Blow-by-blow scoring

Paul O’Connell’s men gave a clinically committed performance against a disjointed and lethargic Springbok side to not only ensure that they would not be the first Lions to be whitewashed on a tour of South Africa but also match the record test score set by Willie John McBride’s 1974 side.

Ironically the score, 28-9, exactly matched the score by which McBride’s Lions beat the Springboks in the second test at Loftus in 1974.

Although the Springboks had the satisfaction of winning the series by having taken the first two tests, Saturday’s comprehensive defeat will serve to highlight just how close it was.

The Boks’ coaches almost contrived to give it away in the first test in Durban, the only game in which John Smit’s men played anywhere near the standard they are capable of, and the second was only won thanks to Morné Steyn’s long-range penalty right at the death.

Saturday’s comprehensive defeat provided the Lions with some statistical solace in that over the series they outscored the Boks by seven tries to five and by 74 points to 63; raising the question whether all is well in South Africa’s camp.

There have been rumblings about the players’ dissatisfaction with their coaches and on Saturday the Boks certainly paid the price for the decision to make wholesale changes on the spurious grounds of giving certain players the chance to play against the Lions.

The Springbok management are certainly going to have to re-think the experiment of playing John Smit at tighthead prop, as hard and well as the skipper has tried to take it on, because it is disrupting the structure of the team and on Saturday the foundation of the Lions’ victory was laid in the scrums.

That the Springboks could fall so far off their own standards is disturbing. There have been signs that the watertight defence of the Jake White era has sprung some leaks and the lack of cohesion on Saturday can’t simply be blamed on the changes.

The Boks appeared on the field sporting white armbands bearing the slogan ‘Justice 4’ in support of banned teammate Bakkies Botha and they played as though they were distracted by other issues. Their kicking was not as effective as in the previous two internationals and instead of driving up the intensity of their defence and control of the ball they slipped a few notches more.

Against this the Lions were focused and unflinchingly determined. They swarmed up on defence, closing down the Boks’space, they massed numbers to the breakdowns, handled the ball superbly, scrambled well, made telling first-up hits and took their chances superbly.

There were early signs that the Boks’ discipline was not where it should be as they conceded four penalties within the first eight minutes. Stephen Jones missed his first shot at goal but nailed his second attempt to give the tourists first blood. (3-0)

Morné Steyn got the Boks back on terms in the 11th minute (3-3) but the Lions were having much the better of the scrums and confidently recycling the ball or moving it quickly wide.

The cut-and-thrust was broken up by No 8 Jamie Heaslip in the 24th minute when he shook himself free of Wynand Olivier’s tackle and drove on, catching the Boks by surprise as he crossed the advantage line before slipping the ball to speedster Shane Williams to run in the opening try.

Jones botched the conversion when the ball fell over but the Lions had some reward for their dominance and seemed to gain in confidence. (8-3).

It was bodies on the line stuff for the Lions and Williams set the alarm bells ringing with his second try. Riki Flutey put a neat chip-kick over the head of Odwa Ndungane and with Zane Kirchner caught too far infield the New Zealand-born centre was able to leap up and slap the ball back to the little Welsh winger who had positioned himself perfectly to gather and sprint home.

This time Jones added the conversion and the Boks were in trouble; trailing 3-15.

The Lions’ momentum was disturbed when lock Simon Shaw was sinbinned for kneeing Fourie du Preez in the back as he went down to try to win the ball and the Boks were able to take play into the red zone.

They were unable, however, to properly construct their lineout drives and Smit finally decided to take some points by instructing Steyn to slot his second penalty to make it 6-15 at halftime.

Shaw’s infringement, however, turned out to have injured Du Preez and after the re-start Ruan Pienaar came on to replace him at scrumhalf and Bismarck du Plessis made his expected appearance to try to rectify the Boks’ scrum woes.

The sturdy hooker did make an immediate difference but the Lions kept up their intensity.

The Boks had a great chance to score a try when a long lineout throw to Juan Smit allowed Ruan Pienaar to snipe through a lineout but Tommy Bowe brought off a superb cover tackle on Zane Kirchner, as the ball was spun to the right, to cause the debutant fullback to lose the ball as he was going for the right-hand corner.

The Boks were starting to work up some impetus and trying to move the ball but it all went awry in the 53rd minute when Ugo Monye dashed up to intercept Wynand Olivier’s skipped pass in front of Kirchner and sprint away for an 80-metre try.

Jones’s conversion made it 6-22 and suddenly the Boks had a mountain to climb -- and they didn’t even get to first base.

A Steyn penalty (9-22) gave them a target of two goals to win but they were undone by ragged discipline as they conceded penalties in easy positions to allow Jones to take the Lions out to 28-9 and in position to play more conservatively and keep the Boks pinned back with long kicks.

The Boks had one last chance of a face-saving try when they worked Ndungane over in the corner but after countless replays the TMO, Bryce Lawrence, ruled that the wing had disturbed the chalk dust of the touchline as he lunged for the line; bringing the curtain down on a face-saving victory for the Lions and a most disappointing game for the Boks.

Scorers were:

South Africa (6) 9: Morné Steyn kicked three penalties.

British & Irish Lions (15) 28: Tries by Shane Williams (24min & 32 min), Ugo Monye (53min). Stephen Jones kicked two conversions and three penalties.