First half barrage sees Springboks crush Canada

Canada avoided a record defeat with a courageous second half performance, but a poor opening 40 minutes saw them fall 66-7 to South Africa in Kobe on Tuesday evening. They may yet be counting the cost before their final match against Namibia as a first half red card will see one lock suspended while another came off early with injury.

It was barely two minutes when Damian de Allende crossed, running through a gaping hole in the defense after RG Snyman had made a thundering line break. Just three minutes after that it was S’bu Nkosi into the corner. Elton Jantjies had drop-kicked the first conversion, he couldn’t land the second off the tee.

A purple patch for Cobus Reinach saw the Northampton Saints halfback score three tries in a span of 10 minutes – a new World Cup record. His speed saw him rip through the defense, with a lovely chip-and-chase for the second.

In the midst of Reinach’s rampage Canada were dealt a blow as Kyle Baillie limped off, clearly short of full recovery from his knee injury. To add insult, Warrick Gelant somehow stepped through three Canadians in the space of a phone booth for another try eight minutes later. Jantjies was on target for all four extras.

Some forward momentum came at last for Canada and they were inching closer to a score when disaster struck. Josh Larsen smashed into the neck of Thomas du Toit at a ruck, and the referee had no option but to show him a red card, leaving the men in red with only 14 players for the remainder of the game.

An ill-advised quick tap from Phil Mack in the shadow of his own posts cost Canada more points on the stroke of half-time. Mack’s pass attempt was picked off by Frans Steyn who will never score an easier try in his career. The conversion made it 47-0 at the break.

To their credit, the Canadians came out determined in the second half. They controlled possession for the first 10 minutes and were at last rewarded when Matt Heaton took an inside pass and crashed over the line. Peter Nelson made it a full seven as the crowd applauded their effort.

The gas pedal never quite came on again for the Springboks. Canada’s commitment slowed their attack and though they would score three more tries through Schalk Brits, Damian Willemse, and Frans Malherbe, all were hard-earned.

Any positives taken by Canada will be from the second half, and that effort will be the minimum required to overturn Namibia in their contest in Kamaishi on Sunday. South Africa are the first team to complete the pool stage and now await confirmation of their Quarter Final opponent.

 

SCORING

SOUTH AFRICA 66
Tries – D. de Allende (2’), S. Nkosi (5’), C. Reinach 3 (10’, 18’, 20’), W. Gelant (28’), F. Steyn (40’), S. Brits (54’), D. Willemse (66’), F. Malherbe (73’)
Cons – E. Jantjies 8/10 (3’, 11’, 19’, 21’, 29’, 40’, 55’, 67’)

CANADA 7
Tries – M. Heaton (46’)
Cons – P. Nelson 1/1 (47’)
Red cards – J. Larsen (36’)

 

TEAMS

SOUTH AFRICA
1 Thomas du Toit (17 Steven Kitshoff 54’), 2 Schalk Brits (16 Malcolm Marx 58’), 3 Vincent Koch (18 Frans Malherbe 54’), 4 RG Snyman, 5 Franco Mostert, 6 Siya Kolisi (capt.), 7 Kwagga Smith, 8 Francois Louw, 9 Cobus Reinach (21 Herschel Jantjies 52’), 10 Elton Jantjies, 11 S’bu Nkosi, 12 Frans Steyn, 13 Damian de Allende (22 Handré Pollard 61’), 14 Warrick Gelant, 15 Damian Willemse

Not used: 19 Eben Etzebeth, 20 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 23 Willie le Roux

CANADA
1 Hubert Buydens (17 Djustice Sears-Duru HT), 2 Andrew Quattrin (16 Benoît Pifféro 56’), 3 Jake Ilnicki (18 Matt Tierney HT), 4 Evan Olmstead, 5 Kyle Baillie (19 Josh Larsen 13’), 6 Lucas Rumball, 7 Matt Heaton, 8 Tyler Ardron (capt.) (20 Mike Sheppard 56’-75’), 9 Phil Mack (21 Jamie Mackenzie 56’), 10 Peter Nelson (22 Shane O’Leary 63’), 11 DTH van der Merwe, 12 Ciaran Hearn (23 Guiseppe du Toit 75’), 13 Conor Trainor, 14 Jeff Hassler, 15 Andrew Coe

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Luke Pearce (England)
Assistants: Angus Gardner (Australia) & Andrew Brace (England)
TMO: Rowan Kitt (England)

 

Attendance: 28,014