Online Reporter
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus was understandably satisfied with his team’s 54-7 win over the Barbarians that started the international season in front of 45 000 people at a wet DHL Stadium in Cape Town on Saturday, but he was careful not to get too carried away with it.
The Boks scored eight tries to one to record their biggest win over the composite team, but as Erasmus readily conceded, the wet weather that hovered around Cape Town for the entire buildup week and into the game itself was hardly conducive to the kind of rugby that the Barbarians are assembled to play.
“We played against a Barbarians team that built up in wet weather, they would have trained in wet weather all week and they tried to run the ball and the conditions weren’t suited to that,” said Erasmus.
“We are realistic about that. We played a team that probably had the worst conditions you can play in as a Barbarians team. But we are happy with the win. There were good hit-outs from players who haven’t played in a while. We also got through it without injuries. It was a good hit-out and now the test matches start (with the first test against Italy scheduled for next Saturday).”
There were some standout performances from players playing in the Bok jersey for the first time, with man of the match Vincent Tshituka the best of those, as well as players who had come back after time away, among those being Lood de Jager and his second-row partner Jean Kleyn, as well as Jean-Luc du Preez.
“Lood’s condition was considered career-ending (when he first suffered it), but we did fitness tests with him a few weeks ago and he came through exceptionally well,” said the Bok coach.
‘‘His body might be 32 or 33 years old, but he has had a few years of rest (due to the injury layoff) and I think that showed today. Jean-Luc was also good. Jean was also good at Lood’s partner. We had a heavy pack and were nervous how that might go in the weather we experienced, but it went well. Our pack was very good. I am glad the way Lood came through like he did.”
The Bok loose trio was up against a star-studded combination on the day, so it was no surprise to hear Erasmus praise the contribution of Tshituka.
“The back row the guys were up against were not boys. Peter O’Mahony and Sam Cane are very experienced players who have played a lot of international rugby, so Vincent did really well. I also thought No8 Jean-Luc (du Preez) was excellent. I thought the whole pack was overall okay. I also understand though that the opposition team didn’t have much cohesion. So we will be realistic about the position and the circumstances of this game.” — SuperSport
