The new look Springboks and Samoa opened their June campaign with wins over Italy and Scotland in Durban on Saturday, with the hosts taking the early lead on the log.
The series now move to Nelspruit’s Mbombela Stadium where the Springboks will play Scotland and Samoa will face Italy.
The two top-ranked sides will face off at Loftus Versfeld on 22 June in the final of the series.
Match reviews:
Samoa 27 (14), Scotland 17 (9)
Samoa outscored Scotland by three tries to one in their 27-17 match which kick-started this first ever quadrangular series on South African soil.
In their clash against Scotland, the Samoans raced into an early lead with two quick tries and were leading 19-14 at the break. The Scots came back well in the second half and actually took a 17-14 lead following a Sean Lamont try.
“We allowed them to come back into the game and that was disappointing,” Scotland interim-coach Scott Johnson said.
“We had a couple of youngsters out there and there is only one way to learn and grow experience.”
Samoa’s powerhouse winger Alesana Tuilagi edged his side ahead again around the 60 minute mark and James So`oialo kept the scoreboard ticking to secure the win.
“We are very happy to beat Scotland for the first time; that is one of our aims when playing against Tier 1 teams. We have taken some good steps forward today,” said Samoan captain, Paul Williams afterwards.
Samoa – Tries: James So`oialo, Alesana Tuilagi (2). Conversions: James So`oialo (3).Penalties: So`oialo (2).
Scotland – Try: Sean Lamont. Conversion: Greig Laidlaw Penalties: Laidlaw (4).
South Africa 44 (20), Italy 10 (0)
The Springboks started and ended in great fashion against Italy with two tries in the first half hour of the match giving them a healthy buffer against a determined Italian side.
The visitors came back strongly in the second half and scored a well-deserved try, but a moment of magic by Man of the Match, Bryan Habana, provided the Springboks with a very strong finish.
Habana raced through from the halfway line to score, beating several defenders on the way to extend his test try scoring record to 48. Two more tries followed as the Springboks eventually put away a combative Italian side.
“I was very happy with Bryan’s performance today,” said coach Heyneke Meyer afterwards.
“It seems that when he is playing well, the team is doing well too. He is still enjoying his rugby and I asked him to express himself out there, which he did,” Meyer said.
Springbok captain Jean de Villiers was happy that his side could settle the nerves after a yellow card early in the second half, when Italy also scored their try.
“We needed to calm down and steadied the ship, something we did very well, so I am very happy about that,” he said.
Jano Vermaak (hamstring) is the only real injury concern at this stage and Meyer indicated that he will make some changes to the team for the Scotland match.
South Africa -Tries: Adriaan Strauss, JJ Engelbrecht, Bryan Habana, Jean de Villiers, Bjorn Basson. Conversions: Morne Steyn (4), Pat Lambie. Penalties: Morne Steyn (3).
Italy -Try: Alberto Sgarbi. Conversions: Alberto Di Bernardo. Penalty: Di Bernardo.
Other results of the weekend:
Brumbies 39 – 17 Rebels
Force 13 – 28 Waratahs
Reds 12 – 22 B&I Lions
USA 12 – 15 Ireland
Argentina 3 – 32 England
New Zealand 23 – 13 France
Japan 18 – 22 Wales
JWC:
tank thought you would comment on the tighthead…seemed the scrum went back once jannie was off!
was exciting to see the new look backline with pace and skill…
Went absolutely mental on Twitter Dave … And definitely a comment on that during the week. The Coenie at tighthead experiment simply has to stop!