Call it a draw

They call it the great leveller, that no matter who you play the conditions are so bad that you could pull of a win. The weather in Cape Town last night lived up to expectation and ruined what was supposed to be feast of running rugby, both side having something to prove to national selectors. But it wasn't to be as the rain and wind of the Cape of Storms decided to to come watch the spectacle. Both side started with a flurry of errors and it was evident that there was to be no expansive play. The Gary Owen was used throughout the match and the bounce of a slippery ball decide the outcome. The lions looked good as there forwards dominated against a team that hadn't played together before , but the hosts traditionally strong defense kept the Lions out on all occasions bar one; the individual brilliance of Keith Earls showing us that maybe he does belongs at this level, but that he has a lot more work too do.

The Emerging Boks began to find some rhythm and momentum as the players starting finding each other, the scrum got better and the general ball retention picked up; the middle forty belonged the hosts. It seemed as though all hope was lost until Willem De Waal came on, shifting Rose to fullback, and took the game by minerals and used his educated boot to put SA into great positions. After ten minutes of racing up and down the pitch as the game, despite the weather, began to open up and it was De Waal again who floated a long pass, after sustained pressure, to the flying Danwell Demas, after the whistle, to set up a most exiting finish. De Waal calmly slotted the kick through the uprights, from about as close to the touchline one can get without sitting on the lap of an ice cream vendor (A wafer to make your boyfriend steiffer?) in the stands.

The crowd went wild. It was as if the Boks had won the game, the draw being the best result a non-test team has recorded on this tour. Great games from Duane Vermulen and Jano Vermaak, not to mention the improved performance of Earl Rose. On the tourists side Earls was the danger man, as well Harry Ellis, who could find himself on the bench this Saturday, but other than them it was more like a regiment of red clones doing their job, but no one catching the eye.

13 -13 it ended. The great leveller, levelling it our exactly. The tourists will learn nothing from this except that they have the best players playing on Saturday. 1-0 in the test...i fear this weekend might just be a cracker!

sgr

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