Here’s the official report on the Wallabies’ win in South Africa on the weekend.
Now it’s my turn. As you would expect, I’m ready to give Channel Seven a serve for the horrible video quality. If anyone else taped (or sat up to watch) the game, you might agree with me perhaps that the video feed quality was horrible.
We managed to get the Olympics in crystal clear HD but the pivotal match of the Tri Nations? Looked like it had been taped on an old VHS tape and then passed through some strong magnets!
Now, to the match: Australia really held it’s own in the breakdown, with many a pilfered ball (especially when it counted). Our forwards did a great job in both the line out and the scrum – this was no push around team we sent.
Matt Giteau had a superlative game and Peter Hynes also had a noteworthy day on the paddock, but Stirling Mortlock put the game away for good late in the game with a brilliant individual effort straight up the middle.
Palu was interchanged with Horratah’s strong man Phil Waugh which seemed like a pretty good strategic move. I also noted that subs were used much earlier than in previous games (we started seeing substitutions close to the 55/60 minute range).
South Africa gave the Wallabies a lot of chances from simple handling errors which plagued their game all night. Without their speedsters on the wing, or their tough front men (including Bakkies Botha up front) the Boks lacked the follow through from their previous campaigns.
The next game in Brisbane (Australia v All Blacks) will be critical, and could easily determine the winner of the Tri Nations cup.
