Mike Greenaway: Shameful display by Springboks

Last week, the Springbok coach chastised your correspondent in Durban for being too negative towards South Africa in columns which appeared in the Herald.

So the intention this week, now that I know the Herald website is well read in high places, was to be as positive as possible about the South African performance.

Which would mean the column would have to end around about now, after mentioning the good game played by left wing Ashwin Willemse, the sole Bok to emerge with any credit from the Loftus Versfeld disgrace.

So unfortunately, I have to put my "negative" cap back on - what else can I do after what is surely South Africa's worst rugby humiliation? After the 53-3 disgrace at Twickenham last November, South Africans did not believe it could get worse.

Unfortunately it did. To concede 50 points at a Boer fortress such as Loftus is unfathomable, and it is no surprise that with 20 minutes to go in the match, large segments of the horrified Loftus faithful trooped out.

They were the lucky ones. Those who stayed to the bitter end witnessed the utter capitulation of certain Springbok players. They just stopped tackling and the set scrum, which had been solid for much of the game, disintegrated.

My sympathies to Rudolf. He cannot be blamed for the manner in which some players gave up, but what he can do is try to identify them and make sure they never again get the opportunity to perpetrate such treachery on the South African rugby public.

But long before the painful end, some players had already played their way out of the team and out of South Africa's World Cup plans.

The difference between the two backlines - one neanderthal, the other space age - was clearly evident. For South Africa, the rot started at No 9 and did not improve as the action travelled down the backline, either on attack or defence.

And what about poor Brent Russell at fullback? You could see Murphy's Law having a hand long before kick-off. Against the Wallabies, everything Russell attempted turned to gold. On Saturday, he dropped the first three passes that came his way and then flicked the ball to Joe Rokocoko for a gift try.

Sympathy to Straeuli on this one. After the win over the Wallabies, Straeuli was criticised because he had not been starting with Russell. The coach had believed Russell was better suited to an impact role. He was right.

Mind you, there had been a fear that the Boks were heading for a fall after raising their game to such lofty heights against Australia.

There was a feeling that they had played above themselves at Newlands and were not good enough a unit to sustain that level of performance two weeks in a row.

Indeed, the intensity of the home performance fell away dramatically.

The mystifying thing was South Africa's insistence on playing a loose game, which suited the All Blacks perfectly. The 50-50 passes were recklessly made and the visitors made the most of the resulting turnover ball.

Discipline on defence, though, was their biggest downfall. As soon as the All Blacks went through four or more phases of play, the green line began to go ragged, and then it was a question of time before a try would be scored.

Conversely, when the Boks attacked, the black line never budged.

On the surface, it would seem that the All Blacks won this game on attack.

But they were just as good on defence.

* Mike Greenaway is rugby writer for the Natal Mercury.