Springboks v Japan: Five takeaways as Boks ‘bully’ Brave Blossoms into submission
Springboks wing Kurt-Lee Arendse and an inset of Andre Esterhuizen.
Following the Springboks’ comprehensive 61-7 victory over Japan at Wembley, here are our five takeaways from the clash at Wembley Stadium.
Top line
It was one-way traffic at Wembley Stadium as the Springboks quickly dispelled any threat of a Brighton Miracle repeat, cruising to a 26-0 lead by half-time and kept the pace to hammer Japan.
Siya Kolisi dived over the line off the back of a powerful maul in the third minute, setting the tone before Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu crossed for a quick-fire brace as the men in green opened up a 19-0 advantage, scoring almost a point at a minute.
The Springboks continued to strangle Japan and simply shut down any threats the Brave Blossoms threw at them, and the pressure told when referee Eoghan Cross awarded South Africa a penalty try and sin-binned tighthead prop Shuhei Takeuchi, who illegally collapsed the maul.
Moments before the prop returned, Japan were again reduced by a man as Ben Gunter was yellow-carded for a high tackle on Kolisi. Rassie Erasmus smelt the blood and rang the changes in the pack, and it immediately paid dividends as Wilco Louw charged through to score his maiden Test try in stunning fashion.
Yoshitaka Yazaki’s quick tap caught the Springboks unaware, but that was about as much resistance as Japan were able to muster as the world champions flexed their muscles, scoring four unanswered tries.
Kurt-Lee Arendse crossed twice with Andre Esterhuizen, grabbing one off the bench shortly afterwards after having one chalked off, with Jesse Kriel adding his name to the scoresheet after taking over the captaincy.
Boks bully Brave Blossoms
“I don’t think it’s any secret when you’re playing against South Africa, and they don’t make it a secret. They get 30 metres from your line, two forwards come around the same way and you know it’s coming, you’ve just got to be good enough to stop it,” Eddie Jones said on the Rugby Unity podcast in the build-up to the match.
“You’ve got to be able to neutralise the high ball, and if you can stop those two parts, you will give yourselves a chance of winning the game.”
Unfortunately for Jones, those were prophetic words as the Springboks simply bullied Japan up front and regularly got their rolling maul cruising forward, shunting the white and red jerseys backwards time and time again.
The Brave Blossoms simply had no answer to the Boks’ power game as South Africa bossed the set-pieces, the breakdown, the aerial battle and the scoreboard.
Debutant Zachary Porthen, who became the youngest Springboks prop in the professional era, looked like a seasoned pro as he got the better of Japan loosehead Kenta Kobayashi while the likes of RG Snyman, Jasper Wiese, and Damian de Allende regularly got over the gainline.
When Erasmus emptied his bench, it just got worse for Jones’ charges as Esterhuizen and co. just picked up from where the starters began and hammered home the result.
Japan fall flat
Experienced head coach Jones threw in some usual tricks in an attempt to give his side some sort of an edge, with Michael Leitch being lifted into the skies to mitigate the aerial prowess of Arendse and Ethan Hooker.
However, that ploy wasn’t overly successful as the Springboks repeatedly caused havoc with their brilliant kicking game, which Japan simply couldn’t compete with. So often, South Africa were able to win back possession and get in behind the Japanese defence.
Their breakdown work was far from perfect, too, as they lacked the pace and accuracy to cause real issues for the Bok defensive line that dispelled every threat that came its way. It was a far cry from the kind of performance the side produced against the Wallabies as they were simply outclassed in every facet of the game.
37-year-old Lietch was a shining light yet again for the Brave Blossoms as he freakishly shows no sign of ageing, and while he didn’t ‘dominate’ in the manner that he promised he would, captain Warner Dearns stood his ground in a strong performance.
The standouts for Japan were just too few and far between, though, as South Africa identified weak points and repeatedly exposed them.
Jones was right, the Springboks didn’t offer any surprises, but they were brutally effective and simply couldn’t be stopped.
The Sacha show continues
The Springboks really do have a superstar talent in the form of Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who produced another stellar performance, scoring two first-half tries, racking up a 16-point personal haul.
It wasn’t quite the same kind of compelling shift that he produced against Argentina, but it wasn’t too far off as he sensational tore through the Japan defence, running a superb arc to notch up his brace.
The 23-year-old kicked superbly, controlled the attack well and defended bravely too. Erasmus will certainly put the performance in context of the strength of the opposition, but he certainly laid down a marker, issuing a statement of intent that he wants to keep hold of that number 10 jumper for the remainder of the year.
Bomb Squad blows Japan away
After the starters laid the foundations for a comprehensive win, the replacements twisted the knife and led the charge to score 35 more points.
Esterhuizen was outstanding in his cameo on the side of the scrum, proving that the ploy is far from being a cheap gimmick, grabbing a deserved try, and he was assisted by Kwagga Smith, who was equally impressive. Louw will be talking about his first Test try for the entire week and the years to come.
Nche’s early withdrawal meant that Gerhard Steenkamp’s return to the Green and Gold jersey came earlier than expected, but the Bulls loosehead was right back to his destructive best in all facets of the game.
In fact, there wasn’t a ‘Bomb Squad’ member who failed to impress with Johan Grobbelaar making a nuisance of himself around the park despite some lineout mishaps while Grant Williams and Manie Libbok upped the pace.
Overall, it was a positive outing for Erasmus and his charges as the Japan-based players shook off the rust in stunning fashion. The only downside was the injury to Nche, who may well be out for the showdown with France next week. Additionally, it was rather sad to see so many empty seats at Wembley. Questions need to be asked whether it was really worthwhile to host the match at the 90,000 capacity ground.
