Mapimpi leads the way as Boks maintain high standard

Left-wing Makazole scored a hat-trick of tries as the Springboks maintained their impressive pre-World Cup form with an emphatic 41-7 win over Japan in their final warm-up game in Kumagaya on Friday.

Mapimpi and fellow wing Cheslin Kolbe shared five tries between them and Herschel Jantjies kept up his own good try-scoring record as the Boks completed a six-try to one triumph that ensures they will head into the World Cup unbeaten this year and riding a wave of momentum.

It was Japan, of course, who provided the upset of the last World Cup and put their rugby on the international map in Brighton in 2015, but there was never any question of a repeat in a game that was played in what could be likened to a sweat bath. The humidity and heat - it was apparently 30 degrees at kick-off - saw to it that both teams were bathed in sweat from the early minutes.

GOOD QUALITY CONSIDERING STIFLING CONDITIONS

That led to a slippery ball and some elementary handling mistakes, but although it was at times a stop-start game, the rugby produced was of sufficient quality given the conditions and the Boks, in particular, will feel they benefitted from the acclimatisation opportunity.

Game management is going to be a key to World Cup success and that was something the Boks, unlike their predecessors in the only previous match between these nations four years ago, got right. Apart from the midfield error that led to the Japan try scored by Pretoria born winger Kotaro Matsushima, and a 70th-minute yellow card shown to Francois Louw for team repeat infringing, it was hard to pinpoint any blemishes in the Bok performance.

NYAKANE INJURY CONCERN

Perhaps the only concern after this game is the condition of tighthead prop Trevor Nyakane, who limped off in the second half not long after coming onto the field as a replacement. It is unclear at this point how serious the injury might be.

The Japanese hope rested on their ability to get the game going through good breakdown play and ball in hand rugby but they were troubled by the Bok defensive line-speed. Allied to that was the excellent South African scavenging at the breakdown that also contributed to them not being able to get any momentum.

It was the Bok kicking game though that set the Boks on the road to victory, and in that regard scrumhalf Faf de Klerk, flyhalf Handre Pollard and in particular fullback Willie le Roux played starring roles as the ball was kicked behind the Japanese defenders and the hosts were pinned into their own half of the field.

Le Roux set the tone early with a beautifully directed kick to the left corner flag from inside his own half. The Japan lineout had shown early signs of vulnerability so it was a profitable strategy and sure enough, although this time it wasn’t because of Bok poaching but Japan conspiring against themselves, the hosts knocked on at the lineout.

LE ROUX A STAND-OUT

Japan were solid on the resulting Bok attacking scrum but first Damian de Allende took the ball up and then Willie le Roux was into the line and the net result was that space was created for Kolbe to go over for the first try.

Le Roux featured again in the second try, and indeed the third. The second try was scored in the 23rd minute, Le Roux going up to take a high kick from the Japan flyhalf Yu Tamura and then beating a few initial defenders before putting Mapimpi free down the left flank. The Sharks winger just had too much pace for any would-be cover defenders and ran in the try with no-one coming near him.

Ditto his second try, which this time came about through slick passing and attack variation from the Bok backline players off a set move from an advancing scrum that had already secured a penalty advantage in addition to sucking in the Japanese defenders. De Allende took the ball deeper this time and instead of hitting it up, he passed it out the back, and Le Roux’s long pass was pinpoint and well taken by Mapimpi.

Handre Pollard struck the post with his attempted conversion of the third try but was otherwise on target with the angled conversions, as well as a more regulation penalty just before halftime to give the Boks their comfortable 22-0 hafltime lead.

FRANS SHOWS WHAT HE CAN BRING AT PIVOT

One big positive from the match was that they were able to give Frans Steyn an extended run at pivot, with Pollard coming off with nearly half an hour remaining. Steyn showed in his time on the field what he could add with the length of his field kicking, something that will come in handy if these conditions persist deep into the World Cup and every game effectively becomes a wet weather game.

The desire to see all aspects of his team’s game tested might have meant that coach Rassie Erasmus would have been pleased with the way Japan piled on the pressure in the first 10 minutes of the second half. The Boks had to work hard on defence during that period to keep Japan out before eventually skipper Siya Kolisi, who would have developed his match fitness by seeing out 65 minutes in stifling conditions and producing a busy performance, inspired a breakdown turn-over penalty.

From there the Boks got back into the Japan half and some excellent passing from De Allende (again) and Pieter-Steph du Toit as the Boks moved the ball to the left to create the modicum of space Mapimpi needed to squeeze through down the left touchline for his third try on the night and his eighth overall for the Boks.

Louw’s yellow card for a breakdown infringement was for, according to referee Nic Berry, repeat infringing, but it was a questionable decision if you consider that the warning had come at the start of the second half and there’d been 20 minutes of play, much of it in the Japanese half, since then.

It robbed the Bok reserve loose-forward of much-needed game time but it did give the Boks the chance to show that they can still score points when down to 14 men. Both the intercept try scored by Kolbe, as he expertly read a Japanese attack on his own tryline, and the breakaway try scored by Jantjies came with the Boks at a disadvantage in numbers.

Scores

South Africa 41 - Tries: Makazole Mapimpi 3, Cheslin Kolbe 2 and Herschel Jantjies; Conversions: Handre Pollard 2 and Frans Steyn 2. Japan 7 - Try: Kotaro Matsushima; Conversion: Yu Tamura.