Finally, after all the talk, the “bomb squad” finally detonated. They certainly took their time, yet in the second half of this second Test, and at last and as promised, they delivered something of an explosion.
With the Lions failing to make an impression on the second half, the Springboks simply took control. At a point in the game where the expectation was that the Lions would move up a gear, they found themselves being blown away. The Lions were a distant second in the aerial battle, momentum swung and the Springbok forwards moved in to take control.
This was the famous Bok-lash. It is what most of South Africa had been waiting for.
As the first half drew to a close, though, and with the Lions exerting what seemed to be an increasing level of control, we wondered: when is it coming? The answer was: second half. Or: waiting on the bench. Or, most notably, it is coming in the form of the Sale Sharks forward, Lood de Jager.
In chapter one of this machismo stand-off, in the first Test, the Springboks had been unable to assert their set-piece dominance. This, we understand, was an affront to the way they play. They decimated the England scrum in the World Cup final. In the first Lions Test, a week ago, they could not pull off the same trick.
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Much of the intense build-up to Chapter Two, therefore, was about the revenge theme. The world champions wanted to regain the upper hand. Steven Kitshoff, the loose head, went on the record to establish as much.
The problem was that they were unable to deliver it. At least not in the first half. We looked for inklings of dominance, especially in the scrum, but though they got their noses ahead, they weren’t convincing. Frans Malherbe, the No 1 Bok weapon at the scrum, won one penalty off Mako Vunipola, but before half-time, the Lions scrum seemed to be forcing the Springboks into reverse.
The lineout — that other area of Springbok prowess — didn’t seem to be following tradition either. In that first half, Courtney Lawes pinched one Springbok lineout, then Maro Itoje took another.
By half-time, the Lions seemed pumped. It wasn’t job done, but it felt that the job was well underway. Even when Tadhg Furlong was penalised at the scrum, after half-time, it seemed more a case of the Cape Town Stadium turf being his undoing rather than the opposition.
Then, though, came the changes: in the 55th minute, De Jager, a lock, for the No 8, Jasper Wiese, Malcolm Marx for Bongi Mbonambi at hooker and Vincent Kock for Malherbe. They were joined four minutes later by Trevor Nyakane at loose head in place of Kitshoff — and that was it: the bomb squad of forward replacements all in place.
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After Nyakane’s arrival, pretty much next up, was a lineout and a driving maul — and, suddenly, it was a case of: here we go. The maul was the one piece of traditional Springbok strength that the Lions had felt they had done so well to quell all tour, wherever they had been and whoever they had played. Not here, not now, though.
This maul drove inexorably forwards and the Lions scrambled and reassembled but could do little to impede its movement. The maul moved right to centre field, into a perfect attacking position, with the Lions still back-peddling and, from there, Faf de Klerk nudged a little grubber behind the defence which Lukhanyo Am followed with delight. That was the try, and from that point, the Springboks looked mighty hard to catch.
The Lions could hardly set off in pursuit because the Springboks got stronger, powered by the impressive impact of this bomb squad. De Jager was increasingly assertive. At maul, scrum and lineout, the whole pack took control.
The coup de grace was saved for a 75th-minute scrum. Remember that Nyakane is a tight head by trade and had been the starting tight head last week. Due to injury, he had been forced to cover the loose head side — which looked like a possible gain for the Lions.
When that 75th minute scrum was set, though, the Springboks thrust forwards and the Lions had no answer but to go into reverse. Penalty to South Africa, which would produce three more points. The greater point, though, had already been made.
