Who will PdV blame this time?

Australia won 27-15. South Africa really only played for about 20 minutes, and that was actually only to an average standard, it's just they were so poor for the rest of the game that it looked good.

Australia didn't really play that well, but they didn't have to. I'm not sure how many times the Boks knocked on (it was quite a few), how many times their line out misfired (several) and how many turnovers Smith, Palu, Elsom and, for a few minutes, Waugh created (quite a lot) but they just dominated possession and territory because of that. In fact, I suspect when they look back on it, they will consider it a failure because they were dominant enough they should have scored at least four tries but they didn't manage to.

I suspect PdV will wield the selectorial axe and blame his players. Obviously a team that is largely comprised of players who won the RWC 9 months ago is now staffed with incompetents... I didn't know you could go from hero to zero quite like that - at least not in a strategic, game after game after game way. Form is temporary and class is permanent and all that? PdV may be a political favourite of SARU's board, but how long can they stand by him if he continues to lose like this? He might want his team to play expansive, attractive rugby - but his players don't buy into what he's trying to sell them. There was an absolutely spectacular example of this about half way through the second half where the Boks got a turn over and the player that grabbed the ball took off down the field. He was supported by the scrum half, so just before he was tackled he passed to his support player. That player, and probably the 4 or 5 in the ruck which produces the turn over have an excuse for not supporting the counter attack. But why were there about 5 Australians there before the second Bok arrived? I'm sure it won't surprise you to hear that the attack petered out when Australia won the ball and cleared their lines. Under Jake White if the same thing had happened the players would have charged in to form a ruck and get the ball back. It's probable that two Aussies would still have been there first, it's possible that would have been enough for them to win it back, but it would have looked like the Boks cared and were trying.

And that, I think, is the problem. The players and the coach don't trust each other. In particular, it looks as if the players don't believe that PdV can do the job, and this lack of belief manifests itself as confusion on the field of play, hence all the turn overs and generally poor play - as individuals they mostly execute their skills reasonably well most of the time, but it is in the interaction and the teamwork, particularly in the support play where it all goes to pieces because, I think, they're not quite sure what they're meant to do in the current scheme to support the play.