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Venter (8'), Merwe (13', 31'), Moodie (18'), Merwe (46', 72'), Willemse (55'), Arendse (78'), Pollard (80')
Tries
Karkadze (2')
Feinberg-Mngomezulu (32'), Pollard (56', 73', 79', 81')
Conversions
Matkava (3')
Penalties
Matkava (28')
The Springboks kept their winning run going as they beat Georgia at the Mbombela Stadium on Saturday, 19th July, scoring 9 tries in what was a comfortable win. But the World Champs have yet to put together an 80-minute performance by their own high standards.
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus said he was satisfied with the 55-10 win but said it had been a stop-start performance which was down to the squad rotation.
“We’re fairly happy if you look over the four games. We scored close to 50 points in each match and apart from the first Italy test defended pretty well. Georgia were physical and disruptive but that’s not an excuse for us making so many errors, but I guess we must understand that if we chop and change teams like we have as we’re building squad depth, you’ll lose rhythm.”
It was the Boks’ second successive victory by a margin of 45 points and they have scored 22 tries in the three Castle Lager Incoming Series Tests, while only conceding four.
Things did not start well for the Springboks against the Lelos, as captain Siya Kolisi was off within minutes for a HIA, and then it was the Georgians who scored first from a well-executed rolling maul from a lineout to lead 7-0 with Vano Karkadze dotting down for an unexpected lead.
The home side struck back soon after with debutant Boan Venter crashing over and fellow front rower and debutante Marnus van der Merwe scoring the second but both conversions were missed by flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu as he had a poor night off the kicking tee.
He missed four conversions from five attempts but Erasmus said the flyhalf had suffered a hip pointer injury in the warm-up.
The Boks started to put together better phases after a tough opening quarter and following some great interplay, Canan Moodie powered over in the corner for a third try to lead 15-7.
Discipline was also an issue for the team in green and Georgia scored a penalty to close it up.
The pack was dominant, however, and the new front row won several scrum penalties in the opening half. Marnus van der Merwe scored his second from another solid lineout maul which was the first successful conversion from the Bok flyhalf to lead 22-10 and that's how the scoreline stayed until the break.
The second half was much more open and helter skelter at times with both sides creating chances. Try-scoring machine Edwill van der Merwe dotted down in the corner to extend the lead to 27-10.
Handling errors were costly and the South Africans had made 9 after 50 minutes but they also had much more of the ball.
Livewire scrumhalf Grant Williams scored a well worked try with some slick backline hands and replacement Handre Pollard was successful with his first kick.
There was a lack of fluidity in half and lots of scrappy play. The Boks made hard work of another open loose ball but Edwill van der Merwe scored his second near the end of the game - his 5th in three games for South Africa.
RG Snyman who had been throwing some outrageous offloads, made a break and popped the ball to his support player who gave a great inside switch pass for Kurt-Lee Arendse to score.
The Boks were showing some razzle dazzle in the final quarter and Pollard scored the 9th and final try as the side broke 50 points and won 55-10 after the hooter.
Captain Siya Kolisi said of the match, “I think the hard thing was we were not doing enough positives one after the other. We do something and then we make a mistake, so that slowed down our momentum and then obviously the game was a bit slow.
I wish it could’ve been a bit faster, but it was very stop-start. But hopefully we can fix that, making sure we get positive after positive.”
The Springboks have a three-week break before the opening Test in the Rugby Championship on 16 August at Ellis Park when they meet Australia. Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus said he would select a more settled squad for the Castle Lager Rugby Championship.
Erasmus said, “We’ll name 36 guys on Tuesday (22 July) for the Australia series, and within that squad, there’ll be one or two guys that we experiment with, but the bulk of that squad will be experienced players who are suited to the way we want to play,. This was a series where we wanted to experiment a little bit, so getting the scorelines we did is pretty satisfying. But the Rugby Championship is definitely a step up.”
