Review – Boks v Namibia

The Springboks ran out comfortable victors in the first of their three World Cup warm-up matches, when they scored 15 tries to beat a game Namibia by 105 points to 13 at Newlands on Wednesday evening.

Read the blow-by-blow account of the match HERE.

Jake White was satisfied with what was a  generally positive performance by the Springbok team.

“It’s always difficult when you don’t know what to expect,” said the Bok coach.

“I said in the lead up to this game we were hoping to get through some things that we practiced.

“There were times when we coughed up tries, but there were also a few times when I saw some of those aspects coming through.

“You can’t have a perfect game every time. There were definitely a lot more positives than negatives tonight.

“What really impressed me was how we didn’t lose rhythm throughout the game. It was great to see that we kept the momentum when the substitutes came on late in the game.

“It really is a 22-man game and I hope everybody realises that. Every player in this squad has a role to play at this World Cup.

There was some concern over the injury to Jean De Villiers, who left the field grimacing after a heavy knock to the ribs, although White was quick to play it down.

“The best case scenario is that it’s a bruise to the ribs which will take between 10 days to two weeks to heal and the worst case scenario is a four week lay-off,” said White.

“The reality is that Jean is going to the World Cup.

“If injury was in the back of anyone’s mind going into this match it was Jean after what happened to him in 2003.

“I felt for him when I saw him come off, but the situation as it stands is that he’ll be fine for the World Cup.

“Look, you are going to have hurdles like these to overcome. Our preparation for a World Cup was never going to go smoothly from an injury perspective.

“The process from here is one of managing the players correctly and ensuring that we minimise the risk to the players,” concluded the Bok coach.

Springbok captain Victor Matfield was happy with the performance but believes there is still room for improvement.

“I think we can build on this performance,” said the Bok lock, who took over the captaincy when John Smit was ruled out at the last minute.

“I was happy with tonight although there is still a lot to be done, especially when we attack from second and third phase.”

The major talking points from the game were the following:

– Springbok flankers Juan Smith and Schalk Burger were very impressive with both scoring hat-tricks.

– Monty was brilliant on the counter-attack, coming into the line at pace and setting up tries through slick handling.

– Jaque Fourie was the rustiest Bok on the park with his handling letting him down on a  few occasions.

– Jean De Villiers left the field after injuring a rib and is awaiting the result of medical scans.

– Bismarck Du Plessis had some bullocking runs when he came on for Gary Botha in the final quarter, scoring his debut try.

– Ruan Pienaar had a strong, albeit brief, cameo at flyhalf in the final quarter of the game.

– The Bok backline displayed more enterprise in this one match than they’ve shown in four years under Allister Coetzee. Slick handling, rock-solid defence, dummy runners, no-look passes, reverse-switches, support runners, fancy footwork, coming on to the ball at pace and lining up deeper than in recent history. Take a bow Mr. Jones…

– Record personal points tally by Montgomery – 35 points eclipsing the previous mark of 34 by Jannie De Beer against England in the 1999 World Cup. He also kicked the most conversions (12) in a match for the Boks.

– John Smit didn’t play – some say it was because of flu, some due to a hamstring tweak in training.

– Os Du Randt and Percy Montgomery played their final home test matches – both scoring tries. They both received trophies from Jake White in a post-match presentation. Legends!

– Chirp of the game – from referee Jonathan Kaplan while he waited with the Namibians under the posts for a TMO decision: “You’re playing with the big boys now!”

– Namibian loose forward Jacques Burger was the standout player for the visitors – fighting a lone battle against the rampaging Green Machine.

– The Boks turned over a bit too much ball in the tackle.

– JP Pietersen had a commanding and intelligent game on the wing.

– Namibian Bradley Langenhoven made history becoming the first man to score a try in tests between South Africa and Namibia.

– Kees Lensing was dominated by CJ van der Linde in the scrums, often dropping his bind and conceding a few penalties.

– Juan Smith, at 105kg, was the lightest Bok forward. Monsters!

– The Bok forwards mauled magnificently – always with Schalk Burger controlling the ball at the tail.

– This was the third highest win ever for the Boks after their 134-3 victory over Uruguay in 2005, and the 101-0 result against Italy in Durban in 1999.

The Boks take on Irish team Connacht next week, before meeting Scotland in Edinburgh for their final World Cup warm-up game on Saturday 25th August.