In Port Elizabeth, South Africa awoke from a first-half slumber at Telkom Park to beat Italy 60-14. Whilst the scoreline may look convincing, with the Boks scoring eight tries to one, the truth is, the win was not easy.
Also, whether or not Springbok coach Harry Viljoen will be satisfied that he has all the answers he was looking for before this match, is up for discussion.
But at least Viljoen knows that debutants Neil de Kock and Conrad Jantjes have futures at this level, new captain Bob Skinstad is an inspirational leader, but still a game or two away from top-form, and Percy Montgomery is worth another look at flyhalf. After all, Skinstad himself said as much after the match.
With half-time approaching, the Boks were 12-9 ahead -- thanks to four Montgomery penalties -- but minutes before the break, veteran lock Mark Andrews saved the homeside blushes when ran over unopposed for his 11th try in 71 Tests.
Shortly after half-time an avalanche of Bok tries ensued -- with Breyton Paulse, André Venter and Thinus Delport all touching down -- but other than that five-minute golden-period, there was precious little to write home about in the match.
The Boks will be concerned about the lack of quality first-phase ball, with the Azzurri nearly claiming a tighthead in the opening 20-minute period, and hooker John Smit missing his jumpers on at least two occasions in the line-out.
Incidentally, Smit left the field after 27 minutes of play with a hip injury and his replacement, Lukas van Biljon, in his first Test, spearheaded the Boks' "revival" with some bullocking runs and good handling in close-contact situations.
One of those runs from Van Biljon, who played most of the second half with a suspected broken hand, led to arguably the best try of the match. Van Biljon collected the ball from the re-start after South Africa's second try, and charged downfield before releasing a flying Breyton Paulse, who passed inside to Mr Perpetual motion, André Venter, for the team's third try.
Thinus Delport squeezed over in the opposite corner only minutes later, but after that 19-point blitz the Boks went to sleep again.
They soon awoke when Italian scrumhalf Alessandro Troncon scored a well-taken try after an impressive build-up, their first against South Africa since 1997, which equates to over 200 minutes of rugby.
But the Boks soon hit back via Breyton Paulse's second try of the night following a good off-load from new skipper Bob Skinstad, to centre and vice-captain of the day Robbie Fleck, who made some ground before releasing his flying Stormers team-mate, who stepped inside a would-be defender for the try.
The entire Springbok bench got a run, with veteran scrumhalf Joost van der Westhuizen claiming two tries, taking his tally to 34 tries in 71 Tests, and looking full of running, perhaps indicating that he would be the ideal sort of player to come off the bench in the dying minutes of a Test.
Lock Victor Matfield celebrated his first taste of Test rugby with a knock-on, his Bulls team-mate Jaco van der Westhuyzen earned some more mileage in his very young Test-career, Corné Krige won his 18th cap and crowd favourite Deon Kayser made a sniping run in the closing minutes, much to the PE crowd's delight.
Man of the match: Much-maligned and much-criticised, but always giving his best, Percy Montgomery delivered an impressive performance in the Springbok No.10 jersey. His decision-making was superb and not once did he look jittery with the ball in his hand. It remains to be seen whether or not Viljoen will look to Montgomery to play at flyhalf in the Tri-Nations, but if Monty can repeat this performance against bigger teams, then who knows. Centre Robbie Fleck looked sharp, as did replacement hooker Lukas van Biljon, who was praised by Viljoen after the match for his performance.
Moment of the match: South Africa's 24-point scoring burst on either side of half-time. Andrews' try gave them the breathing-space they needed before half-time, then a team hat-trick by Breyton Paulse, André Venter and Thinus Delport stretched their lead at the start of the second stanza.
Villain of the match: Nobody. The Springboks behaved. The Italians behaved and, for once, so did the crowd ...
The Teams:
South Africa: 1 Ollie Le Roux, 2 John Smit, 3 Willie Meyer, 4 Johan Ackermann, 5 Mark Andrews, 6 Andre Venter, 7 Andre Vos, 8 Bobby Skinstad (c), 9 Neil De Kock, 10 Percy Montgomery, 11 Thinus Delport, 12 Robbie Fleck, 13 Japie Mulder, 14 Breyton Paulse, 15 Conrad Jantjes
Reserves: Etienne Fynn, Victor Matfield, Jaco Van Der Westhuizen, Lukas Van Biljon, Deon Kayser, Corne Krige, Joost Van Der Westhuizen
Italy: 1 Andrea Muraro, 2 Alessandro Moscardi (c), 3 Salvatore Perugini, 4 Wim Visser, 5 Mark Giacheri, 6 Fabio Ongaro, 7 Aaron Persico, 8 Carlo Checchinato, 9 Alessandro Troncon, 10 Francesco Mazzariol, 11 Nicola Mazzucato, 12 Luca Martin, 13 Walter Pozzebon, 14 Massimiliano Perziano, 15 Giovanni Antoni
Reserves: Marco Bortolami, Andrea De Rossi, Giampiero De Carli
Unused: Claudio Beltramini, Filippo Frati, Ramiro Pez, Giovanni Raineri
Referee: Dume j.
Points Scorers:
South Africa
Tries: Andrews M.G. 1, Delport G.M. 1, Montgomery P.C. 1, Paulse B.J. 2, Van Der Westhuizen J. 2, Venter A.G. 1
Conv: Janjies C.A. 1, Montgomery P.C. 3
Pen K.: Montgomery P.C. 4
Italy
Tries: Troncon A. 1
Pen K.: Mazzariol F. 3
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