The match that could determine the final standings in group D took place between the Springboks and Samoa today. Many Springbok fans saw this as the challenge for South Africa in the group stages. They also looked forward to seeing a great display by the Springboks before the quarter finals.
Samoa laid the challenge down to the Springboks with their war cry and you could see how fired up they were. I wonder how the opposing teams will react to the Springboks doing a Toi-Toi before the start of the game?
It was evident from the kick-off that this was going to be a hard physical game. Both teams put in some hard tackles early on. Samoa's George Stowers showed that he wasn't just here to play rugby, but that he was out to pick a fight with any one with in his reach. Samoa attacked well but the South African defence was up to it. After some good build up Schalk Burger offloaded a beauty to Jaque Fourie who put Bryan Habana away for his try in the corner. Morne Steyn converted to make it 7-0 after just 10 minutes.
Mahonri Schwalger the Samoan captain had many discussions with Nigel Owens, the referee, during the game. At one stage Mr Owens had this to say: "Listen, I will never be a Hooker and you never a referee." After a huge scrum by the Springboks that resulted in a penalty about 8 meters in there half, Frans Steyn stepped up to take the kick. He hit the crossbar. A couple of minutes later Frans took an even longer kick on the angle. This time he made no mistake. Morne Steyn added another penalty to make it 13-0.
This was also the halftime score. It did however not reflect what was happening on the field. The Springboks surely didn't have it all their way in the first half. Samoa attacked fiercely and the Springboks had to lay everything they had on the defence.
The second half saw more of this Samoan attack and they got rewarded with a George Stower try. The conversion went left making it 13-5 after 50 minutes. The off the ball scuffles continued and it frustrated the Springboks. We do realise the two teams don't play a lot of rugby against each other, but after the first half there was no more need for meetings to get to no each other.
Bryan Habana got replaced by Franscois Hougaard after he took a hard hit to his thigh. Hougaard didn't stay long however. After going in for a tackle he got a double knee to his head. The Samoa knee hit him back into Burger's knee. The lights went out for Hougaard before he hit the ground and that was it for him.
In the 68th minute Paul Williams and Heinrich Brussouw got into a tussle. Williams held onto Brussouw as he was trying to get back into defence after a ruck. Brussouw tried to free himself and even complained to the assistant referee. Williams got up and gave Brussouw an open handed shot straight to the face. Brussouw went down. Look it was a very hard strike to the face, but Brussouw made a lot of it and he gets the oscar for best actor. The incident resulted in Nigel Owens very politely telling Williams : " that was a strike to the face. It is a red card offence. Now please leave the field.".
John Smit joined Williams in the bin after it was ruled that he committed a professional foul. South African supporters and players will say he went for the intercept but it did look like just an arm going to stop the ball. My feeling a fair card. Nigel Owens at this stage had enough of all the incidents and anything looking like being deliberate would be carded.
The last 10 minutes saw wave after wave of Samoan attack and they came close to scoring a second try. The Springboks however held on the defence to keep it to 13-5 at full time.
Schalk Burger is a worthy man of the match. Other players that stood out was Heinrich Brussouw. He defended well and never stood back. Pat Lambie, the baby in the team, looked good and took a couple of hard tackles. This didn't put him off he just kept going at it. Jaque Fourie again defended like his life depended on it. Even Fourie du Preez looked good. And I must say that he didn't have his normal cup of tea behind the rucks and scrums. He got the ball out quickly.
There is one concern for me. JP Pietersen looked good on attack, but he is still a worry on defence. It is as if he is confused on who to tackle. JP just go for the man with the ball.
Frans Steyn got a shoulder injury that will see him come back to South Africa. This is a huge loss. Not only is he brilliant on defence and attack, but he can kick penalties from 60 meters out. The other injuries doesn't look to bad and we will know in the week if the guys will be able to play.
For now all eyes will be on Italy vs Ireland and I believe most Springboks supporters will hope for an Italy win. This will see us playing Ireland and not Australia in the quarter final. But then again if we can get Australia out of the way in the quarters it is a step closer to winning the Cup.
1 October 2011
