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« Sort it out on the field | | Sacrificed for the Olympic dream »

July 26, 2009

Posted on 07/26/2009

Not a great weekend

Greg Growden, writing on Rugby Heaven, believes that the Springboks' win over New Zealand highlighted the extent of the Wallabies' problems in this Tri-Nations.

"In all, it wasn't the most satisfying weekend for Australian rugby.

"For those Wallabies who woke up in the middle of the night to watch the Springboks keep the All Blacks at bay in the Bloemfontein Tri Nations match, it just accentuated the pain of their wasting their chance of beating New Zealand in Auckland the previous weekend.

"The Springboks' haphazard performance, with which they comfortably accounted for the All Blacks, emphasised how far New Zealand are from their best and, if an opponent remains focused, they can be swept aside.

"Australia had that chance and bombed it. South Africa were in the same position on Saturday and completed the task.

"As importantly, the All Blacks' effort, where they fought back for the second week in a row to threaten momentarily late in the Springboks Test, confirmed they have something the Wallabies don't - resilience. The All Blacks know it is vital to keep the pressure on for the duration of the Test and to be close to their peak near the end of the game. They did that both in Auckland and Bloemfontein."

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