No rose garden for the Wallabies
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 11:46
Joel Stransky scored all of SA's points against the Wallabies in Bloemfontein in 1996. (c) Gallo
Bloemfontein, the City of Roses, has been a rare venue for the Wallabies. They have played there only three times in nearly 70 years, starting with a win and then losing twice.
The first time was in 1933 when Springboks and Wallabies played a five-match series, the only one in the history of the game. The Wallabies won the fifth Test to lose the series 3-2 at a time when Springbok rugby reigned supreme in the world.
The second time was on the unsuccessful tour of 1969 when the Wallabies were massacred up front. The third time was in 1996 when World Cup-winning flyhald Joel Stransky scored all the points.
Bloemfontein Test results:
1933: Australia won 15-4 at Springbok Park
1969: South Africa won 19-8 at Free State Stadium
1933: South Africa won 25-19 at Free State Stadium
1933:
Alec Ross's Wallabies played in Bloemfontein twice and won twice, beating Orange Free State 9-8 and then winning the fifth Test. On each occasion, the Wallabies scored three tries.
Australia vs South Africa, 15-4 on 2 September 1933
A Test is a Test, but with the series won, this one was of academic interest to two tired teams. It is no wonder that there was never again a five-Test series.
Australian skipper Alec Ross was in the side for the first time in the series after being out after an appendix operation and in the first half of this match the Wallabies played their best rugby, running freely while the Springboks plodded leaden-footed, listless.
The match was decided in the first half when most of the scoring occurred. Dave Cowper started the ball rolling with a dropped goal and John Steggall and Jockey Kelaher got tries. Flank Owen Bridle with a chip, chase and gather scored the only try of the second half. Philip Nel and Fanie Louw both went off injured in the second half, but by then the Wallabies had also lost interest.
It was an embarrassed group of Springboks who trudged off Springbok Park.
Bennie Osler called it "the poorest Test match ever played in South Africa". He ended the story of this match, writing it not long before his death in 1962, with these words: "And on this rather dismal note my international career came to an end."
The scorers:
For South Africa:
DG: Brand
For Australia:
Tries: Kelaher, Steggall, Bridle
Con: Ross
DG: Cowper
The teams:
South Africa: J White, PJ Lyster, FW Waring, BG Gray, GH Brand, BL Osler, DH Craven, JT Apsey, FC Smollan, MM Louw, WFvRvO Bergh, PJ Nel (captain), SC Louw, HG Kipling, V Geere.
Australia: AW Ross (captain), AD McLean, DL Cowper, JC Steggall, JD Kelaher, GS Sturtridge, SJ Malcolm, WAR Mackney, RB Loudon, OL Bridle, GV Bland, WGS White, WH Cerutti, ET Bonis, MC White.
Referee: VH Neser (South Africa).
1969:
The Springboks whitewashed the 1969 Wallabies who also lost three non-Test matches on the tour. Their 25-14 (six tries to one) victory over Orange Free State was one of their better results.
This Test was again the last in the series that again had been won by South Africa. But this time the Springboks won.
South Africa vs Australia, 19-8 on 20 September 1969
In the fourth and final Test of the series Piet Visagie broke both the world record of 41 points in a series, set by the great Don Clarke in 1958, as well as the all-time South African record of 88 Test points belonging to Keith Oxlee. Such were the records of the time.
The newspapers, in a flush of enthusiasm, reported that, 'Freckle-faced Springbok flyhalf, Piet Visagie, went to the top of the queue of rugby's immortals here today. Never in the history of South African rugby has a crowd risen to give a player such a standing ovation as did the 60 000 at Bloemfontein." The reserved Visagie, who was written off by many detractors for his dourness, scored 10 of South Africa's 19 points and fully repaid the selectors' faith in him ahead of the mercurial runner, Jannie Barnard.
The Wallabies, "playing with more determination than they showed in other Tests" took the early lead - for the first time in the series - and were down just 9-8 half way through the second half but they were unable to hold back the tide and only some "magnificent" Wallaby defence kept the try tally down. Eben Olivier, after a quiet series, went over twice and his centre partner Mannetjies Roux scored the other try.
The scorers:
For South Africa:
Tries: Olivier 2, Roux
Cons: Visagie 2
Pens: Visagie 2
For Australia:
Try: Knight
Con: Ballesty
Pen: Ballesty
The teams:
South Africa: HO de Villiers, GH Müller, F du T Roux, E Olivier, SH Nomis, PJ Visagie, DJ de Villiers (captain), TP Bedford, JH Ellis, PJF Greyling, G Carelse, AE de Wet, JFK Marais, G Pitzer, JL Myburgh.
Australia: AN McGill, JW Cole, BD Honan, SO Knight, TR Forman, JP Ballesty, JNB Hipwell, HA Rose, BS McDonald, GV Davis (captain), NP Reilly, AJ Skinner, RB Prosser, P Darveniza, JR Roxburgh.
Referee: CJ de Bruyn (South Africa)
1996:
The Wallabies did not tour this year. The match was a Tri-Nations Test in a year when the Wallabies won the first Test in Sydney against the Springboks and lost the other three at a time when there were just four matches per team in the Tri-Nations.
South Africa vs Australia, 25-19 on 3 August 1996
Joel Stransky gave one of the finest performances of his career to almost single-handedly win the Test for South Africa from behind a beaten pack. Suffering a head wound in the first half, a bandaged Stransky finished off a great touchline run by Justin Swart, converted and banged six from seven penalty attempts through the posts.
He personified the grit which won South Africa this game, as injury and illness ravaged the forwards and a magnificent John Eales led his pack to dominance, with the wild Mike Brial and David Wilson well on top of their hosts.
Balie Swart was concussed and Johan Ackermann, a Springbok yeoman in the series so far, suffered a serious knee injury. As a result, Mark Andrews, suffering a serious stomach complaint, had to stay on the field until the end and it was little wonder the hosts' pack had to back-pedal furiously as the match progressed.
Pat Howard called the shots excellently and in the last 20 minutes the Wallabies mounted one attack after the other. How the Springbok defence managed to concede just a solitary try by Ben Tune, was little short of miraculous.
The scorers:
For South Africa:
Try: Stransky
Con: Stransky
Pens: Stransky 6
For Australia:
Try: Tune
Con: Eales
Pens: Burke, Eales 3
The teams:
South Africa: James Small, Justin Swart, Japie Mulder, Brendan Venter, Pieter Hendriks, Joel Stransky, Johan Roux, Gary Teichmann, Ruben Kruger, Francois Pienaar (captain), Mark Andrews, Johan Ackermann, Balie Swart, John Allan, Os du Randt.
Australia: N/a
Referee: Brian Stirling (Ireland)
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