We'll take it

John Smit and Jake White said: "It wasn't pretty but we'll take it."

It might not have been pretty, but it was damn exciting. Given that we watched the match at 12h00 on a Saturday here in South Africa, it feels like I've been in and out of celebration induced hangovers ever since.

Bryan Habana sprints away to score one of two 80m efforts Photo: SA Rugby

Is this a Springbok win that we should take and forget about? Most definitely not. Many have written that the Springboks were lucky to win. But the same people said the Boks were lucky to win against the All Blacks and Wallabies in South Africa. And the truth of it is that, as in life, in rugby you make your own luck. The Boks played good positional rugby and preyed on Aussie mistakes. The thing about playing positional rugby and having a rock-tight defence is that you force the other side to take risks or into attritional mistakes. This was well demonstrated late in the match when the Wallabies first put 8 phases together, the Boks won a turnover, the Aussies won it back and then put together another 7 phases. Then they knocked on.

The South Africans, on the other hand, played calculating rugby. This was in turn epitomised when after failing to cross the Wallaby goal line after some time in their half, the ball was whipped back to Montgomery who slotted a monstrously long drop goal.

In fact, as Nick Mallet pointed out in his Sunday Times article, the victory could have been far bigger - the Boks left some points out there. Montgomery had an off day with the boot and the backline butchered a try by attempting a skip pass when a passing down the line would have taken adavantage of a four man overlap.

Further, in the second quarter, the Boks were on the Wallaby line. They took the ball into a ruck 5 metres short of the Aussie line - and just three green jumpers went in to clean out. Needless to say, the forwards in the backline did not get the ball.

And Nathan Sharpe and Daniel Vickerman ensured that the Boks did not have it all their own way in the lineouts - although some have speculated that Bill Young and Matt Dunning used underhand tactics to help reduce the South African lineout threat.

So the Boks could get better. No doubt. We are still waiting to see a repeat of set piece moves like that one that set Jaque Fourie away at Ellis Park. We are still waiting for the Boks to retain multi-phase possession in their opponents half - dominating possession and territory.

I'm not one to harp about referees - I generally feel that things even out in the end. And generally, I think both sides suffered at the SHOCKING performance of Alain Rolland. But it bordered on inept and if the wrong decisions had not evened out in the end, it could have cost one of the sides the match.

And honestly? The Boks' stars appear to have been in alignment during the Mandela series and Tri-Nations. From Mandela's support at the Ellis Park test to the injuries that hit the Wallabies prior to yesterday's match. But the Boks have played to their strengths. The good news is that those are the beginnings of what could be a great side. And this year's run might just ignite the self belief to make this side believe they are the best - rather than that they can beat the best.