Springboks slow out of blocks
South Africa were predictably slow to get going in their first test in nearly two years, before the world champions stretched away in the second half to beat Georgia 40-9 in a warm-up for the British and Irish Lions series.
The Springboks trailed 9-5 after 35 minutes in Pretoria but two tries in two minutes just before halftime gave them momentum straight after Georgia flanker Beka Saghinadze was sent to the sin-bin.
From there, rugby’s top-ranked team found forward dominance and scored three tries in each half for an ultimately comfortable win over a team outside the world’s top 10. It was a satisfactory first hit-out for the Boks since winning the Rugby World Cup final in Japan in their last match in November 2019.
“It’s exactly what we expected,” Springboks captain Siya Kolisi said. “We know we haven’t played in two years, so we knew it was going to be slow for us.”
Those 20 months without test rugby because of the coronavirus pandemic showed at Loftus Versfeld. Georgia first-five Tedo Abzhandadze kicked three early penalties and although Springboks wing Aphelele Fassi sped down the left touchline to score with his first touch in international rugby in the fourth minute, the Georgians led for most of the first half.
It turned when Abzhandadze was punished for Georgia’s persistent infringing near their own line.
South Africa hooker Bongi Mbonambi barrelled over from a lineout maul after that penalty and halfback Cobus Reinach added another try straight after when Georgia’s defence misjudged a kick through and it sat up for Reinach to collect and race clear.
There were second-half tries for No 8 Kwagga Smith and replacements Herschel Jantjies and Malcolm Marx to ensure coach Jacques Nienaber had a win in his first test in charge despite being appointed in January 2020. —AP