DIRTY DOZEN: Twelve-try Boks rout Barbarians and find some answers to potential problems
The Springboks scored 12 tries on their way to an 80-31 (halftime 40-26) win over the Barbarians at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha on Saturday.
The real value of this one-sided contest might only be felt in weeks and months to come, after a slew of Springbok youngsters made positive introductions to international rugby.
Lock Riley Norton was outstanding on debut for the senior national side, although he will have to wait a little longer for an official Test cap.
The current Junior Bok skipper took lineouts, tackled, scored a try and made himself felt against some proper grizzled veterans in the Barbarians unit.
The result and the margin of victory are largely inconsequential in these games. They are really about finding some rhythm before the Test season starts, and about finding answers to potential problems.
Norton’s performance is timely with a slew of Bok locks on the injured list. Fellow second rower Franco Mostert suffered a late ankle injury in the match, possibly clearing the path for Norton to make his Test debut sooner rather than later.
Wing Edwill van der Merwe showed that there is depth in the wide channels. His hat-trick was a mix of pace and vision as he took his chances when they came.
Wing Cheslin Kolbe landed nine conversions and missed just two for a haul of 18 points, as he showed that goal-kicking is covered, while fullback Aphelele Fassi made a strong comeback to the international arena.
The Quan Horn experiment at flyhalf was a mixed bag. He did little wrong, save being bumped off in a tackle that led to the Baabaas’ first try 11 minutes into the first half. But he also didn’t take the game by the scruff of the neck.
Current Junior Bok flyhalf Vusi Moyo looked more natural in the position when he entered the fray in the final 15 minutes. Moyo played a telling hand in two late tries for replacement scrumhalf Faf de Klerk and centre Jesse Kriel.
Moyo has a serenity about him that is calming, while he reads the game beautifully. There are tougher examinations to come, but the early signs were encouraging.
De Klerk looked sharp and ready to support Williams in the opening weeks of the Test season.
Boks rampant
Although the Barbarians scored five tries, four coming in a productive first half, they were always chasing the game.
They kept it respectable until halftime, thanks to a little purple patch when Grant Williams was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on, but they were blown away after the break.
Centre Virimi Vakatawa scored their opening try after midfield partner Alex Nankivell bumped Horn off in the tackle. Vakatawa and Nankivell were constant menaces throughout the match.
The Boks though, raced into a 31-7 lead, playing a more traditional style of Test-like rugby. No 8 Jasper Wiese was particularly brutal in the carry and Pieter-Steph du Toit, just back from another lengthy injury lay-off, looked like he’d never been away.
The scrum was dominant but there weren’t enough of them to really be decisive, while Williams probed and sniped from behind his pack.
Rewards
There was a decent amount of aerial kicking, which had its rewards, with tries for Du Toit, Norton and Wiese before the half hour.
That was after Van der Merwe opened the scoring for the Boks, following some good work by skipper Siya Kolisi, stationed in the trams.
The Barbarians had their own problems in that period with captain TJ Perenara and No 8, the wonderfully named Miracle Faiʻilagi, sin-binned for a high tackle and cynical play respectively.
But when Williams was sent to the bin, the momentum shifted for a period, aided by the Boks’ own sloppiness.
At the moment when they needed to tighten up the game, the Springboks suddenly entered into the spirit of Barbarians rugby.
This was underlined when the great Du Toit kicked from his own 22-metre line, thinking there was no Barbarian defence home.
It was possibly the first-ever recorded incident of Du Toit kicking from hand, as even the indefatigable Pieter-Steph was sucked into the festival moment.
The kick was too deep and it came as such a shock to the rest of the team, that the Bok chase line was non-existent. It gave the Barbarians time to counter-attack, and a few phases later they scored through wing Andrew Kellaway.
In retrospect it wasn’t Du Toit’s greatest contribution to a game, but it showed that the Boks were not going to be curmudgeonly about making the contest a spectacle for the vibrant Gqeberha crowd.
There were further first-half tries for lock Franco Molina and Perenara before the break, while Kellaway added another midway through the second half.
Second-half domination
Whatever coach Rassie Erasmus said at the break, the Boks looked sharper after halftime. In truth, the match lacked the intensity and edge of a big Test, but the Boks had unacceptably veered too far off script in the 10 minutes before halftime.
The second half was more clinical, although there was still space for flair and fun.
Van der Merwe completed his hat-trick while debutant hooker JJ Kotzé scored from the back of a rolling maul.
Kriel and De Klerk added tries that involved good work from Moyo and debutant flank Paul de Villiers, who caught the eye with his breakdown and contact work.
Centre André Esterhuizen scored the team’s 11th try from a typically barnstorming run, before young prop Zach Porthen, another player who enjoyed a fine cameo, completed the rout after the final hooter.
There are many, much sterner tests to come in 2026. But this was a decent start for a largely experimental team.
Earlier in the day SA ‘A’ beat Zimbabwe 40-0. DM
Scorers:
South Africa – Tries: Edwill van der Merwe (3), Pieter-Steph du Toit, Jasper Wiese, Riley Norton, Cheslin Kolbe, JJ Kotzé, Faf de Klerk, Jesse Kriel, André Esterhuizen, Zach Porthen. Conversions: Kolbe (9), Vusi Moyo.
Barbarians – Tries: Virimi Vakatawa, Franco Molina, Andrew Kellaway (2), TJ Perenara. Conversions: Tomás Albornoz (3).
