Springboks too strong for France in Cape Town
On Saturday, 12 June 2010 the Springboks put together a good team performance to beat the French 42-17 at a very cold Newlands in Cape Town.
The first half was completely dominated by South Africa with France only getting on the scoreboard after 29minutes.
The Springboks scored the first try through Pierre Spies after only 90 seconds. A forward pass from France didn’t go to hand and was snatched up by Habana, he powered through two tackles and got the ball away to Jaque Fourie who drew the final defenders and offloaded to Spies who scored under the uprights. Morne Steyn had no problem with the conversion. 7-0 after 2minutes.
Gio Aplon was next to cross the whitewash. After a Bok lineout just outside the French 22, the Boks started a driving maul, but Ricky January took the ball from the back and sent it down the line where Aplon took the ball at speed from Morne Steyn. He bumped off one defender and with great stepping and explosive speed, evaded the other defenders. Steyn converted to put SA ahead 14-0 after 8minutes.
SA was immediately back on attack with Kirchner gathering a great chip kick from Aplon. Kirchner lost the ball just as he tried to place it over the line, but referee Bryce Lawrence called them back for an earlier infringement and awarded a penalty almost in front of the posts. Morne Steyn immediately called for the kicking tee and added an easy three points. 17-0 after 11minutes.
The Springboks kept disrupting the French lineouts throughout the match, stealing numerous balls or enforcing errors through pressure. The Frogs also had no answer to the physical Springbok defence.
Good contesting on the ground from Francois Louw made it possible for Morne Steyn to add a further three points after the French was penalised for holding on. 20-0 after 23 minutes.
The French then scored their first points after they quickly moved the ball through the hands and took advantage of Springbok forwards in the backline. Aurelien Rougerie scored in the corner and Morgan Parra converted from from the touchline. 20-7 after 29minutes.
Good chasing from Habana and Aplon at the next kick-off got SA into great position with a massive overlap to the left. A floating pass from Morne Steyn found Gurthro Steenkamp on the wing and he ran 20meters untouched to score on his birthday. Morne Steyn missed the conversion. 25-7 after 32minutes.
France could only add another three points just before the half-time hooter to make the score 25-10 going into the break.
SA was first to strike in the second-half through a penalty by Morne Steyn. 28-10 after 46minutes.
The French looked better early in the second half and started putting decent phases together. But a poor pass and solid defence from the Springboks saw the ball spilled 5 meters from the try-line. Gio Aplon waisted no time in snatching the ball up and ran the length of the field to score his second try of the match. Morne Steyn converted and SA led 35-10 after 49minutes.
Both teams made several substitutions over the next 20minutes. With all the changes, one also got the feeling that SA took their foot of the pedal.
New Springbok cap Flip van der Merwe will be very disappointed after he got yellow carded with only a few minutes of test rugby behind his name. Referee Bryce Lawrence adjudged him to have slapped the ball from the French scrumhalf. France failed to take advantage and could score no points against a 14man Springbok team.
France’s Yachvili was also sin-binned a few minutes later for throwing the ball away and back-chatting the referee. Francois Louw then scored the Springboks fifth try after a great maul from the ensuing lineout. Ruan Pienaar had no problem with the conversion. 42-10 after 75min.
France kept it tight for the next few minutes and it was Marc Andreu dived over for a consolation try. David Skrela slotted the conversion. 42-17 after 79minutes.
SA finished strong and got another penalty after the full-time hooter but Habana kicked it into touch, sealing the victory
It was a close call between Gio Aplon and Francois Louw for Man of the match, but in the end Aplon took the honours.
Scorers:
South Africa:
Tries: Spies, Aplon(2), Steenkamp, Louw
Conv: Steyn (3), Pienaar
Pens: Steyn(2)
France:
Tries: Rougerie, Andreu
Conv: Parra, Skrela
Pens: Parra
[james@rugby15.co.za]
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