Baa-baas embarrass pitiful Boks

Over and Out: Matt Giteau scores the Baa-baas' first try

Jake White's reign as Springbok coach ended in the most embarrassing way possible when an enterprising Barbarians outfit beat his cumbersome and pitiful South African side 22-5 in their year-ending 'international' at Twickenham in London on Saturday.

While the Barbarians attempted to play with imagination and in the spirit of what was meant to be a festive game, the Boks blundered their way through 80 minutes in what was undoubtedly one of the worst performances by the men in Green and Gold in the last four years.

There were some wonderful moments - all of them provided by the Barbarians who won and thoroughly deserved to win. They were the team playing rugby against a team intent on wrestling in slow, cumbersome, sumo fashion.

In the first half the Barbarians ran and ran with joy and skill. In two minutes - at the end of the first half and at the start of the second, they scored 14 points from two goaled tries and that was it. For 39 minutes neither side scored a try.

For 39 minutes, bar a brief break-out or two by the enterprising Barbarians, the Springboks had possession and did their mastodon thing - to no profit whatsoever.

We were reminded over and over again that the Barbarians had beaten the world champions, and you were left to wonder what miracle or aberration had made them world champions.

From time to time people give marks to players. If you marked this Springbok team, on this match, for creativity you would have given them zero, nought, nothing, out of 22.

There were 58,000 people at Twickenham to watch this match - not a full stadium, because of rail works, apparently. They must have wondered how the Springbok team had been world champions.

Perhaps it was because only five of the side that won against England in that World Cup Final had played at Twickenham on Saturday. Missing most was Schalk Bureger, withdrawn on the morning of the match with nose problems. That is a huge loss.

There was a great moment when Jason Robinson was allowed out onto the field on his own, and then when he was replaced late in the match, the crowd gave him a wonderful round of applause. A great player was leaving the game. And he was creative, rain or no rain.

He went off with smiles. For Jake White, the outgoing Springbok coach, it was not a smiling ending. He would probably have liked to go out with a bang, instead of an uncharismatic whimper.

The anthems were interesting. All the South Africans sang their anthem, but only three of the Barbarians prayed for their Queen - because they were the only three Englishmen in their talented side.

When Ryan Kankowski was penalised at a ruck, Matt Giteau kicked the penalty. 3-0 after two minutes.

The Springboks kicked a great deal, which gave the Barbarians their best ball and Joe Rokocoko and Isoa Neivua were keen to use it. The Barbarians always looked keen to counterattack and got back to do so. The Springboks did not do so once in the match, nor were they good at chasing kicks.

Rokocoko also saved a certain try when Kankowski broke from a line-out lost by the Barbarians and raced 50 exciting metres till Rokocoko bundled him into touch at the cornerpost.

The Springboks spent some time on attack and had a five-metre line-out. They did not score from it, nor did they from the other three five-metre line-outs they had. They did not even look like scoring.

They had a five-metre scrum and tried something clever, but Bryan Habana lost the ball and Ma'a Nonu, who had a splendid first half, footed through, gathered the bouncing ball off his toes under pressure and gave to Giteau who eventually juggled and dived over for the try. 8-0 after 19 minutes.

Habana, such a star, had a wobbly match all round but he did save when Rokocoko, Nonu and Giteau looked certain to score.

Nonu had a marvellous break from a line-out, running clean past a very cumbersome Enrico Januarie.

But the Springboks went battering and eventually new Springbok Barend Pieterse picked up the ball and dived half a metre to score in the corner. 8-5 after 34 minutes.

François Steyn tried a drop and missed, and Twickenham booed.

Then CJ van der Linde, a prop, kicked downfield. That simple sentence says a great deal. The Barbarians scored. That says it all. Van der Linde kicked to Robinson who started dancing on the counter. The next thing Martyn Williams did a chip, which prop Frederico Pucciarello grabbed. He gave back to Williams who scored. Giteau converted, and it was half-time at 15-5.

Just over one minute into the second half Steyn kicked and Neivua counter-attacked, beating three till he thundered into Akona Ndungane. Suddenly Rocky Elsom had the ball on the Springbok 10-metre line and he ran at an angle as Springboks stood off him till he scored a try. Giteau converted. 22-5 with 39 minutes to go.

Over and over the Springboks mauled and bashed, giving the Barbarians nothing to think about. If they did let it go - perhaps three times, Steyn did a step and got tackled.

The Barbarians hardly missed a tackle. It's not hard to tackle if the ball-carrier runs straight at you.

It is also easy if your opponents get the slowest ball on the planet and have nothing to do but plod with it into you.

The best of the scoreless 39 minutes was the adamantine defence of the Barbarians and their sudden willingness to burst out of deep defence with threatening attacks. Their pick-up backline looked far more cohesive than that of their opponents.

There must be lots of people who wear green and gold who were pleased when the final whistle went and even more pleased to drift off home.

Man of the Match: It was a Barbarian - Ma'a Nonu, Matt Giteau, Rocky Elsom, Justin Marshall or our man of the match Martyn Williams.

Moment of the Match: Without doubt it was Ma'a Nonu's pick-up that made Matt Giteau's try.

Villain of the Match: This one goes to Troy Flavell for that horrible high tackle on Bryan Habana. The great player seems to collect controversy.

The scorers:

For the Barbarians:

Tries: Giteau, Williams, Elsom

Cons: Giteau 2

Pen: Giteau

For South Africa:

Try: Pieterse

Yellow card: Troy Flavell (Barbarians, 70 - dangerous tackle)

The teams :

Barbarians: 15 Jason Robinson, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Isoa Neivua, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Justin Marshall, 8 Jerry Collins, 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Rocky Elsom, 5 Justin Harrison, 4 Brent Cockbain, 3 Salesi Ma'afu, 2 Mark Regan (captain), 1 Frederico Pucciarello.

Replacements: 16 Schalk Brits, 17 JD Moller, 18 Troy Flavell, 19 Michael Owen, 20 Tom Shanklin, 21 Peter Grant, 22 Ben Cohen.

South Africa: 15 Ruan Pienaar, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 François Steyn, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 André Pretorius, 9 Enrico Januarie, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Barend Pieterse, 5 Johan Ackermann, 4 Johann Muller (captain), 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 CJ van der Linde.

Replacements: 16 Tiaan Liebenberg, 17 Heinke van der Merwe, 18 Albert van den Berg, 19 Hilton Lobberts, 20 Wynand Olivier, 21 Wayne Julies, 22 Conrad Jantjes.

Referee: Christophe Berdos (France)

Touch judges: Romain Poite (France), Rob Debney (England)

Television match official: David Changleng (Scotland)

Assessor: Paul Bridgman (England)