Stat attack: Mostert, Du Toit show Bok value

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SARugbymag.co.za looks at the top stats and performances from the Springboks’ victory over Georgia in the first Test.

The Springboks started their preparations with a 40-9 victory in the first of two Tests over Georgia last Friday.

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Despite experiencing a rusty start to the match, given it was the Boks’ first Test in 20 months, Jacques Nienaber’s side would finish strongly and score six tries.

ATTACK

Nienaber handed Aphelele Fassi and Rosko Specman their Springbok debuts on the wings and both players made the most of their opportunity.

Fassi showed his sublime finishing skills to score in the corner and also picked up a try assist when he held on to a tricky pass from Jesse Kriel and kicked the ball back into midfield, allowing Cobus Reinach to gather and score.

According to stats from the Ultimate Rugby app, Fassi finished with the most metres of any Bok player in the match (74) and clean breaks (3), despite making just six carries.

While Specman would have been disappointed not to finish with a try, he still had a great game on the right wing. He beat four defenders – the joint most with Kwagga Smith – and made two clean breaks.

Bok fullback Willie le Roux was also a massive contributor on attack, finishing with the most carries (12), fourth-most metres (52) and second-most clean breaks (2).

It was also noticeable how involved the Springbok loose forwards were on attack. Pieter-Steph du Toit provided the pass in the buildup to Fassi’s try and finished with 11 carries (rank 2nd), 55m (rank 3rd) and 18 attacking ruck hits (rank 3rd).

Kwagga Smith scored a second-half try, the first of his Test career, and in his 60 minutes on the park he beat four defenders – the joint most – and made the second-most metres of the Bok forwards.

Somewhat surprisingly, Bok lock Franco Mostert also featured strongly in this department, finishing with the most attacking ruck hits (24) and joint-second most carries out of the forwards (7). Bok captain Siya Kolisi also put in a strong shift at the breakdown, attending 22 attacking rucks.

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DEFENCE

However, it was on defence where Mostert really showed his value against Georgia. Mostert made the most tackles of any Springbok player on the pitch (9), the most turnovers (2) and won the most lineouts (11) in a man-of-the-match performance.

The Bok back row also put in a strong shift, making 21 tackles between them, while captain Kolisi won a turnover in a match where they were rare for the Springboks.

Substitutes Damian Willemse and Jasper Wiese also featured, with Willemse matching Kolisi’s six tackles. Both Willemse and Wiese made two dominant tackles each.

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Photo: David Rogers/Getty Images

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