A festive atmosphere at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium saw the Springboks thrill the crowd with an entertaining 80-31 victory over the Barbarians, while SA ‘A’ produced a clinical display to shut out Zimbabwe 40-0. While the scoreboards painted a picture of dominance, both Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus and SA ‘A’ coach Mzwandile Stick believe there is plenty to work on before the Nations Championship begins in a fortnight.

For Erasmus, the attacking display was encouraging, but defensive lapses and discipline remain concerns.

“Our discipline wasn’t great, and they scored tries in quick succession, so yellow cards were not ideal,” said Erasmus.

The Springbok coach stressed that context was important when assessing the performance. It was South Africa’s first outing together in more than six months, with several players returning from franchise commitments and a handful of new faces eager to make an impression.

“We have to remind ourselves that it’s been six or seven months since we’ve played together. Some guys were new in the mix, while we also didn’t know when some of the DHL Stormers and Vodacom Bulls players would become available. Those are all factors we have to take into account.”

The Springboks ran in a host of spectacular tries and showed flashes of the attacking rugby Erasmus has encouraged, but the Barbarians also found space at times and crossed for some memorable scores of their own.

“To score 80 points is nice, but the Barbarians were thrown together late and only had a few training sessions. They’re difficult to analyse because they play what they see in front of them,” said Erasmus.

“They scored four or five great tries, so we need to eliminate those defensive lapses and become better as a unit when we face England.”

The only major concern for the Springboks was an injury to veteran lock Franco Mostert, who was forced off during the match.

“I’m worried about his ankle,” admitted Erasmus. “He’ll go for scans, and hopefully it’s not too bad.”

Stick shared similar sentiments after SA ‘A’ kept Zimbabwe scoreless in a hard-fought encounter. Despite the comfortable margin, the visitors tested the South Africans throughout with their physical and direct approach.

“We knew it would be a challenge because most of our players had never played together before,” said Stick.

“Zimbabwe kept the ball in hand and played direct rugby. I enjoyed the way they approached the game.”

Edwill van der Merwe scored a hat-trick for South Africa. Photo: SA Rugby

“The pleasing thing was that the players stayed in the fight, even when things weren’t going our way. We managed to keep a clean sheet, and that’s a big positive.”

Erasmus has named a 46-man squad for the upcoming Nations Championship which will kick off for them on 4 July when they tackle England in Johannesburg.

Scorers:

Springboks: Tries – Edwill van der Merwe 3, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Jasper Wiese, Riley Norton, Cheslin Kolbe, JJ Kotze, Faf de Klerk, Jesse Kriel, André Esterhuizen, Zachary Porthen Conv.– Cheslin Kolbe 9, Vusi Moyo

Barbarians: Tries – Andrew Kellaway 2, Frank Molina, TJ Perenara, Virmi Vakatawa Conv. – Tomas Albornoz 3

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek dg