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Springboks in 12-try win over Namibia

Brad Morgan

22 September 2011

With a rush of tries towards the end of their Rugby World Cup Pool D showdown against Namibia in North Harbour, New Zealand on Thursday, South Africa ran out 87-0 winners, but the Springboks were far from the efficient side that drubbed Fiji 49-3 in their previous outing.

The Boks lacked some of the intensity that they showed against Fiji, which was a reflection of the lesser challenge posed by the Namibians, but the coaches would not have been happy with the looseness of their charges' play around the rucks and at lineout time.

Too often, especially in the first half, the scrumhalf received the ball under pressure, which affected the platform the team played from.

Scrum dominance

One aspect of the Springboks' play that was good in the first half was their performance in the set scrums, which they dominated from the start, and which was capped by the award of a penalty try as they shoved the Namibians off the pole from five metres out.

The team's goal kicking was also immaculate, without a single shot at posts being missed. It is a vital aspect of the game which could make all the difference at the World Cup.

Pierre Spies enjoyed a superb game at number eight; it seemed that it needed at least two players to stop him every time he got the ball, and sometimes even that wasn't enough. He received excellent support from flank Willem Alberts, who used his physicality to good effect in both attack and defence.

Leading try scorer

Bryan Habana became South Africa's all-time leading try scorer in tests with a first half try, dotting down for the 39th time to break a tie with Joost van der Westhuizen. Habana, however, still appears to be a long way off his best form and Francois Hougaard looks like a much better bet to use on the left wing.

Francois Steyn continued to make his mark at inside centre and set up play nicely for the men playing outside of him by drawing attention from additional tacklers.

While the winning margin was impressive, the 31 points the Boks scored in the first half was underwhelming to say the least, but the pressure finally told in the last 20 minutes of the contest, after the second wave of Springbok substitutions was made, when South Africa added 42 points from six tries, all of which were converted.

De Villiers' thoughts

Coach Peter de Villiers, who was a disgruntled man at halftime, was much happier after the completion of the match. "If you stick to your guns, if you stick to what you know best, all the other stuff will fall into place," he said in a post-match interview.

"We forced it too much in the first half and… well done in the second half," he added.

Asked if he was happy with his team's performance, South African skipper John Smit said: "[We're] pretty pleased, we're making progress. In the first 40 [minutes], we got sucked into a few bad habits. We got a little too loose too early and we had to refocus at half-time."

'They're a good side'

"They're a good side. You've got to take your hat off to them. Every time they got a chance they punished us," reckoned Namibia's captain Jacques Burger.

In the second minute of the contest Pierre Spies sounded a warning to the Namibians when he charged down a kick. In his efforts to gather the ball, however, he he knocked on.

Shortly after that, Namibia were blown up for going off their feet at a ruck and Morne Steyn knocked over a penalty to get the men in green and gold on the scoreboard.

First try

The Boks' first try was scored in the sixth minute and it owed a lot to captain John Smit who started a counter-attack by stealing a ball in a tackle. After receiving the ball, Francois Hougaard cut in from the right wing, which drew two men, and then passed over his shoulder to Gio Aplon, on his outside. Aplon had daylight between him and the tryline and sped away to score.

Steyn's conversion made it South Africa 10, Namibia 0.

Some scrappy play over the next quarter-of-an-hour saw the Springboks missing some scoring opportunities; Hougaard cut through from a lineout and was over the tryline, but was called back for the throw in being skew, while an attacking lineout was lost because of an overthrown ball.

Record

In the 22nd minute South Africa forced a turnover at a ruck and quickly moved the ball to the blind. Summing up the situation well, Danie Rossouw threw a double-skip pass to Bryan Habana, which allowed the winger to outflank the defence and race away for his South African record 39th test try.

Steyn, who had a perfect day with the boot, slotted the conversion to make it South Africa 17, Namibia 0.

The Springboks' dominance at scrum time was underlined just before the half-hour when they were awarded a penalty try after the Namibians screwed away out of a scrum to prevent a South African push-over try. With Steyn's easy conversion from in front of the uprights, South Africa led 24-0.

Bonus point

Just before the break, the bonus point for four tries was sealed. The ball was moved down the backline from a lineout and Francois Steyn, seeing a half-gap, drew two men in to tackle him. When this happened, he popped the ball out the back of his hand for Jaque Fourie to run onto and canter through for a try next to the posts. Morne Steyn added the extras to make it 31-0 at the break.

It took eight minutes of the second half for South Africa to add to their lead. Francois Hougaard started the try-scoring movement going with a quickly taken penalty. He made good ground before passing to Bakkies Botha. When the ball was recycled from a ruck, Spies drew two men before setting Francois Steyn free to run in on the right. His namesake, Morne, once again added the extras.

On the hour-mark the Springboks attacked from a lineout only five metres from the Namibian tryline. South Africa attempted to drive the ball over with their forwards, but succeeded in going sideways only. Hougaard, though, made an incisive break to the right, raced into a gap and then made a try-scoring pass to Morne Steyn, who went over in the corner. Steyn's conversion made it 45-0.

Bench's impact

Coach De Villiers had made a couple of changes after South Africa's first try of the second half and following the second try he added more men off the bench. As they had in earlier matches in the tournament, they gave the Springboks a boost.

Juan de Jongh got his name on the scoresheet in the 63rd minute after an attack that used the width of the field. After the attack was briefly halted on the left hand side, the ball was moved to the right flank where Spies handed off a potential tackler, then broke another tackle before drawing the final defender and passing to De Jongh.

Ruan Pienaar, on for Morne Steyn, took over the kicking and added the conversion to take the score to South Africa 52, Namibia 0.

Try of the game

Three minutes later the Boks scored the best try of the game. It began with a foray down the left hand touchline. First, Hougaard made plenty of metres before finding Fourie on his inside. The centre passed to De Jongh, but he was pulled up a little short of the tryline. Quickly, the ball was shifted to the right to Smit. With excellent judgment, he threw a double-skip pass to Aplon on the right flank and the little winger went over for another try. Pienaar added two more points with the conversion.

It didn't take long for South Africa to score again and this time it came from a stolen lineout ball from Willem Alberts. After setting up two rucks and quickly recycling the ball, Hougaard took a short pass from Du Preez to race clear an score under the uprights in a carbon copy of his try against Wales earlier in the tournament. Pienaar's successful kick made it South Africa 66, Namibia 0.

Pienaar then set up a try for de Jongh with a well-judged inside flip, which put the centre into a gap, with a clear run in to the tryline. Another conversion took South Africa to 73 points.

Try in consecutive games

Three minutes from time Danie Rossouw added his name to the list of try scorers. After the Boks had bashed it up and put Namibia's try line under pressure again, Du Preez put Smit into a gap with a hard, flat pass. The captain offloaded to Rossouw, who crashed over for his second try in successive games. Pienaar put South Africa 80-0 up with the conversion.

The ever-hungry Hougaard completed the try scoring in the final minute with an excellent solo effort. From inside South Africa's half, he broke from a ruck and raced up field. An inside step wrong footed Theuns Kotze, the last defender, and Hougaard dived over under the posts. Pienaar made the conversion and the final whistle sounded with South Africa 87-0 victors.