Head coach Jacques Nienaber and skipper Bongi Mbonambi praised the Springboks’ all-round gameplay as they thrashed Romania in their World Cup Pool B match on Sunday.
Defending champions, the Boks came out with a bang in Bordeaux, scoring five tries in the first 24 minutes, which paved the way for a 33-0 half-time lead and built on that with an impressive second half showing to finish the 76-0 mauling with 11 tries in addition to a penalty try.
Speaking post-match, Nienaber told reporters: “One can’t plan for a good or bad start, but you can plan to start with intensity, and I thought we had massive intensity today, which I’m happy about.
“We showed a lot of respect for Romania this week, and as a team there were a few things we wanted to get out the game.
“One of those was to give some guys an opportunity in the other positions they cover, such as Faf [de Klerk] at flyhalf, Deon [Fourie] and Marco [van Staden] at hooker and Grant [Williams] at wing, and we were able to do that.”
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“We just kept it simple, we stick to our plan, we kept it tight,” Mbonambi said.
“All respect to Romania. They’re tough in contact, full of pride and we knew it was going to be difficult,” he added.
Nienaber said one of the areas the Boks would look to improve on before facing Ireland in Paris on Saturday was finishing their opportunities on attack.
“Cobus [Reinach] and Makazole [Mapimpi] scored three tries and Grant two, among the tries we scored,” he added.
“But there were also a few we missed, so we’ll have a look at that and try to fix it when we return to the field on Tuesday.”
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As the Boks’ defence guru, Nienaber praised the team for their tenacious defence to deny Romania a single point in the match.
“We gave Romania a lot of attention from a defensive point of view this week, and we worked really hard to ensure we were well prepared for them,” he said. “The players put good intensity and effort into that area of the game, and I’m pleased with that.”
Tighthead prop Vincent Koch suffered an injury in the warm-up, which saw him being withdrawn from the match-day 23 and Frans Malherbe being drafted onto the bench, with Trevor Nyakane starting at No 3.
Nienaber said: “He hobbled off in the warm-up and we think it’s his knee. But I have no idea how bad it is. The doctor will assess the injuries tonight and we’ll have a better idea later.”
The Boks will travel to Paris on Monday for their third round Pool B match against Ireland in Saint-Denis.
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