Eddie Jones complained this week that he does not want to deal with a half-baked South African rugby team.
Well, the Springboks just played the outspoken Australian rugby coach tight when they thrashed the Wallabies 43 – 12 at Loftus Versfeld.
The Aussies may have scored the first and last points of the game – thanks to Marika Koroibete and Carter Gordon’s efforts – but Duane Vermeulen’s team undoubtedly swung the scepter in the period between those two tries.
And in the end, that’s all that matters, right?
Kurt-Lee Arendse is a waffling scoring machine in the Springbok jersey and he scored a hat-trick of tries against the hard-hitting Aussies.
Add to that two penalties and Pieter-Steph du Toit’s trick-you-here-and-trick-you-there gaps on his opponents’ goal line and the South Africans gave the more than 50,000 spectators a reason to smile.
In addition to Arendse’s three-point skills, Manie Libbok also showed that the Springboks have good hitting power when he played the no. 10 jersey wear.
Yes, he faltered with a few set-piece attempts, but his passing and attacking prowess definitely gives the South Africans an additional arrow in the quiver.
Together with Arendse, Willie le Roux and Canan Moodie, he provided the necessary magic, while André Esterhuizen also caused headaches with his direct runs.
Up front, Duane Vermeulen and Marco van Staden played a burst, while Steven Kitshoff and co saw to it that the Aussie scrum was often in reverse gear.
Okay, you don’t win the Webb Ellis trophy in the first game of the season, but the Boks definitely took a step in the right direction with this performance.
They certainly walked the talk on the field today.
- Scorers:
Springboks: Tries: Staff tries (2), Kurt-Lee Arendse (3) and Pieter-Steph du Toit. Goal kicks: Manie Libbok (3). Penalty kick: Libbok.
Wallabies: Marika Koroibete and Carter Gordon. Goal kick: Gordon.
