The Springboks sent out a big warning ahead of the World Cup knockout phase with a 66-7 win over Canada in Pool B on Tuesday.
Booking their place in the quarterfinals in style by scoring 10 tries to one, South Africa needed just one more touchdown to record the biggest winning margin at this year’s tournament.
They couldn’t do it after a less-than-impressive second half, meaning the All Blacks’ 63-0 win over Canada is still the biggest at the global showpiece.
It looked like coach Rassie Erasmus’s boys were going to smash a century at one stage.
They raced out of the blocks, with Damian de Allende running in the first try in the second minute after a good burst up-field by impressive lock RG Snyman.
With flyhalf Elton Jantjies distributing the ball like a man that wants a place in the team when the knockouts come around, it was Sbu Nkosi’s time to cross the whitewash in the sixth minute (12-0).
After failing to exit from their own half, the Boks had a scrum and scrumhalf Cobus Reinach then produced a moment of magic when he made a superb break before chip-kicking and collecting the ball for the first of his three tries (19-0).
JUGGERNAUT: Man of the Match RG Snyman powered over for a try. Picture: Edgar Su/Reuters.
It took the Boks 18 minutes to register their bonus-point try after another burst by Snyman set up Reinach’s second (26-0).
Three minutes later, Reinach completed the fastest-ever World Cup hattrick after a Jantjies cross kick from the restart was caught by Warrick Gelant, who then offloaded to De Allende, who in turn found Reinach (33-0).
The contest was over midway through the first half and the Boks took their foot off the pedal a bit.
MOVING THROUGH THE GEARS: Springboks’ backline hit top gear. Picture: Annegret Hilse/Reuters.
Right wing Warrick Gelant and centre Frans Steyn added their names to the scoresheet, with Canada’s Josh Larsen seeing red in the 35th minute.
With the scoreboard reading 47-0 at the break, 14-man Canada fought back hard in the second half to regain some pride.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/Springboks?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Springboksv @rugbycanada in Pool B at Rugby World Cup 2019 #RSAvCAN #RWC2019 pic.twitter.com/BtE4gPJyrY
— Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup)
Scoring first through Matt Heaton after the two teams swapped sides, they kept the Boks to just three five-pointers via Schalk Brits, Damian Willemse and Frans Malherbe to leave them short of the All Blacks’ mark.