South Africa 18
Scotland 3
THE SPRINGBOK REALLY isn’t a great symbol for this South African team when you think about it. Nothing against Springboks, who we’re sure are great, but they’re hunted by other animals and humans.
This South African team are the ones who do the hunting. They don’t really have to look over their shoulder when they’re at the water hole. Sometimes, the way in which they give the opposition hope is a little like toying with them before the kill.
Scotland will believe that they might have won this game if they’d taken one of their two first-half try-scoring opportunities. The Boks, though, will believe they were always in control and had enough power, class, and pure might to end up with the spoils.
The Boks weren’t at their best at the fantastic Stade de Marseille but they ground their victims down in typical fashion, leading at half time despite the Scots’ purple patch, and then ending the game as a contest in a flurry of brilliance after the interval.
Outstanding flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit scored at the end of a passage of attack that was all about blunt force, while wing Kurt-Lee Arendse scorched home on the end of a sublime kick pass from out-half Manie Libbok after some brutal Springboks defence.
There’s lots for Rassie Erasmus, Jacques Nienaber, and Felix Jones to pick apart in this performance but it was a fine win against a Scottish side that brought undoubted energy.
One ongoing concern is the Boks’ place-kicking. Libbok was successful with two of his five attempts, a couple of which were admittedly difficult, before scrum-half Faf de Klerk took over and hit one from two. Another worry is the first-half injury to Eben Etzebeth.
Ireland, who face both of these sides in Pool B, will have been watching on with interest, having had a stroll in the park against Romania in their opener yesterday, but it won’t have changed much of their opinion about either side. The Boks are a known quantity. They look to squeeze you and squeeze you with their power, then they have the attacking ingenuity to shred you when it’s on. Their clash with Ireland in Paris on 23 September should be epic.
The Scots, meanwhile, have had another familiar defeat. It was promising in patches from Finn Russell and co., and their attack did cause the Boks problems a few times, but they’ve been well beaten. Now everything rests on their final pool game against Ireland, presuming they beat Tonga and Romania in the meantime.
South Africa move on to face Romania next weekend in Bordeaux, where they will look to put up a big scoreline similar to the one Ireland notched yesterday, particularly having come up short of a bonus point here. The reigning champions will take some beating in this World Cup.
The Boks won a first half that was full of needle, if not scores. In the initial stages, Scotland were jittery under the high ball, fullback Blair Kinghorn knocking on twice, while the South African scrum was on top and Russell took some punishing contact.
Libbok missed with a shot at goal in the 11th minute after a Boks scrum penalty but made amends soon after when Russell slapped a pass down, allowing his opposite number to slot three points from in front of the posts.
We then had an enjoyable dust-up between the teams after the Scottish backs drove Damian de Allende into touch. In a shock to absolutely no one, Etzebeth and Jamie Ritchie squared up. Those lads live for the niggle.
The Scottish lineout was stuttering, with two losses on their own throw in the opening quarter, but though the Boks were being invited into Scottish territory, they struggled to create clear chances as their handling failed on a few occasions. It was a defensive breakdown turnover that handed them their next three points, hooker Malcolm Marx jackaling over an excellent Cheslin Kolbe tackle on Sione Tuipulotu.
Libbok did the business for 6-0 and the South Africans seemed to be humming along, only for influential lock Etzebeth to be forced off in the 26th minute. Whether coincidental or not, the momentum seemed to shift thereafter.
Twice in three minutes, Scotland nearly scored the opening try. First, classy handling allowed Darcy Graham to scurry up the right and then, with an overlap beckoning on the left, an all-or-nothing intercept attempt from Boks wing Arendse denied them. He knocked on in the process but it was a clear try-saver and Russell also conceded a penalty directly after as he barged Arendse with no arms.
The next Scottish attack was superb, with slick handling by Tuipulotu in a clever lineout strike play allowing scrum-half Ben White and Russell to put Graham into a hole. He scorched into the Boks’ 22 and should have passed to left wing Duhan van der Merwe for what looked like a superb chance but clung onto the ball. Libbok hauled him down for another big try-saver. Scotland turned the ball over two phases later.
The Scottish forwards finished the half in superb fashion, winning a maul turnover and two scrum penalties in the closing minutes. The second of the scrum shunts was dominant and with the clock in the red, Russell nailed his shot off the tee from 45 metres out, straight in front.
Leading 6-3, the Boks were clearly intent on starting the second half in muscular style, with a big scrum penalty providing Libbok with a kick at goal from five metres inside his own half. It fell well short.
RG Snyman, the replacement for Etzebeth, came up with a superb one-handed offload on the next Boks attack, which was ended by Kinghorn’s knock-on in a tackle near the Scottish line. From the scrum, South Africa brought a passage of focused power as they carried hard around the corner, du Toit battering through Tuipulotu to finish with a latch from Franco Mostert. Libbok missed off the tee again with his conversion attempt.
The Boks had their second try just three minutes later and this one was based on some brutal defence. Scotland kept playing into it, rather than kicking, got themselves turned over on the counter-ruck and couldn’t adjust to the South Africans’ clinical counter.
Libbok stroked a cross-kick beautifully into the path of Ardendse, who caught it at full tilt without breaking stride and raced into the right corner. Scrum-half Faf de Klerk took over the place-kicking and slotted the difficult conversion.
Just like that, Scotland were 18-3 behind and even with 30 minutes left, it felt like game over.
Back-to-back scrum penalties provided de Klerk with another shot from close to the right touchline but this time he was wide with his effort.
With the game into the final quarter, a superb 50:22 kick from Russell gave Scotland a platform down in South African territory but it simply proved to be a platform for Springboks captain Siya Kolisi to win a breakdown penalty just before he was called ashore.
Scottish hopes sank deeper yet. A massive breakout from the Boks’ 22 by pacy sub scrum-half Grant Williams nearly led to another South African try late on, but their job was already done.
South Africa scorers:
Tries: Pieter-Steph du Toit, Kurt-Lee Arendse
Conversions: Manie Libbok [0 from 1], Faf de Klerk [1 from 1]
Penalties: Manie Libbok [2 from 4], Faf de Klerk [0 from 1]
Scotland scorers:
Penalties: Finn Russell [1 from 1]
SOUTH AFRICA: Damian Willemse; Kurt-Lee Arendse; Jesse Kriel; Damian de Allende; Cheslin Kolbe; Manie Libbok (Willie Le Roux ’67); Faf de Klerk (Grant Williams ’75); Steven Kitshoff (Ox Nche ’53), Malcolm Marx (blood – Bongi Mbonambi ’48 to ’53, permanent ’57), Frans Malherbe (Trevor Nyakane ’53); Eben Etzebeth (RG Snyman ’26), Franco Mostert; Siya Kolisi (captain) (Marco van Staden ’65), Pieter-Steph Du Toit, Jasper Wiese (Duane Vermeulen ’60).
SCOTLAND: Blair Kinghorn; Duhan van der Merwe, Huw Jones, Sione Tuipulotu (Cameron Redpath ’67), Darcy Graham (Ollie Smith ’65); Finn Russell, Ben White (Ali Price ’67); Pierre Schoeman (Jamie Bhatti ’55), George Turner (David Cherry ’55), Zander Fagerson (WP Nel ’55); Richie Gray, Grant Gilchrist (Scott Cummings ’55); Jamie Ritchie (captain), Rory Darge (Matt Fagerson ’65), Jack Dempsey;
Referee: Angus Gardner [Australia].