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Sun 7 Sep 2014 | 03:43
Springboks snatch defeat from the jaws of victory as Wallabies win in Perth

14
Comments

The Springboks suffered a heartbreaking defeat in Perth as a dubious yellow card to Test centurion Bryan Habana turned the match on it's head, as the Wallabies fought back brilliantly to score late in the game and win 24-23 in the rain.

The Wallabies struck first through magic man Israel Folau, who crossed with just a minute on the clock for a dream start. The Boks bounced back though, scoring an excellent try through Cornal Hendricks after some lovely hands from star fullback Willie Le Roux.

The Springboks shot out to a 23-14 lead in the second half but as the Wallabies attacked, Habana's desperation tackle was deemed high by Irish referee George Clancy. While reaching for the pocket he was told by the assistant ref to take another look, which he did, but still chose to card Habana.

Australia threw everything into attack and while some impressive defence held them out, a poor Morne Steyn error - not finding touch from a turnover penalty - gave them another crack with time almost up. Some brilliance from Kurtley Beale and Folau allowed Horne to finish well in the corner.

Waratah Foley stepped up and converted, giving them a 24-23 victory. Steyn's poor few minutes were capped off by him failing to kick the ball 10m from the restart, handing possession back to the home side, who hung on and celebrated a famous come from behind win.

It was the first Springbok in 11 months, but coach Heyneke Meyer chose not to comment on the Habana incident, or the puzzling high tackle penalty on Duane Vermeulen in the first half.

"What happened is done and it can’t be changed. We're very disappointed with the defeat because we played very well. I thought we controlled the second half very well, playing against the wind, and the yellow card disrupted our plans on how we wanted to use the bench.

"No excuses though, it's a defeat and it really hurts. We now need to set our sights on our next match, which is our third away from home on the trot, and rectify matters against New Zealand in Wellington. It will take a monumental effort and we’ve got a lot of respect for New Zealand, but I believe we can beat them there," he added ahead of next weekend's match. 

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Posted By: Grant Constable

14 Comments

  • 45678
    8:20 PM 09/09/2014

    Steyn is clearly checked and contact is made. An overlap is made by preventing the drift. You can argue that a try would have been scored anyway but dummy runners can only fix defenders. They shouldn't be carving up the defensive line or making contact. Leave that to the league boys

  • eddie-g
    3:22 PM 08/09/2014

    The dummy runners were running legit lines. From a couple of angles, it looks like they could have been blocking defenders from getting to Folau, but from head on it all seemed fair to me; the Aussies had men over and the dummy runners fixed the defence, looked a good try all the way.

  • eddie-g
    2:44 PM 08/09/2014

    I meant it ironically... it was such a bad decision there really are no words. At least none that can be used in the polite company we keep here at RugbyDump.

  • stroudos
    9:38 AM 08/09/2014

    Nice one, cheers. :)

  • katman
    9:07 AM 08/09/2014

    RD, can you please put up a clip of the Duane Vermeulen tackle? The world needs to see how terribly wrong Clancy got it. This was a good, hard tackle on the chest of the ball carrier. The penalty was even more absurd than the Habana yellow card.

  • rugbydump
    8:22 AM 08/09/2014

    Both should be back up now

  • tex15
    8:16 AM 08/09/2014

    I have to disagree with you last part. More needs to be said about the Vermuelen penalty rather than just letting it slide under the carpet. It needs to be pointed out clearly to all referees, especially Clancy, that was not and never should have been a penalty.

  • tex15
    8:13 AM 08/09/2014

    Surely after a "performance" as poor as what Clancy displayed there has to be some reaction from the IRB. I'm not saying he should never ref again, but he should at least be dropped for the remainder of the championship. It should also be publicly stated by the IRB that they are dropping him because of his abysmal refereeing.

  • spicksandspecks
    7:11 AM 08/09/2014

    No there was no clear obstruction and the defender was nowhere near the ball carrier. The Pek Cowan try was disallowed correctly because there was clear obstruction and the defender could have made a tackle.

  • stroudos
    6:54 AM 08/09/2014

    @RD - I get "This video has been removed by the user" on both this and NZ v Arg posts...

  • 10stonenumber10
    3:55 AM 08/09/2014

    I almost maxed out the 2000 character limit for this comment. Then I remembered that this is a family website, with viewers of all ages. Without the 4 letter expletives, we have what we have here:

    George Clancy, on behalf of every player and spectator...

    SHAME ON YOU.

    My opinion of Habana is well documented, but even I felt bad for the guy.

  • eddie-g
    7:50 PM 07/09/2014

    Fair play to the Aussies, never gave up and it was a fine try to win the game.

    But holy mother of god, George Clancy one-upped Mr Poite for utter crap decisions. And this one probably did decide the match. Never mind the assistant ref had doubts, what was motivating Clancy to go to his pocket? Why was he so sure it deserved a yellow? I always try to understand how ref errors come about, but on this one, I'm stumped.

    And the less said about the Vermuelen penalty, the better.

  • 45678
    7:08 PM 07/09/2014

    Should the 1st Aussie try have been allowed? Looked like blatant obstruction from the dummy runners which created the space

  • katman
    6:10 PM 07/09/2014

    I'm sorry, but Clancy ruined this test and certainly affected the outcome. Even the touch judge knew that yellow was a shocking call, and yet Clancy chose to go ahead with it. And don't even get me started on the penalty for Duane Vermeulen's first half hit. Ridiculous. Well done to the Aussies for not giving up and closing it out. But this test leaves a bitter taste.

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