Malcolm Marx reached a try-scoring landmark as the Springboks claimed a record win over the All Blacks in their final World Cup warm-up at Twickenham on Friday night.
KEO: Boks turn the brutal into the beautiful in bashing the All Blacks
The Springboks used the dominance of their pack to put four tries past a 14-player New Zealand and earn a 35-7 victory at a sold-out Twickenham. The 28-point margin is South Africa’s largest ever win against their old rivals.
It was a surprisingly one-sided Test match, given how the All Blacks had fielded close to their strongest starting lineup, while the Boks chose to shake their backline up, with Canan Moodie starting his first Test at outside centre.
Steamrolling New Zealand will be a massive confidence-booster for the Springboks in their final scrimmage before facing Scotland to kick off their World Cup title defence. Conversely, the All Blacks will have cause for concern, as they offered little resistance to the seemingly endless wave of carries they faced and looked rudderless.
Sensational rugby from the Springboks at Twickenham 🤩
We’re witnessing something special.
💻 Stream #RSAvsNZL live: https://t.co/bDeiretOMn pic.twitter.com/ATfOSCSkm0
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) August 25, 2023
Marx broke Schalk Burger’s record for most tries for a Springbok forward in the process, by scoring his 17th try in the opening couple of minutes of the second half. Manie Libbok, who came into the Test with questions around his goalkicking, finished with a perfect return from his five conversion attempts.
𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐑! 🔥
Malcolm Marx has the most tries of any Springbok forward in history 🔝
📺 Stream #RSAvsNZL live: https://t.co/bDeiretgWP#StrongerTogether 🇿🇦 pic.twitter.com/2IWBOC94SN
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) August 25, 2023
From the off, the Springboks looked the better team, forcing New Zealand to concede six penalties, four in the red zone, in the opening 10 minutes. Somehow, the All Blacks held out, but eventually lost Scott Barrett and captain Sam Cane to yellow cards. The numbers advantage eventually paid off as Siya Kolisi broke the deadlock with his first try against New Zealand.
To the All Blacks’ credit, they only conceded the seven points when they were down to 13 men, but soon found themselves back under their poles when Jordie Barrett’s risky offload was snatched up by Kurt-Lee Arendse for an intercept try.
A bad day at the office turned horrific for the All Blacks when Scott Barrett was shown a second yellow, and consequent red, for a cheap shot on Marx, putting the lock in doubt for the World Cup opener against France. It took until five minutes into overtime in the first half for New Zealand to score a try, which was chalked off for a knock-on in the build-up.
Concerns that the Springboks had not made the most of their dominance were quickly put to bed in the second half as Marx got his record-breaking try, before the remainder of the seven replacement forwards were brought on.
Even though South Africa got sloppy at times, with Pieter-Steph du Toit shown yellow for a high tackle, it never looked like they were at risk of surrendering control. Tries from substitutes Bongi Mbonambi and Kwagga Smith – the seventh forward on the bench as a late call-up for Willie le Roux – set the Boks on track for the record, despite a valiant late try from young All Blacks scrumhalf Cam Roigard.
Photo: Juan Jose Gasparini/Gallo Images