Peter Bills: Australians' experience overpowers the Springboks

COMMENT

When a South African scores the winning try for Australia against a Springbok team coached by the man who was his mentor, then rugby men throughout the Republic are entitled to feel disgruntled.

Add the fact that the Springboks' much vaunted forward unit simply failed to fire and you will understand the depth of dismay that confronted Jake White's men on their long flight home to Johannesburg last night.

Clyde Rathbone, whose try nine minutes from the end completed the Wallabies' revival from the ashes of a 16-7 first-half deficit, was South African born and bred. He captained their successful under-21 side, but slipped through the Springboks' fingers because he saw no future for himself and his family in the new Republic.

Recently, he turned down a huge financial offer to go back, accepting instead a far smaller sum from the Australian Rugby Union.

Rathbone was sent sliding into the corner by first five-eighth Stephen Larkham who rose, Phoenix-like, from the ashes of his display at Wellington, to earn man-of-the-match rating in Perth.

The Australians' old controlling axis of Larkham and George Gregan, with 171 caps between them, were the reasons the Wallabies escaped from a 16-7 deficit with only five minutes of the first-half left, against a Springbok side that lacked the nous to close down the game.

But as for pointers to this Saturday's Tri-Nations Test in Sydney between Australia and New Zealand, then you have to say there was encouragement for Graham Henry's troops.

In truth, as at Christchurch seven days earlier, it wasn't just the last try that beat the Springboks.

Losing eight of their own line-out throws was a significant factor, as was the inability of their scrum to look the part.

But equally, if you had a bottle of wine as ordinary as this Australian pack, you'd call it one thing - plonk.

Distracted lock Justin Harrison is a fist fight waiting to happen and the front row wouldn't frighten pussycats. It resisted the disappointing Springbok unit but I would expect Kees Meeuws and Greg Somerville (who will surely be retained at tight head), to give them problems in Sydney on Saturday.

If lock Keith Robinson and blindside flanker Jono Gibbes return, then Australia's weakness up front should be fully exposed at last.

But whether the All Black backline can fire in a way it has yet to do this season remains uncertain.

Australia scored four tries against the Springboks in Perth, all of them from their backs.

Collectively, they ran clever, penetrating angles on and off the ball and to respond in kind this weekend New Zealand will need Carlos Spencer to give a more convincing performance.

If conditions are dry in Sydney, the All Blacks will need to shackle Gregan and Larkham. Forward ascendancy would help but they must prove they have the penetration behind the scrum to match the Wallabies.

South Africa, meanwhile, have returned home to lick their wounds and ponder their options against the All Blacks at Ellis Park, Johannesburg, on Saturday week.

There has been much talk that the Springboks would win both home legs of this Tri-Nations competition, but in my book, such talk just reflects the old failings of Springbok rugby.

They won't beat either New Zealand or Australia, even at home, without radical improvement up front. And expecting victory, as opposed to going out and seizing it, remains a bete noire for them.

South Africa's problem is that experience is not to be found on the supermarket shelves, alongside the tinned fruit. It is purchased only through blood, sweat and tears and, yes, in heart-breaking defeats such as theirs against New Zealand and Australia in the past seven days. You cannot acquire it any other way.

Larkham and Gregan's opposite numbers in the South African side, halfback Fourie du Preez and first five-eight Jaco van der Westhuyzen, were, by comparison with the two Australians' 171 caps, winning their 6th Test cap and 15th. Enough said.

Saturday's test produced an exciting second half, but George Gregan's assertion that this was a high-quality game didn't square with my view. A lot of it was technically poor.

If the All Blacks are on their game this Saturday, they can show Gregan what high quality really is.

* Peter Bills is a rugby writer for Independent News & Media in London.