Australia Wallabies v South Africa Springboks: Rugby Championship 2021 – live!

51 minutes: Quade Cooper gets a thumb in the eye while being tackled, and takes some time for medical assistance before returning to kicking duties. Takes a penalty from point-blank range in front of the goal and pops it over. Wallabies lead again!

Wallabies 18-17 Springboks

46 minutes: Mass substitutions, the whole front row for the Boks. Off go Trevor Nyakane, Frans Malherbe, Marvin Orie, and Bongi Mbonambi. On come Malcolm Marx, Vincent Koch, Kwagga Smith, and Steven Kitshoff.

Wallabies 15-17 Springboks

43 minutes: Pollard misses the conversion, so the difference stays at two points.

Wallabies 15-17 Springboks

42 minutes: They hit the front! Penalty advantage, the pass comes out wide, there’s a tackle, de Klerk cleans out, kicks a little chip over the top, and Am times his run down the sideline well enough to get there and hatch the ball. It’s a brand-new baby try.

Wallabies 15-17 Springboks

An email in from Russell Smith, which is quite a familiar sentiment. “How this game is flowing and refereed, is exactly why I can’t watch rugby any more.”

Though at this juncture I am bound to point out that in order to make this observation Russell must, in fact, be watching the rugby.

“Surely the rugby authorities realise this. Watching penalty after penalty… is this soccer or rugby? Truly become a hopeless game, and this is coming from a former passionate football follower.”

Well, yes. The penalty gameplan is not an interesting one to watch. My simple theory, which may well be densely naive and I’ll defer to those who follow the game more closely, is that penalty goals are worth too much. Compared to how hard it is to score a try, 3 points versus 5 points is disproportionate. If penalty goals were worth 1 point, for instance, teams would be far more inclined to kick for the line-out.

The home team reaches the half in front. They took advantage of de Klerk’s time in the sin bin to score a couple of tries via fast ball movement out of the ruck when they were deep into attacking territory. Then they’ve managed to keep the Boks out of the in-goal area since Swinton was sent off with a yellow card. The Boks have stayed in touch as they do, with accurate kicking and plenty of chances to use it.

40 minutes: The Wallabies turn over the Boks in a maul! They bring the tackler down, pile bodies in, and eventually grab possession, then get it into touch as directly as possible to end play for the half.

Wallabies 15-12 Springboks

The fullback went off the field in obvious pain about ten minutes ago, after his arm got a heavy hit from a South African skull while he tried to tackle. Now the news comes through that he’s on his way to hospital. Looked to be his forearm that was crashed into.

37 minutes: Boks get possession back and win a penalty from an infringement in the tackle right in front of goal. Pollard kicks his fourth. Could have gone for a try with the Wallabies a player down, but took the points on offer.

Wallabies 15-12 Springboks

35 minutes: Great box kick / Boks kick right into the corner, and the Wallabies have to take a defensive line-out about a metre from their defensive goal line. They go with a long-throw variation and get to the 22 with a run up the middle from Koroibete.

Wallabies 15-9 Springboks

32 minutes: There’s a long TMO break to look at Swinton clashing shoulders and then heads with… Vermeulen, I think it was? A long chat between field and screen official about whether it was head on head first, or shoulder on shoulder. They decided on a red card, then talk one another down.

Wallabies 15-9 Springboks

31 minutes: “Almost a good penalty to give away,” says Tim Horan. Lukhanyo Am is standing wide and in space as he receives a long pass. Andrew Kellaway is the only defender anywhere near him, and there are two passing options who he could choose to cover on either side. Instead he flies into the tackle against Am, and chooses correctly, because the player wasn’t planning to pass. But he tackles while Am is still in the air, having jumped to receive the ball, so a penalty results. Saved a try, most likely.

Wallabies 15-9 Springboks

29 minutes: The Australians get their own back, winning a penalty wide and right, and Cooper pops it over.

Wallabies 15-6 Springboks

26 minutes: Another anticlimactic intervention on the scoreboard, as the Boks again win the whistle in heavy traffic about 30 metres out from goal. They take the shot and Pollard slots it.

Wallabies 12-6 Springboks

22 minutes: Cooper converts on this occasion, his strike from a wide right position fading back to get through the uprights.

Wallabies 12-3 Springboks

21 minutes: Tupou puts in a bullocking run for the Wallabies, taking them near the try line. There’s an infringement in the scrum, and playing under penalty advantage, Cooper passes wide and right. Banks cuts back to Koroibete, who flicks up expertly to Len Ikitau for his second.

Wallabies 10-3 Springboks

18 minutes: This time with a kick in range the Boks decide to play safe and bank the three points. The penalty coming from a maul on the right of the field. Pollard kicks it.

Wallabies 5-3 Springboks

15 minutes: Cooper hits the right-hand upright with the conversion kick.

Wallabies 5-0 Springboks

14 minutes: Len Ikitau gets over! A fast pass spreads the ball wide from the scrum in the right-hand corner back across field. Cooper is lurking for the giveaway, which keeps the defence in two minds, and Ikitau can keep hold of the ball himself and plunge over.

12 minutes: Tupou bangs past a couple of tackles, Tom Banks makes some ground, then a scrum forms… and Faf de Klerk gets a yellow card. He’s in the sin bin for tapping the ball from Nic White’s hands as he tried to pass.

10 minutes: … but the Wallabies win a relieving penalty of their own, when Eben Etzebeth receives the ball from that lineout and crawls across the turf trying to gain ground in a rolling maul. They get out of Dodge.

9 minutes: Another penalty blown, this time for the Australians going early on the line-out jumper. The Wallabies have conceded four penalties to one. The Boks kick for touch, right in front of the corner flag…

6 minutes: A couple of resets on that scrum, then the ref blows the whistle for a South African penalty. They clear out of their defensive zone and kick to the sideline for a line-out.

4 minutes: First whistle on play, and a penalty the way of the Wallabies in front of their defensive 22. They kick for a line-out at the Boks’ defensive 10, then Samu Kerevi finds a gap and drives towards the try line. A scrum will form about 5 metres out.

2 minutes: Quade Cooper gets things underway with a long spiralling kick downfield, gaining plenty of ground. The Boks have a couple of exploratory runs, then the sides trade box kicks in an attempt to control territory.

Can the Wallabies go back-to-back or will the World Champions find their range?

Trevor Nyakane
Bongi Mbonambi
Frans Malherbe
Eben Etzebeth
Marvin Orie
Siya Kolisi *
Franco Mostert
Duane Vermeulen
Faf de Klerk
Handre Pollard
Makazole Mapimpi
Damian de Allende
Lukhanyo Am
Sbu Nkosi
Willie le Roux

Reserve: Malcolm Marx, Steven Kitshoff, Vincent Koch, Marco van Staden, Kwagga Smith, Jasper Wiese, Herschel Jantjies, Damian Willemse

James Slipper
Folau Fainga’a
Taniela Tupou
Izack Rodda
Matt Philip
Lachie Swinton
Michael Hooper *
Rob Valetini
Nic White
Quade Cooper
Marika Koroibete
Samu Kerevi
Len Ikitau
Andrew Kellaway
Tom Banks

Reserve: Feleti Kaitu’u, Angus Bell, Tom Robertson, Darcy Swain, Pete Samu, Tate McDermott, Reece Hodge, Jordan Petaia

Bret Harris pondered whether this match will be trickier for Cooper, now that his excellent return has raised expectations.