Sport

Springboks show fine form in Fiji win

Brad Morgan

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19 September 2011

The Springboks showed greatly improved form in their second game of the Rugby World Cup with a clinical 49-3 dismantling of Fiji in Wellington on Saturday.

Early on, the Fijians offered stiff resistance and it took until the 25th minute for South Africa to score their first try, but, by the end of the game, it was one-way traffic, with the Springboks in total control.

It was a performance that excited most fans, but Springbok captain John Smit tried to downplay it, saying: "We are aware that we came into the tournament pretty undercooked in terms of game time, so it was important for us to progress today and I think we did that, but it's a bit too early to talk about who is laying down a marker.

Control

Comparing it to the narrow and somewhat lucky 17-16 win over Wales in the Boks' World Cup opener, Smit said: "Last week I wouldn't have given us a very good mark, but today we really did control the game, both when we had the ball and when we didn't have the ball.

"It was a much better all-round performance. We took control of the game and we kept the ball a lot more than we normally do because of the tactics we wanted to employ against Fiji. We got closer to playing how we had prepared."

Those tactics ultimately led to the islanders turning in an out-of-character performance that included far more kicking than usual, and little of the flair they are renowned for.

Distribution

The Springboks, on the other hand, ran the ball well and Francois Steyn's distribution from inside centre played a big role in that success.

Bok coach Peter de Villiers said: "There are a few things that we need to work on, but if you look at how we broke down their defensive wall with our direct play and created space out wide to score tries, it wasn't too bad."

Danie Rossouw was an immense presence in the second row in the absence of Victor Matfield, and with Bakkies Botha playing only one half. He controlled the lineouts with his calling and was hugely industrious around the field. Near the end of the game he was justly rewarded with a try.

The consistent effort of the Springboks must have pleased the coaching staff, with no period of play in which a fall-off in intensity was perceptible. In fact, the players appeared to get stronger the further the game progressed.

Monster penalty

The Springboks were first onto the scoreboard in the 12th minute when Francois Steyn landed a monster penalty from 57 metres out. Earlier, his namesake, Morne, had uncharacteristically missed a reasonably easy chance.

Fiji levelled matters nine minutes later when they Seremai Bai slotted a penalty after the Boks were blown up for being offsides at a ruck.

The contest was tight, but, with some good continuity, South Africa forced their way into the Fijian 22. After a crowd-pleasing bust by tighthead prop Jannie du Plessis, the Boks moved the ball to the blindside where loosehead prop Gurthro Steenkamp bulled his way through two attempted tackles to crash over in the corner.

Steyn converted from the touchline to make it 10-3. Two minutes later the Springboks' lead hit double-figures as Steyn added another penalty.

Feat repeated

Five minutes from the break, after some powerful thrusts at the Fijian defensive line, the ball was released to the left. Jaque Fourie managed to outflank the defenders and dived over in the corner for a try to repeat a feat he had managed in the previous World Cup quarterfinal against the Fijians.

Steyn was off target with his attempted conversion from the touchline and he was again wide with a penalty attempt shortly afterwards. However, right on halftime he landed another penalty to put South Africa 21-3 ahead at the break.

Eight minutes after the restart South Africa added to their total when Francois Steyn forced his way over in the right hand corner after picking up a clever chip from, of all people, flank Heinrich Brussouw. This time Morne Steyn was spot on with his conversion attempt and the Springboks led 28-3.

Fiji immediately took the fight back to the Boks, but South Africa's uncompromising defending repelled the islanders' offensive.

Flipped pass

After working their way up the field, the Springboks proceeded to bash away at the Fijian tryline, setting up ruck after ruck, until Schalk Burger put Morne Steyn through for a try by flipping a pass over his left shoulder as he took as tackle.

Steyn knocked over the easy conversion to extend the South African lead to 35-3.

With the end of the contest in sight, Steyn made a scything break through the Fijian line. Francois Steyn took an inside pass and made it two within a couple of metres of the tryline before being brought down. When he popped the ball up, Tendai Mtawarira was on hand to gather it and force his way over the line to the crowd's roar of "Beeaast!"

The try was under the uprights and the conversion presented no challenge to Steyn, who made it 42-3.

Final try

The Springboks completed their scoring in the 76th minute when Burger put Rossouw into a gap and he blasted his way over from close range to score the Springboks' sixth try. Steyn added the extras to make it 49-3.

When the final whistle sounded, South Africa were once again heavily on the attack and, it was clear, all of the fight in the Fijians had been extinguished.