Championship is theirs to lose as maturing Boks "click"

You can only shudder to think what might happen on the day that the Springboks deliver a complete 80 minute performance following two consecutive big wins in games that weren’t completely without flawed periods for the world champions.

Their 67-30 rout of Argentina in their penultimate Castle Lager Rugby Championship match at Hollywoodbets Kings Park came after an opening 35 minutes or so where Siya Kolisi’s team did what they have often done this season - they conspired against themselves. That’s the only way to describe the indiscipline that kept the Boks from dominating territory early on as well as the gift try presented to the Pumas by Cheslin Kolbe’s momentary lapse of concentration that turned a transfer of the ball to the point it should have been kicked from into a restart.

But with flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu announcing himself on the world stage with a dazzling period where he simply took the game by the scruff, and seemed to be saying to himself “I am not going to let these guys beat us”, the Bok confidence was transformed in the last move of the first half and the early part of the second.

And from the moment Feinberg-Mngomezulu put daylight between the teams on the scoreboard with his excellent cross kick that set up Cheslin Kolbe for the first of six second half tries, there was only going to be one winner. For a while the question that continued to hover was whether the Boks would grab the all important try scoring bonus point, achieved by crossing the line at least three more times than the opposition.

But that was quickly erased by the combination of power, skill and pace that laid Argentina, so highly rated by many critics for the improvements they have made this season, to waste. And that’s the right expression too, as Argentina, being six points behind the log leading Boks, are now out of the race for the Championship trophy.

The All Blacks and Wallabies are theoretically still in it, as they are just one and four points respectively behind the Boks on the log, but realistically the Championship is now the Boks’ to lose. In the sense that they just need to win the return game against Argentina at Twickenham next Saturday to retain the trophy, they don’t need to get a bonus point.

And even if Australia or New Zealand end up tied at the top with the Boks, the points differential count-out will favour the South Africans. It is +55 for the Boks, and -6 for the Kiwis. That’s an unrealistic amount of ground to make up, particularly as thus far it is only the Boks who have scored big wins in the competition.

AUSSIE WIN COULD DECIDE CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE LONDON KICKOFF

New Zealand deserved their 33-24 win at Eden Park but they weren’t always that convincing and it was effectively the whistle of referee Andrea Piardi that stemmed the growing tide of a Wallaby fightback in the third quarter and switched momentum back to the hosts. They will be doing well to beat Australia in Perth next week, let alone do it by a big score.

That game will be played a few hours before the 15.00 Bok kickoff in London so Siya Kolisi’s team will know what they need. If Australia win without a bonus point, it will be South Africa’s title before the London game even starts. A Kiwi win will leave them with a bit to do and turn the final game into a decider but no-one will bet against the Boks beating what must be a shattered Argentina team, particularly now that the Boks are showing what they can do when they click.

And clicking is what their forever demanding coach Rassie Erasmus (in terms of standards) believes they are doing now, while the skipper praised the young players for maturing during the past two games that have seen the South Africans humiliate both the All Blacks and Pumas by big scores.

“What we’re trying to do is not just build some combinations that work, but that all of our combinations work and I guess that’s starting to click,” said Erasmus after seeing his team score nine tries to three – for a total of 15 in the past two matches.

“It takes time to swap people in and out and have them play in sync – but we also know how quickly that can change so we won’t get carried away. We want to build an understanding within the squad so that when we make changes it doesn’t affect our play.”

As always, Erasmus was determined in the flush of the big win not to get carried away and to keep his players’ feet firmly rooted on the ground.

“We’ve won nothing yet in this Rugby Championship; we’ve had one win and one loss against New Zealand and Australia, and we know how tough Argentina are. We’re flying tomorrow and we’re playing at Twickenham next week and we have to win that game or it’s just another missed Rugby Championship.”

SACHA WAS “BRILLIANT”

There’s no denying the Bok growth though, and performance did what they would have hoped it would do beforehand - it showed that the second half against New Zealand in Wellington and for that matter the first 20 minutes in the opening loss to Australia was an indication of the standard this team can set itself as the marker.

Man of the match Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s record breaking 37 points also enabled him to join the pantheon of proper match-winning flyhalves and now that the Pumas have seen him it will be interesting to see what plan they put in place to combat his unique skill set next week.

““Nobody can disagree that he was brilliant on the day,” said Erasmus. “What we always say is that you can’t put someone in there and immediately expect them to be world class. It doesn’t just happen overnight.

“He has grown a little bit against New Zealand, and a little bit against Australia away, and I think he only has 11 caps – or something like that – but I thought Damian de Allende helped him a lot and Damian Willemse played well and Manie came on played well and there were a lot of guys that played well, but no-one can disagree that Sacha was man of the match and did incredible things on the field.”

He did indeed and as well as the Bok players around him, the young flyhalf laid down a marker of what can be expected of him going forward. Given how he dominated the game, his is a hard act for him to follow.