The Springboks sometimes fizzed and sometimes ground their way to a 76-0 (half-time 33-0) victory over a brave but ultimately outclassed Romania in their second Rugby World Cup Pool B match in Bordeaux yesterday.
The Springboks scored 12 tries – with hat-tricks for Cobus Reinach and Makazole Mapimpi and a brace for Grant Williams – and increased their points’ difference for the tournament to 91. They moved on to nine log points from scoring a try-scoring bonus point in this match to add to their opening round victory over Scotland (18-3).
The match was played in slippery underfoot and humid conditions which was compounded when persistent drizzle set in after 20 minutes. The Boks had scored four tries (and had had a fifth ruled out by the TMO up to that point), to rack up the fastest bonus point in the history of the Rugby World Cup.
The greasy ball and treacherous footing inevitably saw the scoring rate slow in the middle but the 12 tries still equalled the Boks’ RWC record set in an 87-0 win over Namibia in 2011.
However, the win sets up what has long been being billed as a pool-deciding clash with Ireland at the Stade de France in Paris on Sunday (kick off 21h00) – although Scotland may yet have something to say about that in the pool-concluding match against their Celtic neighbours next month.
Bok coach Jacques Nienaber made 14 changes to the starting line-up – retaining only Damian Willemse, who moved from fullback to flyhalf – but had to make a last-minute change to the starting team with Vincent Koch injuring a knee during the warm-up. His place in the starting XV was taken by Trevor Nyakane with Frans Malherbe drafted in with a warm-up as the replacement tighthead prop.
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