Nine-try Springboks put 50 past Namibia

South Africa proved too strong for Namibia as they ran out 57-3 winners in their Rugby World Cup clash at the City of Toyota Stadium on Saturday.

As expected, the Springboks were on the front-foot from the kick off as they dominated most facets of play and had too much firepower for their opponents.

The Boks eventually ran nine unanswered tries past their hapless opponents with Bongi Mbonambi and Makazole Mapimpi scoring a brace apiece.

Their other tries were scored by Francois Louw, Lukhanyo Am, Warrick Gelant and Schalk Brits, while Elton Jantjies contributed 12 points after slotting six conversions.

Namibia’s only points came courtesy of a first half penalty from Cliven Loubser.

South Africa started brightly and in the fifth minute Brits grounded the ball against an upright but his effort was ruled out when television replays revealed that he knocked on in the build-up.

That did not deter the Boks and five minutes later they opened their account when Mbonambi crossed the whitewash from a lineout drive and that tactic proved successful again soon after when Louw scored in similar fashion.

Things went from bad to worse for the Welwitchias in the 17th minute when they were reduced to 14 men after Adriaan Booysen was yellow carded for deliberately knocking down a Springboks pass deep inside his half.

It did not take long for South Africa to capitalise on their numerical advantage as two minutes after Booysen’s exit Mbonambi scored again, after another strong Bok lineout drive deep inside Namibian territory.

Although the Boks had the bulk of the possession during the latter stages of the opening period, Namibia scored next courtesy of a penalty from Loubser after Tendai Mtawarira infringed at a ruck.

The Boks eventually regained the initiative and secured their bonus-point try when Mapimpi dotted down in the 27th minute, and on the stroke of half-time Am also crossed the whitewash after running onto a well-timed pass from Brits.

That meant the Boks held a comfortable 31-3 lead at the interval and they continued to dominate after the restart as Gelant scored his try in the 50th minute after good work from Am in the build-up.

⏱️ FULL-TIME

9⃣ tries scored
0⃣ conceded
5⃣ points in the bag

🇳🇦 A big thank you to our African neighbours for a great game
🤞 Good luck for the rest of the tournament!#StrongerTogether #RWC2019 #RSAvNAM pic.twitter.com/6eBZ3gqZJT

— Springboks (@Springboks) September 28, 2019

Shortly afterwards, Brits turned provider again when he threw an inside pass to Mapimpi after breaking away from a lineout drive just outside Namibia’s 22 and the Bok flyer showed the Namibian defence a clean pair of heels on his way over the try-line.

With the game in the bag, South Africa made several changes to their run-on side and shortly after his introduction Kolisi crossed for his side’s eighth try.

Namibia suffered another setback in the 64th minute when Johannes Coetzee was also sent to the sin-bin for an off-the-ball shoulder charge on Brits.

The Bok skipper would have the last laugh though as he went over for his side’s ninth try after another good lineout drive deep inside Namibian territory in the 64th minute.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Tries:  Mbonambi 2, Louw, Mapimpi 2, Am, Gelant, Kolisi, Brits
Cons:  Jantjies 6

For Namibia:
Pen:  Loubser
Yellow Cards:  Booysen, Coetzee

South Africa:  15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Sbu Nkosi, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Schalk Brits (c), 7 Kwagga Smith, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements:  16 Steven Kitshoff, 17 Thomas du Toit, 18 Eben Etzebeth, 19 Siya Kolisi, 20 Franco Mostert, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Damian de Allende, 23 Cheslin Kolbe

Namibia:  15 Johan Tromp, 14 Chad Plato, 13 JC Greyling, 12 Peter John Walters, 11 Lesley Klim, 10 Cliven Loubser, 9 Eugene Jantjies, 8 Adriaan Booysen, 7 Muharua Katjijeko, 6 Thomasau Forbes, 5 Tjiuee Uanivi (c), 4 Johan Retief, 3 AJ de Klerk, 2 Louis van der Westhuizen, 1 Desiderius Sethie
Replacements:  16 Obert Nortje, 17 Andre Rademeyer, 18 Johannes Coetzee, 19 Prince Gaoseb, 20 Janco Venter, 21 Wian Conradie, 22 Helarius Axasman Kisting, 23 Johan Deysel

Referee:  Mathieu Raynal (France)
Assistant Referees:  Nic Berry (Australia), Andrew Brace (Ireland)
TMO:  Graham Hughes (England)