Wallabies deserve tight win

The Wallabies demonstrated their collective nerves of steel on Saturday to finally win a place in the final of the World Cup. Tryless it may have been, and joyless though the Springboks's approach was, this was still an epic, a classic of its kind.

Long before the end, perhaps from early in the second-half, it was clear that there would be no tries, and there probably wouldn't be if Australia and South Africa were still hammering away at each other right now.

Yet not only should this rare Tri-Nations showdown on European soil have been compulsive viewing for England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, in that it demonstrated how to play the modern game, it ought also to have been compelling for the sheer titanic nature of the collision.

Two brilliant defences, two brilliant line-outs, two masters of playing the territorial game, this was perhaps the ultimate game of percentage rugby.

The contrast was still striking though, and given virtuoso performances by Tim Horan and John Eales especially, not to mention the fact that they brought more variety and sheer running rugby to the Twickenham party, victory was no less than the Wallabies deserved.

Almost virtually from the kickoff the match panned out as anticipated. The Springboks pretty much relied on the boot, whether playing the percentage territorial game with the strong wind behind them in the opening period, or whether setting up second phase ball for pre-planned drop goal attempts by Jannie de Beer. They only played a close-in, flat passing running game during their one spell of supremacy in the third quarter.

It was always going to be a limiting and limited gameplan, for as John Robbie remarked in the press box beforehand, "I'll tell you one thing, Jannie de Beer won't drop five goals this week".

It wasn't, though, for want of trying. In contrast to the previous week's perfect five, this time he landed just one from five.

The constrained tactical approach of the Springboks has understandably mystified some South African writers and pundits, all the more so as Gary Teichmann was jettisoned for supposedly championing such an approach, and was replaced by the more mobile Bobby Skinstad, who is still obviously lacking the kind of pace and match-fitness which, for example, tore Ireland apart in Dublin a year ago.

The tactics had some variety in that de Beer began standing so deep in the pocket he was more in the turn-ups of the trouser legs, and he was used as much as a decoy as a drop goal option.

Once or twice this even duped the Wallabies and in their eagerness to close him down the outstanding Joost van der Westhuizen sliced through inside the Wallaby 22 to untypically and fatally take the tackle and go to ground rather than offload to the supporting Pieter Muller.

By contrast, the Wallabies sought to set up second phase for Stephen Larkham to unveil his box of handling tricks and to launch a variety of target runners though the middle.

An additional string to the Wallaby bow was the clever use of Toutai Kefu as a potent midfield runner. With the outstanding Horan and Kefu (not to mention Daniel Herbert and Nathan Grey) coming at them from all angles, the Springbok defence was frequently breached.

However, the Wallabies's surprising inability to get any support runners onto the shoulders of the ball-carrier, and the astonishing ability of the Springboks to funnel back, cover and regroup, meant that their try-line remained intact for the fourth game running.

The most sustained Wallaby drive of the match, during which referee Derek Bevan decreed they had used up one penalty advantage, culminated in the official's bizarre 71st minute decision to penalise George Gregan for not releasing inches short of the line, when clearly van der Westhuizen was on top of him and playing the ball illegally.

Bevan infuriated Australia some more when allowing seven minutes of injury time and consequently gave South Africa the chance to win a penalty and for de Beer to kick the ultimate pressure goal. It saved South Africa, but from the moment de Beer stepped up to take the kick, it never looked like missing. Australia, however, managed to regroup in the dressing-room.

"It's always very tense in a situation like that," admitted Macqueen. "So the first thing we did was calm down. John (Eales) spoke very well. We tried to get our communication going and we still had 20 minutes which was a fair bit of time. So we tried to stay calm about it, and try and play it down there in opposition territory."

Aware that if it finished level and tryless, Australia would progress to the final courtesy of their superior disciplinary record (South Africa had had Brendan Venter sent-off against Uruguay) nonetheless "we didn't want to make an issue of it because it might make us play defensive rugby," said Eales. "We had to go on playing attacking rugby."

That they did, and the game had the supreme ironic twist of Larkham's towering 50 metre drop goal on the run which finally broke the Boks's indomitable spirit. Ironically coming against the current masters of the drop goal, it was Australia's first in World Cup history and the first in Test rugby by any member of this current team. Regardless of how you look at it, it could not have come at a better time.

The South African coach Nick Mallett was magnanimous in defeat and effusive about the Wallabies. "I've really got a lot of respect for Australia. Rod Macqueen is a coach I admire a lot, and John Eales and those guys are a credit to the game. It's easy to go in to their dressingroom and say they played well. We really gave it our best shot and well done to Australia.

"There are two ways of being disappointed," Mallett added philosophically. "You can be disappointed because you let yourself down or because the result went against you. They (his players) didn't let themselves down. They tried their absolute best and they have nothing to be ashamed about."

Pity the poor Boks. Mentally already on their homeward bound plane, they have to hang around for the third place playoff on Thursday to complete their Edinburgh-Paris-London-Cardiff odyssey. A chance to avoid the qualifying route to the next World Cup in 2003. Yeah, just what they wanted.