by Handré Pollard doesn’t just point to the poles. The South African metronome, his face in an eternal dark dark dark dark, dark finger encounters the pastors as if he has it. “You are me,” he growls with the promise that in just a few seconds an oval ball will run through her with the friendly approval of his vibrating right trunk.
If there is something like a test player, it is Pollard, the only fly that is present at the last pipe of two victorious world championship campaigns. And test match animals win test games. What always plays for 80 minutes is almost irrelevant. Everything that matters is the result.
It would be simplified that South Africa had a 30-22 arm wrestle exclusively because of Pollard’s right-wing start. The jumping boks corrected the sloppiness of last week in the breakdown and were able to hold the ball over longer periods. They won the struggle for heaven and limited the effects of Australian, loose strikers by holding things out and ensuring that the ball bearers were never too long over the violation of.
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On the other hand, Pollard made all six shots at the goal and added 15 points to the score. In contrast, James O’Connor missed three kicks. He failed to convert Brandon Paenga-Amosa’s rolling mouth test for 68 minutes before shooting two penalties late in the play. That is eight points in a game that is lost by so many.
Is O’Connor’s fault? Of course not, although there is a feeling that all improvements under Joe Schmidt cannot be found on the training part, but between the ears of some older players.
The Australian rugby could do with some test match animals in their ranks. Even a touch would do. Last week you won famous victories over the Lions and the Springboks, but still have no trophy that you can show for your efforts. And until something changes, nothing really becomes.
That would be a shame, because on a damp pitch in Cape Town, where the ball with the ball and the movement at speed required incredible skills and accuracy, the wall buttons in patches were brilliant. When they were in Johannesburg, they flapped from the broken game. It was the quick thinking of Nic White, who came behind the Flying Corey Toole at the debut, and even after Tom Wright left the field with a serious knee injury, the men in gold issued a threat from Deep.
Not that it was this kind of game. Rassie Erasmus never wanted to break things as they did in Ellis Park, so Pollard scored his points and the Boks pack had driven short broadcasts around the fringe. A chalk attempt for Fraser Mcreight would be rewarded for the effort of the wallabies, but the 20-10 deficit at half-time was a fair reflection of the competition.
Australia then suited his hosts in his own game. The returning Rob Valetini was not at its best, but was more than good enough, steam over tackler and wore men in green on his shoulders. Tate McDermott for White, who did not exist his head injury after he was rejected by Kwagga Smith, just held it. Short passes found willing runners who stood in the guts of South African defense. Even Len Ikitau ran into the mass. If the boks wanted to go into the gutter, as their hooker bonggi Mbonambi once referred to the narrow quarters, the Wallabies would like to follow.
Wallabies Rugby used to mean Razzle dazzle and show-stop highlights. It still does, but now it means something different. After solid work in the Scrum, Max Jorgensen scored a cross-field kick. But since Pollard completes the scoreboard from the T -shirt, the wallabies were kept at arm length.
Related: Wallabies break in South Africa’s aura of invincibility in victory that asks: Is the Australian rugby back?
They had the chance to take the lead with a little more than 10 minutes to confirm their status as a comeback kings. But O’Connor missed the fetable conversion to Paenga-Amosas and shortly after Etzebeth had fallen down. Pollard’s boots stretched the lead to eight and forced Australia to score twice if they wanted to claim the backlog against the backlog for the first time since 2015.
It was not to be. Not because Australia cannot progress. Not because you have no midfield or half a baking couple that doors can unlock. Not because they have no flyers wide. Not even because you have no bank that can increase the operation. These concerns were dispelled. Australian Rugby is back. That is clear.
No, Australia has lost this slug festival because South Africa has a test matcher that, according to his will, bends with the simple act of pedaling a ball between two poles. The earlier the Wallabies discover their own, the more the trophies will follow.
