intensity, every man gave 110% and the Boks didn’t make more than a handful of mistakes, but they were all pounced upon and turned into points, as the AB’s ignored the altitude and finished much the stronger of the teams.
Their were many outstanding individual performances by the Boks, from Schalk Burger, Gio Aplon, Juan de Jongh, Juan Smith, and Francois Hougaard covered himself in glory. Morne Steyn fluffed his lines a few times, he’s not the complete player they need at 10 yet, and the substitutions on the whole were for less effective players.
For the AB’s, Ritchie McCaw was godlike, Dan Carter mixed it up brilliantly, Corey Jane and Nonu were outstanding and Weepu made a difference when he came on.
It’s all bow down to the new high kings of rugby.
Donnybrook Park was the venue as an understrength Leinster played host to a pretty strength Wasps. It was a friendly, but Wasps certainly look in impressive form going in to the season. Luke Fitzgerald was really sharp, he was a handful every time he got the ball. Sean O’Brien had a solid match, and Isa Nacewa put in a good few bone crunching tackles – there will be a couple of Wasps players still feeling their ribs. I though Trevor Hogan played well , and Heinke van der Merwe had a good solid start – he dropped the ball a couple of times, but I think he’s going to make a big impact, he’s not the biggest player but he’s awesomely strong. Isaac Boss made a difference when he came on.
For Wasps Tom Varndell looked dangerous and in fact the whole backline looks to be in tip top shape. Joe Simpson showed blistering place off the back of the ruck, and Riki Flutey is in good form. Finally in a special ceremony seven minutes before full time, Simon Shaw was presented with his 100th yellow card.
