Thursday 22 September 2011

Twelve-try Springboks run riot

South Africa cruised to an emphatic 87-0 World Cup Pool A win over Namibia on Thursday.

Veteran wing Bryan Habana's first-half score saw him set a new Test try-scoring record for the Springboks, finally breaking Joost van der Westhuizen's long-standing benchmark.

The Namibian scrum was under the cosh from the start, meaning South Africa's backs had plenty of quality ball and the men in green and gold raced to a 31-0 lead at the break

The defending champions had the bonus point secured by half time thanks to tries from Gio Aplon, Habana, Jaque Fourie and a penalty try against the Namibian scrum.

Aplon added a second in after the restart while Francois Hougaard and Juan de Jongh both also touched down twice.

With the Namibian defence dead on their feet, the game turned into a try festival as Frans Steyn, Morné Steyn and Danie Rossouw added their names to the scorecard.

Aplon was the first man to cross the whitewash after Hougaard beat three defenders to put him clear, but the moment all of South Africa had been waiting for came on 22 minutes when Habana had an easy run-in to collect his 39th Test try.

With the Namibian scrum buckling, referee George Clancy raised his arms under the sticks for the Boks third try before a magic off-load from Frans Steyn's set Jaque Fourie free for number four.

The Racing Metro utility back was in the mix again to score South Africa's first try of the second period -- meaning Steyn has scored in all three of the Boks games in the tournament so far.

It was one-way traffic in the last quarter with seven tries being scored in the last twenty minutes.  Morne Steyn, and his replacement Ruan Pienaar, made sure that no points were left behind as they slotted all thirteen of their kicks at goal.

If ever there was any doubt about the Springboks' capacity to defend their title, the rout in Albany confirmed that they mean business.

Man of the match:  Hard to pick a single player because the Boks dominated all over the park.  The official award went to Willem Alberts, who didn't score but left plenty of Namibians bruised.  We'll go for Francois Hougaard however.  Something always seems to happen when he has the ball in hand as illustrated by his two tries.

Moment of the match:  Twelve tries to choose from but one had special significance.  Bryan Habana's record-breaking try was a long time in coming, but is just reward for a distinguished career.

Villain of the match:  N/A

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Tries:  Aplon 2, Habana, penalty try, Fourie, F. Steyn, M. Steyn, De Jongh 2, Hougaard 2, Rossouw
Cons:  M. Steyn 6, Pienaar 6
Pen:  M. Steyn

South Africa:  15 Pat Lambie, 14 Gio Aplon, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn , 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Willem Alberts, 5 Danie Rossouw, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 John Smit (c), 1 Gurthrö Steenkamp.
Replacements:  16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Tendai Mtawarira, 18 Francois Louw, 19 Heinrich Brüssow, 20 Fourie du Preez, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Juan de Jongh.

Namibia:  15 Chrysander Botha, 14 Danie Dames, 13 Danie van Wyk, 12 Piet van Zyl, 11 Heine Bock, 10 Theuns Kotze, 9 Eugene Jantjies, 8 Jacques Nieuwenhuis, 7 Jacques Burger (c), 6 Tinus du Plessis, 5 Nico Esterhuyse, 4 Heinz Koll, 3 Marius Visser, 2 Bertus O'Callaghan, 1 Johnnie Redelinghuys.
Replacements:  16 Hugo Horn, 17 Jane du Toit, 18 PJ van Lill, 19 Rohan Kitshoff, 20 Ryan de la Harpe, 21 Darryl de la Harpe, 22 Conrad Marais.

Venue:  North Harbour Stadium, Albany
Referee:  George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees:  Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand), Tim Hayes (Wales)
TMO:  Graham Hughes (England)

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