Tension was unbearable, in both camps during the last few days leading up to the first test. Team selection and possible game plan/strategies of the respective teams, were the topics raised in the media and the reason why practice sessions were keenly attended and closely followed. Both teams went out of their way to keep the above mentioned secret. Late announcement of teams; nothing practice sessions; tactical sessions behind closed doors; early morning sessions at unannounced training venues was standard practice. Gabriel David expresses himself as follows:

 

If there’s any more secrecy about this first rugby test then they had beter get James Bond to referee the match. The “bokkies” sneaked behind prison bars on Wednesday to brush up on their tactical ploys and yesterday coach Ivan Vodanovich had his boys out of the hotel just after dawn had broken. The destination was not announced, but it is known that several new attacking moves were studied and practiced.

 

New Zealand selected an experienced team and Bryan Williams –selected on merit- was the only new test cap in the team; Cottrell’s form thus far on tour got him selected on no 10 ahead of incumbent flyhalf Earle Kirton, Tom Lister was selected on the flank above Alan Sutherland. The New Zealand side for this test can be seen here.

 

The Springbok team had quite a few new faces in comparison with the players / teams that played as recently as 7 months ago in the test matches on the end year tour to the UK. Ian McCallum played in his first test at No 15 in place of HO de Villiers who recently retired; Joggie Jansen was brought on centre above players like JP van der Merwe, Eben Olivier Tonie Roux who played in test matches during the 69/70 end year tour. Tiny Neethling –not his first test- was selected above the experienced Mof Myburg with Albie Bates at No 8 in place of Tommy Bedford and Johan Spies at lock above Sakkie de Klerk.

   

The Springbok team for the first test against the 1970 All Blacks.

 

With 17 consecutive test victories and the poor performances of the Springboks during the 69/70 end year tour still fresh in the memories the All Blacks was by far the favourites – even among the South African public and media- to win this test. Ron Burk, manager of the AB, openly set the odds in the media at 60:40 in favour of an All Blacks victory; a remark which was considered as a little inconsiderate and lacking in tact by the rest of the team.

 

Chris Greyvenstein in his book Springbok saga put it like this when he writes about the general perceptions regarding the Springbok’s chances in the first test:

 

The All Blacks’ magnificent performances against the provincial opposition and their unbeaten record stretching over five years, all helped to build them into giants surrounded by an aura of almost mystical invincibility and hardly any hope was held out for the Springboks who had fared so poorly on the demo-plagued tour to Britain.

 

South Africa 17, New Zealand 6.

 

The following paragraph by Gabriel David summarizes the general expectation of the kiwi media at the start of the test and the change in perceptions as the test progressed:

 

My companion (on the pavilion) was none other than AC (Ace) Parker, South Africa’s most celebrated and respected rugby writer and author. We exchanged warm greetings and he made what I thought a strange comment. He said with an air of a man who knew what he was talking about “You will lose this test and win the other three!” I mumbled a polite answer and privately thought that dear old Ace was losing his touch. Not that wily character, however, for I turned to him after 10 minutes of the match acknowledged” “Ace, how do you always do it?”

 

David mentions four aspects which in his opinion was key to the Springbok’s victory;

 

• The AB’s totally underestimated the Springbok flankers and No. 8 and thought they would be too loose to combat the disciplined drive of the All Black forwards. The Springboks aggression and control at the breakdowns and the AB’s lack of structure in that department, he thought greatly determined the final outcome.

 

 

Jan and Piet under a blanket (photo not taken against the AB but in a test against the French in 1971)

 

About the forwards play David made the following observations:

 

……it was the South African forwards who launched the subsidiary thrust at the breakdowns. Our loose men treated halfback De Villiers and flyhalf Visagie as though both had the plague and scarcely went near them.

 

The lineout duel was lost for the first time on the tour, although the dependable McLeod won the tight head contest, 4-1. Hopkinson was badly beaten at no 2 in the lineout by the new boy Spies. Strahan played extremely well but was no match for the incomparable Du Preez as the key man in the lineouts.

 

Lister was one New Zealand forward who incorporated some efficiency into his game but Kirkpatrick was strangely subdued. Lochore played a fine captain’s game to rally the forwards.

 

 

• De Villiers and Visagie’s precise and clinical play at 9 and 10 and especially Visagie’s tactical kicking he thought was decisive.

 

Terry McLean writes:

 

Tactical planning and teamwork were the main ingredients of this Springbok victory whereas New Zealand neglected their patterned football in pursuance of the 15-man attacking game.

 

 

Piet Greyling kicking through with Dawie de Villiers chasing to score the Springboks first try.

 

Only three minutes had elapsed when the All Blacks won a scrum inside their 25 but, as Laidlaw went back to gather the ball, he was bustled and the ball went loose. Greyling, coming through quickly got his foot to the ball and kicked it through to the All Black line. In the chase for the ball, de Villiers narrowly beat Wayne Cottrell to the touchdown and scored South Africa’s first points, near the left hand corner.

 

• The Springbok’s defence and especially the infamous tackle by Frik du Preez on Laidlaw and Joggie Jansen’s crash tackle on Cottrell determined to a great extent the result of this test.

 

The tackle on Laidlaw early in the game and his subsequent concussion thereafter, he thought, completely disrupted the All Blacks and was the reason why they couldn’t get into any sort of pattern. The first try by Dawie de Villiers, within 4 minutes after onset, was also a direct result of Laidlaw’s concussion.

 

He writes as follows about the infamous tackle by Frik du Preez and Albie Bates on Chris Laidlaw:

 

A knock early in the match concussed halfback Laidlaw and it was in utter disbelief that we watched him fumble for the ball, allow it to lie at the back of the scrum and just let it run between his legs. When he did instinctively grab it he ran straight into attacking forwards when he had all the time in the world to kick for touch. He played in a dazed state for 42 minutes of the match during which time 12 points had been recorded alongside the name of South Africa and a miserable blob was the undistinguished mark by New Zealand.

 

There can be no doubt that the concussed state of Laidlaw had an important bearing on the results but there is no question that the All Blacks played badly, very badly at times just as South Africa played tremendous rugby for the whole 80 minutes.

 

 

The 1970 sport photo of the year.

 

About Joggie Jansen’s crash tackle on Cottrell he wrote the following:

 

One of Jansen’s crash tackles laid Cottrell almost unconscious and the onslaught of the dedicated home side had the All Blacks badly rattled. Visagie maintained his tactical kicking and in the 8^th minute South Africa won a scrum midway between the New Zealand goal line and 25. De Villiers sent a long pass to Visagie who propped beautifully and sent a magnificent 30-yard left-footed drop kick between the posts.

 

 

A concerned Joggie Jansen trying to help a gutted Wayne Cottrell just after Jansen flattened him with a crash tackle. 

 

Greyvenstein-Springbok saga – also referred to Joggie Jansen’s crash tackle:

 

All Black flyhalf Wayne Cottrell received from a set scrum and, moving to the blind side, he tried to probe for an opening. As he was about to pass, when the big Free Stater hit him squarely with a shoulder-first tackle in the midriff and Cottrell was flattened as effectively as if he had been run over by a truck.

 

Cottrell was never the same again and the 22-year-old Joachim Scholtz (Joggie) Jansen went on to terrorize the All Blacks in the tradition of Jimmy White and Rijk van Schoor.

 

• Finally, the precise place kicking by Ian McCallum at critical times in the game was also crucial with regard to the final outcome of this test match, according to Gabriel David.

 

 

McCallum will wear the distinctive green jersey for some time. He never faltered under high kicks and his skill in finding the uprights with long, accurate kicks did much to establish the results. That 50-yard penalty in the 35th^th minute to give his side a 12-0 lead was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

 

 

Going replaced Laidlaw after approximately 42 minutes with immediate impact. Going’s short powerful probes from behind the scrum got the NZ pack on the front foot; Going was also instrumental in Bryan Williams try. David describes this series of events:

 

…. South Africa continued to dominate until Laidlaw finally went off and was replaced by Going. It was a long period, however, before Going came on the field and an understandably impatient coach Ivan Vodanovich fretted and fumed when the doctor carried out one of the most comprehensive examinations any injured rugby player has ever endured.

 

Six minutes at least elapsed before the little North Aucklander came on the field and set about changing the disastrous patterns that were plunging New Zealand to defeat. With the alertness and zip that characterized his match-winning performances behind previous New Zealand packs, the nuggety little Maori gave the All Blacks new hope as he set up new attacking dynamite with brilliant bursts from the base of the scrum.

 

 

Eight minutes after Syd Going came on he broke round the blind side of a scrum, crossed the halfway line and throw a one-handed pass to Bryan Williams. Williams accelerated and sped round Sid Nomis. He continued another 15 yards before being confronted by a determined Ian McCallum. He eluded McCallum with a brilliant sidestep and was over in the corner; suddenly the score was 12-6 and NZ back in the game.

 

 

Bryan Williams was absolutely brilliant and the try he scored was pure artistry; he sped down the left sideline and in-and-out with such devastating speed between three defenders that they fell over each other and literally sat on the ground afterwards staring at each other with perplexed facial expressions.

 

Four minutes later it was all but over when a alert Sid Nomis intercepted a high-flying pass by Lochore, and raced through on the wave of a euphoric home ground and Gerhard Viviers’ almost hysterical shouting SIDDIE, SIDDIE, SIDDIE over the radio as Nomis ran from the All Blacks 10 meter line to score just next of the upright for the final points of the match.

 

 

Action photos of Sid Nomis is scarce, here he scores a try against Wales on the 69/70 demonstrator tour. Nomis was according to Chris Greyvenstein a big success on the 69/70 tour.

 

Terry McLean, in his book “Battling the boks” writes:

 

The South African forwards were balls of fire. De Villiers was galvanized, scarcely able to stand still for a moment. The team was wound up to a state of total dedication. In the early movements, the players took off like projectiles.

 

For New Zealand troubles began in the lineout, where Hopkinson and Smith at the short end were beaten by Neethling and Spies, and Strahan in the main catching position at 5 were beaten by Du Preez. The trouble continued in the open, where Bates, Greyling and Ellis, but especially Bates, were first to the ball, first to the man, first in most things. The poor quality of the All Black forward play was shattering.

 

One saluted the Springboks, especially Bates, who was truly magnificent; du Preez made fine catches; Neethling, who was a considerable nuisance at the front of the line; de Villiers, whose leadership was electrifying; Visagie who kicked with terrifying exactitude; Jansen, who tackled in the manner of such defensive giants as Jackie Matthews and Rijk van Schoor; and McCallum who fielded expertly, kicked accurately, ran smartly and more than salvaged a reputation which might have been lost by the uncertainty of his defence as Williams ran at him.  

The Springboks arrived on June 27, 1965 from Brisbane via Auckland at Gisborne, where they were warmly welcomed by about 2000 people. There were a few protestors with posters against the tour, but the warmth and enthusiasm of the reception left the South African with a warm feeling around the heart. Dawie de Villiers and Nellie Smith, utterly sincere, smiled and said it was like coming home.

 

The next day the Springboks had a hard training session under the supervision of Hennie Muller and in the process wrote off both Piet Botha and Doug Hopwood. One get the impression that the Springboks training sessions were not well organized and managed and with the media attention on the quality of their practice runs the players and coaching staff were probably trying to impress/change perceptions and overdid it. Botha plunged so hard into a ruck that he dislocated his shoulder (6 weeks out of action) and Hopwood hurt his back and the diagnosis was that he was out for the rest of the tour; he was admitted to Gisborne hospital.

 

South Africa 32, Poverty Bay 3

 

The Springboks first game was against a combined team of Poverty Bay-East Coast, which consisted of several quality players; lack of combination was their primary weakness and problem on the day. The captain of the home team was Allan Rowlands, an All Black reserve and trials player. On centre was Biff Milner who would play for the All Blacks in 1970 against the Springboks. There were also players in the team who represented the Maoris and who played for the New Zealand Colts.

 

The weather was unfavourable for attractive rugby, especially testing at the end of the game when it rained hard, with a strong and bitterly cold wind blowing quite fiercely. The ground was wet and heavy. The Springboks were in depressive mood after the series lost against Australia and the wet and cold weather certainly did not help to improve their mental state.

 

Nelie Smith opened the scoring with a try after a blindside move during which he Mans and Lofty Nel handled the ball. Henare, the opposition no 9 and New Zealand Colt player kicked a penalty shortly afterwards to square the score line.

 

A strong run by the Springbok No 8, Jan Ellis, resulted in the Springboks’ second try. Ellis broke through the defence gained some 15 to 20 meters before passing to Barnard who sent Mans over in the corner with a long pass. The try was converted by Mans.

 

Soon after halftime Mans was successful with another penalty before Lofty Nel broke through the first line of defence and passed to Barnard to score; the conversion was successful. Walton fell on the ball for another try when the ball rolled over the home team’s goal line after the opposition’s No 9, Henare, fumbled it under pressure close to the home teams goal line.

 

There was also a push over try by Goosen and two further tries by Ellis and du Preez towards the end of the match when the rain was falling heavy. Ellis picked-up a ball behind a ruck and dummied his way past Henare and ran over for an unconverted try and du Preez completed the scoring with a try which Mans failed to convert.

 

Terry McLean makes the following remarks about this match:

 

The star player must have been Walton at hooker. Notwithstanding that he had so much weight behind him, his score of 14-2 –it may have been even more- on heels against the head was the largest I had ever seen.

 

Then Schoeman, who had looked so much out of his class in Australia, took to the mud and slush as a duck to water.

 

The pace in the backline was shattering, too. Once, at a breakaway, Milner broke clear by two to three yards –Milner the boy everyone was saying is a genius of the future. With the New Zealand Colts in Australia in 1964 he certainly looked good and he could run, too. But within five yards of his break, Brynard and Nomis mowed him down. The sight was a little alarming.

 

 

Johan (Haas) Schoeman here with Jan Ellis. Schoeman according to McLean “looked out of his class in Australia but took to the mud and slush as a duck to water”. Mclean writes further about Schoeman: Johan Schoeman was so determined to become a Springbok that all through the summer before the team for the short tour of 1965 to the UK was chosen he ran, exercised and spent a great many hours at woodchopping, favoring this last activity as a means of building the bodily strength and vigor he considered would be essential for a visit to New Zealand.

 

South African journalist, Roelf Theunissen, went so far as to say he was the most intelligent player in the team. Among the big boys of the All Black teams, however even his woodschopping background made no impression and on the overall count he never quite managed to look the kind of Springbok forward one had always imagined Springbok forwards to be.

 

Schoeman started his studies at Stellenbosch in 1959 and left in 1964 with a BA LLB to join a law firm. (Later he obtained an MBA) He walked into the Under-19A and then battled at first team level against the likes of Lochner, Dawie Ackermann, James Starke and Ronnie Melck. He was in and out of the first team. He was remarkably strong and a fetcher in the Jan Boland Coetzee mould.

 

He played for Southern Universities and became a regular member of Western Province side from 1962 to 1965. He became a Springbok in 1963 when he was chosen for the third test against the Wallabies. In 1965 he toured Ireland and Scotland with Avril Malan‘s side and then Australia and New Zealand with Dawie de Villiers‘s side – both disastrous tours for the Springboks. In all he played in seven tests.

 

The Springboks were happy with the referee -6 penalties for them and 10 against them- and Nellie Smith’s comment “It is quite pleasant to play under international rules instead of Australian rules” went off well with the Kiwi’s.

 

 

Don Walton who gained his test spot above former Captain Abe Malan with superb hooking and excellent overall play. Walton made his presence felt from the very first match on tour when he hooked 14 heels against the head. He played in 14 matches including the 3^rd and 4^th test matches and scored 4 tries on tour.

 

McLean writes as follows about Walton: He won a vast number of heels against the head against practically every hooker he competed with – 14 at Gisborne, 12 at Blenheim to mention the extraordinary ones. Had he not suffered a hamstring injury at training two days before the first test –by which time against considerable odds he had established himself as a decisively more efficient hooker than Malan- Walton might have came out of the tour with a very much greater reputation than he did.

 

He won the contest with Malan (who had advantages in a previous captaincy of South Africa and membership of the team’s Tour Committee) and by the end of the tour had taken rank as one of the most efficient hookers to visit New Zealand in 20 years.

 

Walton played in 8 tests (1964 – 1969) and his provincial team was Natal.

 

The Springbok team playing in this match:

 

Mulder; Truter; Nomis; Brynard; Mans; Barnard; Smit (captain), Ellis; Nel; du Preez; Goosen; Schoeman; Macdonald; Walton; van Zyl.

 

Wellington 23 South Africa 6

 

The next game was against Wellington (Hurricanes in S14 terms) and upon arrival at the airport and the hotel, there were more Cops than spectators not to mention demonstrators. Students from Victoria University in Wellington were openly against the tour, but nothing came from the expected march -by students- against the tour.

 

It was bitterly cold, wet, with a biting Southwester the day after arrival during the Springboks first practice run and the players were shaking like aspen leaves.

 

Besides Dawie de Villiers, Lionel Wilson and Botha who were injured, the Springboks fielded a team very similar to the side that played in the tests against Australia. Mans were selected at centre in place of Mannetjies Roux while Frik du Preez were moved to the lock position opening the flank position for Jan Ellis.

 

The Springbok team for this match:

 

Mulder; Truter; Mans; Gainsford; Engelbrecht; Oxlee; Smith (Captain), Bedford; Nel; Goosen, du Preez; Ellis; van Zyl; Malan; MacDonald.

 

Five players in the Wellington team, Ken Gray, Nev MacEwan, Ralph Caulton, Ian and Mick Uttley and Williment were All Blacks, while another two, Graham Williams and Tom Lister would later earn their All Black caps. Eleven players in the Wellington team were invited to the All Black trials.

 

A crowd of about 38 000 attended the match played in good weather with a light Southwester blowing.

 

About this match McLean writes:

 

…the Wellington team bashed the Springboks with power in the forwards and precision in the team play. By half-time, the score was 17-3.

 

The New Zealand captain of 1953-54, R.C. Stuart, one of the profoundest of rugby students, remarked in die Sports Post: “The 1956 Springbok team were technically perfect but tactically indifferent. This 1965 team are babes-in-arm tactically. Their tactical blunders today would not be tolerated by any self-respecting club side in New Zealand.”

 

Fair comment. Very fair comment. But it should still be noted that out of all the comings and goings, each team scored only one try.

 

He also writes that Wellington was by far the better team on the day but that the speed of the Springbok backline allowed them to scramble well enough on the defence with the result that the Wellington team won the match primarily with penalties.

 

 

The game had been in progress for 10 minutes when Williment opened the scoring with a 40 meter left foot drop goal. Five minutes later he was successful with a penalty when Bedford was caught offside in a lineout. There was another successful penalty by Williment before Mans opened the scoreboard for South Africa with a 52 meter penalty. Seven minutes before halftime Bedford was again caught offside and Wiliment was successful with yet another penalty. Two minutes later Wellington send the ball down the backline from a scrum; Williment, the fullback, jumped into the line passed to Bowerman who send Uttley, the centre, over for Wellington’s only try for the day. Williment converted; the halftime score 17-3.

 

Ten minutes after halftime Lofty Nel forced himself over the line for a unconverted try from a ruck close to the opponents’ goal line. There were two further penalties for the New Zealand team late in the second half for a final score of 23-6.

 

The Springboks forwards were good in the loose with Bedford-who got injured late in the second half and who did not play again on tour- outstanding. Malan and MacDonald also performed well and Mulder was steady on fullback. Smith’s slow service behind the scrum made things difficult for Oxlee.

 

Wellington was not one of the stronger provincial teams in New Zealand in 1965 and there was a reasonable degree of disappointment among the Kiwi’s –not wanting a one sided affair in the test matches- with the Springboks performance in this match.

 

McLean writes:

 

Poor ‘Boks. Two matches played and the head already lost. Sign of omission and commission contributed largely to the defeat. Backs like Oxlee failed to find touch and like Gainsford dropped the ball. Forwards leaned on the rucks, if they got to them before they had been won by Wellington, and with pretty childlike faith, used their hands in the rucks to scoop the ball back.

 

As in Australia, the moments of crises were faced with excitement rather than coolness and a calculated plan. The backrow plan couldn’t compare with Wellington’s, partly because Bedford was wrongly placed on No 8 instead of on the flank and partly, too, because Ellis either didn’t know what he ought to do or hadn’t been told it.

 

Strange it was, too, to see Gainsford’s superb trust in the very first minute not turned into a try because Truter couldn’t run fast enough.

 

The best came last, too, when Ken Gray in his thank-you speech for the Springbok head, said that the Springboks were the most sporting team he had ever played against.

 

Best synonym for “Sporting” is surely “Gutless” but was within the context of the formal post-game speech conditions probably not politically ‘correct terminology.

 

 

A young and very inexperienced Jan Ellis who in 1965 first became a Springbok. About Ellis writes Terry McLean: Jan Hendrik Ellis rugby-wise came from “about as fur as you can go”. He was brought up in South-West Africa some 300 miles from Windhoek and his nearest rugby club was at least 60 miles from the farm. Jan never had occasion to think of rugby as a sport until round about the time of the visit of the All Blacks of 1960 to Windhoek.

 

By the time of the 1965 Springbok trials Ellis had had only about five years of rugby and it took discernment on the part of the selectors to judge that he had the talent to be a Springbok. In the early days of the tour Jan had speed but was a bit of a joke to his team mate but while he may have lacked experience he had the physique, drive and aggression for a top class international loose forward. By the end of the tour it wouldn’t be fair to assert that he was on his way to greatness but it would be right to say that was beginning to get the hang of tactical play. With that speed and that physique, Jan Ellis promised to become the greatest player in the history of South-West Africa. 

  

South Africa 30, Manawatu-Horowhenua 8

 

The next game against Manawatu-Horowhenua, a combined rural team with no big names, was played in Palmerston North.

 

Terry McLean made two primary observations about the Springboks as they prepared for this match. The first observation relate to how they responded on the loss against Wellington:

 

The Springboks emerged cheerfully enough. That’s the baffling thing: They don’t compose themselves as a beaten team ought to do. The 1956 team, in the same circumstances, were as sore as boils and one respected them for this. But it’s evident that, underneath, some of the 1965 Springboks at least are very sour.

 

His second observation relates to the team practice session in preparation for the match against Manawatu. Write Terry McLean:

 

Louw announced last evening that all of the team would train today. We galloped, therefore, to Freyburg High School in mid-morning. Who was present? Only the dirt trackers. Jingo, these are peculiar people! They just had a hiding, they are all short of a gallop and yet, so they feel, they don’t need more work. Someone is nuts around this camp. I am glad it’s not me.

 

Both de Villiers and Wilson played in their first games in New Zealand. The general perception of the local media were that the Springbok team consisted of the “dirt trackers” or the players who were not favourites to play in the test matches.

 

In reality, there were several players on the team who would eventually play in most of the tests.

 

The team was:

 

Wilson; Brynard; Nomis; Gainsford; Engelbrecht; Oxlee; de Villiers (captain), Ellis; Janson; Goosen; Naude; Schoeman, Parker, Walton; Marais.

 

McLean on this match:

 

The Springboks after leading by only 11-8 at half-time won pulling it up at 30 to 8. The principal reason was the play of de Villiers. Manawatu-Horowhenua had a shrewd tactician in Jimmy Taitoko. Beautiful on the kick to the right spot, fascinating agile of movement, full of speed when he decided to run. Yet even Jimmy couldn’t foot it with Dawie in all –seeing vision. Where Nellie Smith, up til now, has been solid, dependable, as countable upon as the next striking of the Town Hall clock, Dawie was fluid, versatile, an instant appreciator of the possibilities of a situation.

 

De Villiers play was the best of all the ‘Boks and it was a delight to observe how readily he switched the direction of the attack; but Goosen was readily splendid at the lineout, Janson was ruggedly vigorous in the tight-loose, and with a score of seven to one in heels against the head Walton further served notice that he was the best hooker in the team and the two countries while Ellis was again full of dash.

 

There was no score for the first 18 minutes and it was the combined team who scored first. The one wing Paewai scooped up a loose ball and passed to No. 10, Taitoko, who kicked the ball into the Springboks 25. Here Rumball, one flank gained possession to dive over near the posts for a converted try.

 

Two minutes later, Goosen drove to within a few yards from the opponents’ goal line where he offloaded to Ellis. The ball went to Oxlee, who sent Nomis over in the corner. Janson stormed over two minutes later from a lineout before scoring his second try soon afterwards following up on a kick made by de Villiers.

 

Four minutes into the second half Walton dived over from a loose ruck for a try, converted by Naude. Then de Villiers sent Engelbrecht away on the blindside of a scrum to run through unopposed for a try also converted by Naude. Oxlee was successful with a dropgoal before Brynard broke through on the left touchline making good ground before he found Walton on support on the inside for the hooker to score his second try. Four minutes before full time Engelbrecht broke through several tackles before finding Wilson who scored wide form the posts. Naude missed with the conversion and the game ended with an easy 30-8 win for the Springboks.

 

A relatively satisfactory performance by the Springboks against a combined rural team without any evident speed in the backline or bulk up front.