This past Saturday, the 12th of September 2009, will go down as one of the greatest days in the history of South African rugby. The Springboks faced the All Blacks for the 3rd time in this year’s Tri-Nations Tournament in Hamilton, New Zealand. Before this match the South African public was not sure whether the Springboks had it in them to beat New Zealand on one of their own grounds. South Africa does not have a good track record against the All Blacks in New Zealand. It turns out that Springbok supporters did not have to worry too much. In a humdinger of a match, South Africa beat New Zealand by 32 points to 29. This was a welcome result after the previous test against Australia in Brisbane did not go so well. A lot was expected from the Springboks, since they won all their tests against Australia and New Zealand in South Africa (In Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg).

The Springboks completely overwhelmed the All Blacks in the first half of the game. The All Blacks only managed to score 12 points (4 penalties kicked by Dan Carter) in this half. Fourie Du Preez scored the first try of the match in the 19th minute of the first half. 3 penalties by full back Frans Steyn (including a 60 metre kick over the posts from South Africa’s 10 metre line) and a 35 metre drop goal by fly half Morne Steyn helped to bring up the Springboks score to 22 points when the half time whistle blew. All of South Africa was pleased with the Springboks’ performance, being 10 points head at half time against the All Blacks on their home ground is quite an achievement.

11 minutes into the 2nd half, Springbok centre Jean de Villiers lived up to his reputation of “interception king”, intercepting a pass from Dan Carter 30 metres from the New Zealand goal line and cruising over the line for a trademark try. After the successful conversion, the Boks were ahead by 29 points to 12. Sitiveni Svivivatu managed to score a try for the All Blacks in the 16th minute after half time, which was converted. At this stage, the Springboks were still ahead by 10 points (29 – 19). Dan Carter kicked over another penalty for New Zealand with 16 minutes left in the match, putting the All Blacks only 7 points behind South Africa. However, fly half Morne Steyn gave the Springboks some breathing room, kicking over a penalty with 10 minutes to go to give his team a 10 point lead. In the dying minutes of the match, Richie Macaw sailed over the try line for a New Zealand. The Springboks defended all All Black onslaughts until the 81st minute of the match, beating New Zealand for the 2nd time in 2 years on their own ground and clinching the 2009 Tri Nations Championship for the 3rd time.

Unfortunately I did not see this match on television, but I did follow the online scoring on Supersport constantly because I was worried that the Springboks might not be able to pull it off. It really has been a brilliant year for South African Rugby. The Springboks are the current World Cup Holders, they won the series against the British Lions and now they are the 2009 Tri Nations Champs. Quite impressive if you ask me. Let’s also not forget that a South African team, the Vodacom Bulls are the current Super 14 Champs. With achievements like these, things can only get better for South African Rugby. Hats off to the All Blacks for being a formidable opponent (like always). Some critics have labeled New Zealand as sore losers after South African centre, Jacque Fourie has been handed a 4 week ban for a dangerous tackle. I tend to disagree, a dangerous tackle is still a dangerous tackle and I think this would’ve happened even if we were out of contention for the Tri Nations title. This years Tri-Nations competition will be remembered as the year that Morne Steyn scored all 31 points against the All Blacks in a test in Durban, the year the Springboks beat Australia in Perth with a record score and the year South Africa won its 3rd ever Trophy.

Argentina has been invited to the join the Tri Nations championship in 2012. Argentina has also been given an opportunity for their best players to be allowed in the Super 14 competition. This could be interesting. This could bring some interesting elements into the competition. This could possibly bring up Argentinian rugby to the level of rugby we’ve come to know from Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. Only time will tell whether this will be the case or not. The Springboks are expected to arrive in South Africa after 16:00 on Monday the 14th of September at OR Tambo Airport in Johannesburg. They’re bound to be awaited by some fans who will probably give them a heroes welcome.

Related Links:
A Nation Sceams ‘Yes!’ – Independent Online
Super Boks are Champions – Independent Online
Smit hails Bok heroes – Daily Dispatch
Springboks bask in latest glory – Irish Times
All Blacks have lost ‘aura of invincibility’ – New Zealand Herald
Building a Dynasty – Keo Sport Blog
Argentina to Join Tri-Nations – News 24
De Villiers gives Hamilton a right hook – Supersport Rugby

Related Posts

• September 25, 2009 -- South Africa bounce back in ICC Champions Trophy (0)
• September 2, 2009 -- ICC Champions Trophy 2009 around the corner (0)
• September 2, 2009 -- Springboks make history in Tri-Nations (0)
• January 21, 2010 -- Super 14 Fixtures for 2010 (1)
• November 17, 2009 -- France teach Springboks a lesson (0)
• November 16, 2009 -- Proteas have mixed results against England (0)
• November 13, 2009 -- Springboks to take on France tonight (0)
• October 6, 2009 -- Australia win 2009 ICC Champions Trophy (0)
• September 23, 2009 -- Sri Lanka crush Proteas in ICC Champions Trophy (0)
• September 7, 2009 -- Wallabies bring Springboks down to earth in Brisbane (0)

Last week I was oozing with patriotism in a post about the Springboks’ performance abroad in the Tri-Nations. I’m glad I didn’t look for a ticket for sale for this past weekend’s game. The South African supporters, yours truly and the Springbok team itself were brought back to reality with an astonishing loss against Australia in Brisbane this past weekend. It just shows you, just when you think that a team (in any sport) is unbeatable, the underdogs or team that you least expect to perform brings them back down to earth or at least reminds them that they’re not unbeatable. The Wallabies crushed the Springboks, beating them convincingly by 21 points to 6 and silencing all the critics. The Springboks trailed by 9 points to 6 at half time. Adam Ashley-Cooper and James O’Connor scored the tries for Australia. Matt Giteau kicked over a conversion, 2 penalties and a drop goal. Flyhalf Morne Steyn scored South Africa’s 6 points, kicking over a penalty and a drop goal.

Maybe the Springbok team had a negative connotation in the back of their minds connected with Brisbane. The Springboks have not won a game in Brisbane since 1971. The concept is almost the one the Springboks had with the infamous “House of Pain” in Christchurch, New Zealand, an obstacle overcome by the Springboks in last year’s Tri-Nations competition when they beat the All Blacks in a test there. Besides the loss at the Suncorp stadium this past week, the Springboks still hold a commanding 9 point lead on the Tri-Nations points log. The Springboks have put themselves under pressure, in my opinion. Then again, they can’t be expected to perform at their peak all the time. All they can do is focus on their game. They face the All Blacks this coming weekend in Hamilton, New Zealand. They have to beat New Zealand on their own soil convincingly (with a bonus point) in order to make sure that they win their third Tri-Nations title. To win the Tri-Nations this year, New Zealand must win both their remaining games, with at least one bonus point, against South Africa next week or Australia in Wellington on the 19th of September. Australia have lost 4 of their 5 matches putting them out of the contest for the Tri-Nations Championship title. This is probably why they beat South Africa this past weekend, they had nothing to lose, making them a very dangerous competitor. Should the Springboks loose to New Zealand this coming weekend, every South African supporter will be praying for an Australian victory in the last test in Wellington (not a common trend in South Africa). If this coming weekend’s test was going to be played in Johannesburg or somewhere else in South Africa, the Springboks would probably be a little less worried than now.

South African captain, John Smit sounded confident about his team’s performance against New Zealand in the upcoming test this weekend “Rest assured the guys will be fired up for the final game in Hamilton.” he said. The performance against Australia this past weekend wasn’t the best we’ve seen by the Springboks this year, hopefully they’ll do a lot better against New Zealand this coming weekend. Come on boys! Bring our 3rd Tri-Nations title home!

Related Posts

• September 2, 2009 -- Springboks make history in Tri-Nations (0)
• January 21, 2010 -- Super 14 Fixtures for 2010 (1)
• October 6, 2009 -- Australia win 2009 ICC Champions Trophy (0)
• September 2, 2009 -- ICC Champions Trophy 2009 around the corner (0)
• September 25, 2009 -- South Africa bounce back in ICC Champions Trophy (0)
• September 14, 2009 -- Springboks clinch 3rd Tri-Nations victory (0)
• January 18, 2010 -- Proteas pull one back against England (0)
• December 7, 2009 -- World Cup 2010: Groups (0)
• November 17, 2009 -- France teach Springboks a lesson (0)
• November 16, 2009 -- Proteas have mixed results against England (0)