Rugby union news: Springboks vs Barbarians - Rusty Boks run rampant over BaaBaas
A rusty, makeshift Springbok side ran a second-half clinic over the Barbarians, decimating their challengers 54-7 on a cold and wet night at DHL Stadium in Cape Town on Saturday, June 28.
Rassie Erasmus’ men comprised a mixture of World Cup winners along with promising prospects.
Sports News Blitz’s Aidan Leo reviews the Springboks’ dominant showing against the BaaBaas.
First-half struggles
Despite the Boks being 19-0 up at the break, both teams struggled to deal with the dire weather conditions on the night, with plenty of errors and knock-ons on display.
This disrupted the Boks’ continuity to implement the running style of play that assistant coach Tony Brown would have wanted to see in a game of this kind.
Considering the spectacle nature of a Barbarians game, and the fact that the Cape Town faithful came out to support their beloved Springboks in stormy conditions - both teams would have wanted to deliver a dynamic, high-scoring encounter.
This was not the case. And the Boks were able to resort to their power game and highly effective box-kicking tactic.
As a result of the dominant Springbok set-piece and tactical approach from Erasmus and co., the BaaBaas were left demoralised by the sounding of the first-half whistle.
Second-half domination
The tricky, rainy conditions could not keep the Boks at bay though, as Erasmus’ charges turned up the heat in the second half and ran riot over a depleted BaaBaas outfit.
In particular, the Springbok back three were sensational on attack. The speed, high-ball acumen, and aggressive disposition in the collision the three put on display was very notable.
Through Kurt-Lee Arendse, Cheslin Kolbe, and Aphelele Fassi — the Springboks likely have their backfield sorted for the 2025 international season.
Other noteworthy performers include returning veteran lock Lood De Jager and debutant flanker Vincent Tshituka.
Both players put in worthy Man of the Match shifts, but it was Kolbe that was awarded the honour after his mesmerising footwork and explosive physicality was in full effect throughout the second half.
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Reaction out the camp
“We won’t get carried away with this performance,” Erasmus told SA Rugby.
“Certainly, some of the newer guys showed us that they can do it at this level, but we’ll layer them in.
“We know who is going to play in Italy one and two, and certainly by the end of the Georgia game, which will be a grind, we’ll have a group of 45, 50 that have had some game time.”
Stand-in captain Jesse Kriel gave his thoughts on the encounter, saying: “We came in here to be bold and positive and not let the conditions affect us and keep the ball in hand and I thought we looked dangerous on turnover ball.”
“I thought we looked dangerous when we got the ball into guys like Aphelele Fassi, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Cheslin Kolbe’s hands.
“They’re special rugby players, they can make something out of nothing, and we saw that today.”
Erasmus’ innovation evident
One of the more significant talking points coming out of the game was that Erasmus chose to field centre Andre Esterhuizen at flank when he was called upon off the bench.
This decision was relatively successful on the night, with Erasmus now having a versatile option in Esterhuizen, dependent on the bench-split he chooses to go for in the upcoming fixtures.
“You can have two ways of looking at it,” said Erasmus.
“You can have a forward covering a back position like Kwagga Smith covering wing, and you can have a back covering a forward position, like Andre covering flanker.
“You can call him a hybrid player – but he is a backline player who can also play in the forwards now.
“He has been training with both the forwards and the backs, and I must say Felix Jones handles his load very well in how much he does with the forwards and how much he does with the backs.
“We started chatting to him about it five months ago, but he is a backline player who can also play forward.”
Closing remarks
In the end, the season-opening tune-up for the team was successful.
Erasmus and his coaches will be pleased with the outcome, despite the testing weather conditions throughout the encounter.
“Overall, it was a satisfying performance. It was a good hit out but now the test matches start next week.”
Scoring summary:
Springboks 54 (19) – Tries: Malcolm Marx, Cheslin Kolbe, Vincent Tshituka (2), Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Lood de Jager, Damian De Allende. Conversions: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (2), Manie Libbok (5).
Barbarians 7 (0) – Try: Melvyn Jaminet. Conversion: Jaminet.
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