Peter Bills: Springbok captain becomes weakest link

John Smit's technique is not right for a tighthead prop. Photo / Getty Images

Tri-Nations standings

Not yet the champagne, not yet the plaudits of the rugby world. Mere mortals after all?

The Springboks slipped away from Brisbane's SunCorp stadium on Saturday night, with many unpalatable lessons to digest.

Chief among them was that John Smit (nor for that matter Andrew Hore nor Tatafu Polota-Nau) is a tighthead prop in disguise. The question circulating around the South African camp yesterday as they began preparations for this Saturday's Test in Hamilton was whether Springbok coach Peter de Villiers would concede the point.

De Villiers is a proud, stubborn man and does not have a great record when it comes to accepting the possibility that he might have made a misjudgment. His peremptory statement earlier this season that Smit, the Boks captain, was officially a tighthead prop, no longer a hooker, brooked no debate.

But the Springbok scrum has twice been shown up as not good enough with Smit at tight head. Sources in the Boks camp had tried to blame poor scrummaging by Andries Bekker in Perth, after he had replaced Bakkies Botha in the 53rd minute, for their disintegrating scrum that day.

The hollowness of that was exposed in Brisbane as Smit continued to be out-scrummaged by Benn Robinson, even with Bakkies Botha still on the field.

Unless Smit can magically learn the intricacies of the tighthead prop's art, this weakness is likely to continue. His technique is not right for the tighthead job, as the Australians demonstrated for the second week in succession. Since de Villiers moved Smit across from hooker, the Wallaby scrum has been rejuvenated.

All the poise, power and command the South Africans had shown to carve out a 32-13 lead with just five minutes left in Perth a week earlier, had vanished.

This time, it was the Australians who took charge. Their greater focus meant they could sustain pressure, something they had failed to do at Subiaco Oval.

And when that happened, we saw that these Springboks are human after all. They fumbled passes, made mistakes at the breakdown and wobbled under some high balls. They also resorted to their old, safety-first kicking game and were nowhere near as effective out wide as a consequence. As the pressure intensified, the moaning to the referee, England's Wayne Barnes, increased.

Another reason for South Africa's defeat was that they missed 33 tackles, that helped give Australia eight line breaks. Their lineout was as solid and efficient as ever, stealing three Australian throws and winning all their own.

But they were also second best at the breakdown where Heinrich Brussouw slipped below his immaculate standard. The Wallabies won the rucks and mauls 62-44. That restricted the type of attacking game the Springboks had played in Perth. Expect Schalk Burger's name to feature prominently in team discussions for this Saturday.

Deep breaths and cool heads will be required before the Hamilton test. But the chief discussion should surround Smit's position.