Wellington, the Capital City of New Zealand in the South of the North Island, welcomed the reigning Champions and the side that gave them one hell of a scare 4 years ago on a sunny Sunday afternoon in Marseille. Never can the contrast have been more marked between these two sides. Fiji, carefree on the pitch, South Africa in turmoil off it. As the Fijians laid down the challenge in traditional style, I was left wondering what their ancestors would have thought of the yellow, green and white boots they were wearing! Stubborn De Villiers had stuck with his Captain Smit, leaving Bismarck du Plessis on the bench. Matfield's loss through injury was compensated by Bakkies Botha's return though.
Hands on the floor from Fiji gave Morne Steyn an early chance to calm nerves, which he wasted badly. It was Fiji, as you would expect, who provided the sparks in the early exchanges, with Nalaga to the fore in attack and defence; a crunching tackle on Du Preez and a strong run down the left showing what he can do. Brussow has a reputation at the breakdown bettered only by McCaw and Pocock, and he earned another penalty in midfield as Fiji's early momentum was stopped. Fiji were playing good rugby in these opening ten minutes, and sustained pressure was only snuffed out by good South African spoiling. When the knock-on came, after a ridiculous floated pass, the pressure was eased, and South Africa went up the middle, earning a penalty after a Spies burst. Francois Steyn, to boos from the crowd, stepped up and slammed a massive penalty from 56m through the posts with distance to spare to open the scoring.
After a knock-on by Fiji in the tackle, we were treated to the sight of 3 South Africans appealing for deliberate handball. This isn't football Boks, have a word.
Fiji's achilles heel throughout their history has been giving away penalties, and they continued to do so in the first quarter. Both sides were looking dangerous with ball in hand though, and needed to be solid in defence. JP Pietersen strayed offside out wide, and Bai levelled the scores after 21 minutes. That would be as good as it got for the Fijians, as their performance dwindled from there on in.
Fiji promised again, and at times frantic defence kept them out, but as South Africa returned a wayward kick, Francois Steyn wasted an overlap. Fortunately for him, the Fijian defence was so stretched that Steenkamp battered his way over anyway. Morne Steyn this time added the extras, and South Africa had breathing space. As already mentioned, penalties were killing the Fijians and another one in the 22 saw MS (as I will now call him as I'm fed up of typing Morne and Francois every five minutes) was successful to make it 13-3.
Those who had the 33rd minute for FS's ridiculous long-range drop goal attempt would have won. Never above the height of the bar this one. Fiji shot themselves in the foot shortly after; a high ball was dealt with woefully allowing the South Africans to ship the ball wide. A doubt for me about a forward pass, but Lambie fed Fourie who snuck in in the corner. MS missed the conversion, but South Africa had opened a 15 point lead in the blink of an eye. He also missed a long range penalty, as Fiji completely switched off as half-time approached.
After a tricky start, where the Fijians promised to upset them, the Springboks had taken complete control and dominated all facets of play. The basis of that dominance was a good pack performance, but they were backed up by the backs, particularly Francois Steyn, who ran good lines at pace and wasted very little possession. One final penalty at the last ruck of the half, saw MS slot another 3 points and as Romain Poite sent the sides in to the dressing rooms, South African nerves had gone. Half-time South Africa 21 Fiji 3
FIji needed to show renewed effort at the start of the second half to even try to get back into this game, but things started badly as Fourie made a great break. Slightly isolated though, he allowed Fiji to turn the ball over and eventually hands on the floor by Schalk Burger gave Fiji a penalty and the chance to clear. There was very little early threat though from the Fijians as South Africa wrapped them up in contact. One of the few downsides for the South Africans was the performance of Smit, who had been anonymous in comparison to the other 14 men on his side. The shadow of Bismarck du Plessis looms ever larger...
Fiji's pack didn't have the strength to deal with their counterparts, and as a result, their dangerous backs got no decent ball, while their opposite numbers took the ball moving forward every time. Fourie broke again, Rossouw took the ball on, Brussow (God those two names are confusing) chipped ahead and FS went in in the corner before his namesake MS converted. South Africa' new centre partnership, forced on coach De Villiers through injury to Jean de Villiers, was looking as dangerous as any we have seen in the tournament.
A 25 point deficit is rarely turned around at any level of rugby. Fiji weren't going to buck that trend. Their early promise disintegrated amid a plethora of penalties, a multitude of handling errors and a hat full of bad decisions. They rarely had the chance to stretch their legs with ball in hand and looked ever more disorganised. The game started to resemble the first match of the day now, with South Africa in total charge. MS went over for the 4th try and the bonus point, and he converted it too to make the score 35-3. 4 years ago, South Africa entered a tricky game in the Pool stage against England and obliterated them 36-0. Parallels could be drawn with this game.
From the kick-off though, Fiji took too easy possession and went over in the corner, only for it to be called back, and rightly so, for a forward pass. After a period of little action, Fiji turned ball over, only to lose it once more far too easily, and when MS and FS combined in midfield, FS almost went over for his second try, but the recently entered Mtawarira, aka The Beast, was on hand to drop over the line and with the help of MS's kick, make it a staggering 42-3.
As Fiji threatened again from the re-start, Nalaga went round Pietersen, but the South African winger managed to get a hand in in the tackle and another chance went begging on a sorry night for FIji, who don't forget, in the build-up to this tournament, were bigging up their chances of a semi final place. They paid the price as Hougaard took the ball to the other end of the field and Rossouw capped a great performance with a deserved try. Ever willing, always moving forward, Matfield's replacement was a real plus for South Africa. Morne Steyn slotted another 2 points and Fiji stared the ignominy of 50 points in the face with 3 minutes to go.
The Springboks very nearly made it 50, but were forced into touch in the corner once and had FS to thank for a poor last minute kick.
Full Time: South Africa 49 Fiji 3
South Africa have got their tournament back on track. After the lucky escape against the Welsh, they never let Fiji into the game, and managed to score 5 tries, using both backs and forwards well. Spies was a different player today, and the enforced move of Frans Steyn to centre looks to have given them a mighty midfield pair. Rossouw was the Man of the Match, and deservedly so. They will still feel they can get better though, and at the risk of repeating myself, Bismarck du Plessis has to start if they are to win games against the bigger nations. 9 points from 2 games will be sweet music to the ears of South Africans though.
Fiji, well the least said the better. An abject performance from start to finish really. OK they showed in the very early stages, but after Steenkamp's early try, they did virtually nothing. Back to the drawing board for them. The only positive I can give them is that they are still in with a shout of qualifying, but they need to show much more than they did here against Samoa and Wales to harbour hopes of a Quarter Final place. They will have more than one eye on the game tomorrow between their final 2 opponents Wales and Samoa as they try to think of a way to bounce back from this drubbing.
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