Boks ensure Eben’s 100th Test even more special

THE Springboks put in their best performance of their last three games to defeat Wales 30-14 in Cape Town last night and clinch the Incoming Series.

In the first Test in Pretoria, the Boks overcame Wales 32-29, and in the second, they suffered their first-ever defeat against the Welsh Dragons.

While the first two games were unconvincing, the Springboks came out to play in the decider.

The game was especially big for lock Eben Etzebeth, who became the youngest Springbok to reach 100 Tests.

Building up to the game, skipper Siya Kolisi said that the only way to make the milestone special for Etzebeth was to win it, and they sure stuck to that objective.

Scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse, who got the nod over the experienced Faf de Klerk, also produced another peasing performance.

It was almost all South Africa in the opening half as the hosts looked keen to play and did well to create opportunities, and while they got into favourable field position a good few times, they just didn’t complete all their chances.

Still, though, there was proper intent. The Boks were dealt a massive blow when their attacking maestro Cheslin Kolbe left the field with injury with Willie le Roux replacing him. But they weren’t deterred.

The Springboks got the packed Cape Town crowd on their feet early on when speed merchant Makazole Mapimpi went over for what looked like the opening try, but upon review it was clear that his foot was in touch before he visited Wales’ in-goal.

It looked as if the Boks were well en route to a try when inside centre Damian de Allende crashed over, but the try was disallowed.

Flyhalf Handre Pollard got some points in the form of a penalty conversion, and they got the real deal when Pollard went over for the first try of the match, and he made it a full score with the extras to go 10-0 up.

Wales added their name to the scoresheet when flanker Tomas Reffell went over (108) with a well-worked try after combining power, a vicious fend and strong strides in the build-up to the try.

Jacques Nienaber’s troops got their second when Bongi Mbonambi went over after a powerful maul, and Pollard made no mistake with the conversion to stretch their lead (17-8) with a minute to go in the first half.

While the Boks went into the break in the lead, they will certainly feel, or at least they should have, that they could have had more points to show after that first half. In the second half, things looked more polished.

Wales slotted two more penalties in the second half while the Boks scored a top try by skipper Siya Kolisi in the 53rd minute to put more daylight between the scores (24-14).

Pollard connected two more three-pointers in the final quarter to take the final score to 30-14.