Ken Borland

The Springboks were in control from the outset and maintained that dominance through to the end as they returned to the Rugby Championship in fine style with a 32-12 win over Argentina in Gqeberha on Saturday.

South Africa were on the board in the second minute through an Elton Jantjies penalty, set up by a strong run off a missed Argentina clearance by Jasper Wiese, who was involved in so much of the action in an impressive display in the No.8 jersey.

Argentina never really settled after that. Well-beaten in the air and in the scrums, they also made several errors with the ball in the face of some typically formidable Springbok defence. The home team were adept at making the most of the opportunities their pressure created and they scored two tries in the first half.

Excellent scrumhalf Cobus Reinach kept chasing in defence after a scrum and received his reward when the Argentina backs dropped the ball, allowing the son of former champion sprinter and Springbok Jaco Reinach to show his pace as he raced away for the opening try in the 14^th minute.

Just five minutes later, lock Eben Etzebeth showed brilliant skills in the air to claim a kick and flyhalf Jantjies then put in a crosskick which wing Aphelele Fassi claimed superbly with one hand, on the bounce and on the gallop, going over for the try.

The Springboks went into halftime 21-9 in front as Jantjies slotted a conversion and three penalties, while Argentina could only respond with three penalties by flyhalf Nicolas Sanchez.

The second half saw the Springboks go to sleep a bit as individual errors made for a disjointed effort. Jantjies added two more penalties and Sanchez one, and it was only in the last 10 minutes when South Africa began to produce some fluent attacking rugby.

A second try to Fassi was disallowed because hooker Malcolm Marx had crawled with the ball on the ground in the build-up, but there would have been purrs of delight in the Springbok camp with just a minute to go as debutant replacement scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse, a late replacement for Herschel Jantjies, who has a hip injury, dived over in the corner for the bonus point try.

Much of the credit must go to replacement flank Marco van Staden, whose ferocious charge put the Springboks right on the front foot.

Given the changes they had made to the team, just a week after the gruelling Lions series, the Springboks will be well-satisfied with their evening’s work.

Scorers

South Africa: Tries – Cobus Reinach, Aphelele Fassi, Jaden Hendrikse. Conversion – Elton Jantjies. Penalties – Jantjies (5).

Argentina: Penalties – Nicolas Sanchez (4).

On the night of the first Test against the British and Irish Lions, there was already an acknowledgement from the Springboks that the tourists’ brilliant kicking game had been the key factor in their 17-22 defeat, but on Monday the lack of dominance up front in the second half by the pack, which teed up the Lions kickers, was addressed by forwards coach Deon Davids.

“You’ve got to have a solid base in the lineouts and scrums, your forwards need to put you on the front foot, in order for you to play to your plan. If one thing goes wrong, that will influence the kick, it has a ripple effect. It’s so important that your set-pieces give you a solid base and the Lions were streetwise in what they did, we will have to handle that better.

“It’s one thing to win the ball in the lineout, but it’s also important to have quality possession and be able to set the platform to kick. Not all our roles were totally fulfilled and there was not always proper support after we had won the ball. We let ourselves down in the second half and some individual standards need to be raised, although everyone definitely tried very hard,” Davids said on Monday.

Apart from the obvious slackening off in intensity in the second half, which is partly a conditioning issue that might not be able to be fixed in one week, Davids acknowledged that the Lions had also played much smarter rugby than the Springboks. Not giving the home team many lineouts was one such clever strategy, which prevented the Boks from launching from their fearsome rolling maul.

“I’m not sure but only having four lineouts might be a world record for a Test match. The Lions were very smart and they did not give us lineouts, instead we were fielding high balls all the time and that put us under pressure. But we also have to ensure that our kicking game is exceptionally accurate to ensure you get the advantage of territory. We can be better in execution and be smarter.

“In terms of our exit plays, you also need to ensure a solid platform there so you get good delivery of the ball. That can also improve because we did not have a lot of attacking options. We want to play from set-pieces in the opposition half, but if you don’t get those opportunities then you are just left with unstructured attack off turnovers. We need to get into better places on the field,” Davids said.

There are many words to pen about the dominance of the Bulls in the admittedly insular world of Currie Cup rugby, but there just seems to be no stopping the blue juggernaut at Loftus Versfeld as they notched another comfortable win there on Sunday, hammering the Lions 40-21.

They put six tries on the board and their efficiency in all aspects of the game was too much for a willing Lions team. The likes of hooker Johan Grobbelaar and eighthman Elrigh Louw had mighty games, but it was how the side combined as a unit that was most impressive.

While one should deservedly wax lyrical about the Bulls attack, the defence was equally impressive as they fiercely protected their line. It is clear that this Bulls side takes enormous pride in their defence.

The Bulls led 28-14 at halftime, but it was the Lions’ second try that deserves full description because it was an absolute marvel.

The Bulls were hard on attack but Lionel Mapoe’s pass infield from close to the corner flag went to a Lions player. From behind their own goal-line, they launched a counter-attack, fullback Wandisile Simelane stepping his way all the way to the 22. There he found flank Vincent Tshituka, who produced a remarkable display in a well-beaten team. To see Tshituka galloping from 22 to 22 was an amazing sight and he then produced a superb offload in a double-tackle for wing Courtnall Skosan to score.

But the Lions could not add to that score before halftime despite camping in the Bulls’ 22 and throwing the book at them with wave-after-wave of strong carries. Apart from loose forward Arno Botha being yellow-carded as the penalties piled up, the Bulls suffered no loss.

After that the result was assured as they dominated the second half. It took them 15 minutes to crack some staunch Lions defence as well, with flyhalf Johan Goosen cleverly deviating from all the pick-and-goes as he sent a crossfield kick to wing Richard Kriel for a well-taken try.

His older brother David, playing at fullback, put his name on the scorers list six minutes later.

The Bulls are back on top of the log and look in good shape to book their place in the semi-finals some time soon.

Scorers

Bulls – Tries: Harold Vorster, Zak Burger (2), Johan Grobbelaar, Richard Kriel, David Kriel. Conversions: Johan Goosen (5).

Lions – Tries: Vincent Tshituka, Courtnall Skosan, Sti Sithole. Conversions: Jordan Hendrikse (3).

Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber admitted that a lack of dominance by the SA A pack in the set-pieces and the gainline battle concerned him after their shock 17-14 defeat at the hands of the Bulls in Cape Town on Saturday.

The Bulls fielded a young pack with only three experienced players in captain and flank Nizaam Carr, prop Jacques van Rooyen and replacement loose forward Arno Botha. But they matched the SA A team blow-for-blow and their lineout dominance was especially damaging to the opposition’s cause.

The Bulls played with great passion and physicality, and Nienaber admitted that they simply wanted to win the match more than his charges. And that is a damning assessment a week away from the first Test.

“Yes, I definitely expected a better performance from the pack, especially better ball from the set-pieces. We didn’t get a proper platform to launch our attacks from. The Bulls are the best franchise in South Africa and hats off to them. Obviously their desperation levels were through the roof. The first fingers point at myself and management because we obviously did things wrong in the build-up.

“Sad to say, but the Bulls were more desperate than us. And that’s even though there are places up for grabs in the Test team, but you can’t take a lot of positives from a performance like that, except that we got game time into a lot of guys who needed it. I’m quite emotional after a performance like that, as a team the performance was just not there,” Nienaber admitted after the game.

The Springbok coach did not want to discuss individual performances, but suffice to say he probably thinks his gran could have played with more intensity and fire than some of the SA A team.

“Any comments I make about individuals will be emotional. Maybe some individuals did well, but it did not come out as a team. But we got a lot of answers over certain players, we needed questions asked of them under pressure. Which is exactly what we wanted, but not the loss, that’s not what we hoped for,” Nienaber said.

Scrumhalf Cobus Reinach, eighthman Kwagga Smith, fullack Aphelele Fassi and solid flyhalf Elton Jantjies were probably the only players to have advanced their Springbok cause.