AFP – Reigning champions South Africa completed their World Cup preparations with a record 35-7 rout of 14-man New Zealand as the All Blacks suffered their all-time heaviest margin of defeat yesterday.
The Springboks scored five tries, through captain Siya Kolisi, wing Kurt-Lee Arendse, hooker Malcolm Marx and replacements Bongi Mbonambi and Kwagga Smith – all converted by fly half Manie Libbok – in a stunning display at Twickenham.
New Zealand’s defeat topped the 21-point losses they suffered when going down 28-7 to Australia in 1999 and 47-26, also to the Wallabies, in 2019. This result saw South Africa surpass their previous winning margin against arch-rivals New Zealand achieved in a 17-0 success at Durban back in 1928.
New Zealand’s fate was all but sealed by having to play just over half the warm-up match a man down after Scott Barrett was sent off shortly before the break for a second yellow card, the lock flying into a ruck and clattering Marx in the head.
The Springbok pack were in dominant form in what was the first match between the arch rivals at Twickenham since the All Blacks won 20-18 in a 2015 World Cup semi-final before lifting the Webb Ellis Trophy. “It was a very good start for us, a great performance by the team,” said South Africa full-back Damian Willemse, yesterday’s player of the match.
“This will give us some momentum going into the Rugby World Cup. I am the man of the match, but credit to the forwards, they put in a hell of a shift tonight.”
New Zealand Captain Sam Cane, who like Scott Barrett received a first-half yellow card, said, “Our discipline really hurt us and their ability to dominate scrum, maul, line out and set piece made it really hard for us to get anything going.”
He added, “We are going to have to learn quickly, but I would much rather we have it now than in a few weeks’ time.”
