Stirling Mortlock limps from the field at Newlands

Maybe not the prettiest of rugby games, but the Springboks continued their winning streak at Newlands last weekend. Morne Steyn continued to break records, becoming the player to have kicked the most penalties against the Wallabies in a single match.

The Springbok win has been somewhat overshadowed by the fact that New Zealand match commissioner, David Gray, failed to cite Matt Giteau for his malicious charge on Fourie Du Preez. I stated before that I don’t in anyway think that Giteau is a dirty player, he isn’t. He even apologised to Foure Du Preez before leaving the field. That is besides the point though. If not cited for his charge on Du Preez, he should have been cited for his blatant disregard of his own safety, in causing himself to land dangerously on his head/neck. There just isn’t place for such carelessness in the game of rugby.

The fact that he wasn’t cited, again brings up the argument that players who are being cited and subsequently suspended are being suspended because of who they are, not what their transgression is. It doesn’t take previous incidents to do something silly, possibly causing a player to break his neck. Each incident should be treated as that, a separate incident, based on the transgression of the law, not who the player is, or what he/she has done previously.

I was also disappointed with manner in which George Smith spoke to the ref. There is one way to speak to a ref, and then there is descent.

Luke Burgess needs to get a refund on his radar, it clearly isn’t working.

I was sad to see Stirling Mortlock exit through injury so early on, as his duel against Jaque Fourie was one of the clashes I was most excited to see.

James O’Connor made amends for his terrible performance against the All Blacks by bringing his “A game” against the Springboks. He was elusive in the tackle situation, and strong on his feet.

The Wallabies uncharacteristically dominated a few of the Springbok scrums. Congratulations are in order.

I felt JP Pietersen was week in defense, making a lame attempt on Adam Ashley-Cooper, allowing him over for the first try of the match. Although not his man, Frans Steyn should have tackled him back in that situation.

Jean De Villiers needs to look to offload more in the tackle.

If I were Jaque Fourie, I’d be pissed at the fact that the ball didn’t come my way once.

The Springboks normally rock solid defense was lacking on the day, missing an abnormally high amount of tackles. Take a look at the following stats:

 Here are the match highlights. The Giteau incident happens at the 4 min 51 sec mark. Outrageous!