The Springboks must tighten their defensive structures and focus on playing as a tightly knit unit before they face a powerful England side in their opening Nations Championship clash at Ellis Park on July 4, coach Rassie Erasmus said.
He said those were some of the lessons the Boks learnt when they romped to an 80-31 win over the Barbarians in a non-cap international at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday.
The Boks scored 12 dazzling tries, with dynamic wing Edwill van der Merwe leading the charge with a hattrick of five-pointers against an outplayed invitational Barbarians side.
“Our discipline wasn’t great, and the Barbarians scored tries in quick succession, so the yellow cards against us were not ideal,” Erasmus said.
“But we have to remind ourselves that it’s been six or seven months since we’ve played together, and some guys were new in the mix.
“Also, we didn’t know when the Stormers or Bulls players would be available, which are all aspects we have to keep in mind.
“To score 80 points is nice, but the Barbarians were thrown together quite late and had only three training sessions, which makes them difficult to analyse.
“They scored five great tries, so we need to eliminate those defensive lapses and be better as a unit when we play against England.”
The Barbarians, a team led by former All Black scrumhalf TJ Perenara, scored three of their five tries in a 10-minute burst in the first half when SA scrumhalf Grant Williams was in the sin bin.
It proved to be a triumphant homecoming for Zwide-born Siya Kolisi, who received a rapturous welcome from a 27,000-strong crowd when he led the Boks onto the field at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
Kolisi said the Boks would take many positives and some big learnings from their opening game of the season.
“I thought a lot of what we wanted to get through, we did, but also, when things didn’t work and we went against the plan, we learnt lessons there,” he said.
“I always have to watch the game again to get a good assessment about things, but I already know some of the mistakes we made and the areas we need to fix.”
The win extended the Boks’ unbeaten streak at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium to 10 matches (nine wins and a draw).
It did not take the attack-minded Boks long to get into their stride, and they were over for the first try of the game after five minutes.
Kolisi burst through the Barbarians’ defence to set up an early opportunity for Van der Merwe, who went over in the corner to put the Boks 5-0 ahead.
The clash started at a lively pace with the Barbarians taking the attack to the Boks after leaking an early try.
They were rewarded for their efforts when strong-running centre Vimi Vakatawa crossed the Whitewash for the Barbarians in the 10th minute.
The Boks doubled their lead after 14 minutes when powerful loose forward Pieter-Steph du Toit muscled his way over the Barbarians’ tryline.
The Baabaas found themselves down to 13 men after referee Morne Ferreira yellow-carded skipper Perenara and No 8 Miracle Fai’ilagi in quick succession.
This lack of discipline proved costly for the Barbarians, with the Boks crossing for three tries in 10 minutes to stretch their lead to 35-7 after 24 minutes.
Livewire wing Van der Merwe dived over for the second try, and there were also five pointers for No 8 Jasper Wiese and SA U20 skipper Riley Norton, who scored on debut for the senior team.
When Perenara and Fai’ilagi returned to the field, the Barbarians delighted the crowd with dazzling running rugby which kept the Boks on the back foot.
Tries by lock Franco Molina, Perenara and wing Andrew Kelleway allowed the Barbarians to narrow the Boks’ lead to 40-26 at halftime.
Scorers:
South Africa 80: Tries: Edwill van der Merwe (3), Pieter-Steph du Toit, Jasper Wiese, Riley Norton, Cheslin Kolbe, JJ Kotze, Faf de Klerk, Jesse Kriel, Andre Esterhuizen, Zach Porthern. Conversions: Cheslin Kolbe (9). Vusi Moyo.
Barbarians 31: Tries: Vimi Vakatawa, Franco Molina, Andrew Kelleway (2), TJ Perenara. Conversions: Tomas Albornoz (3).
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