Springboks batter Baabaas in Cape Town

TimesLIVE

5 days ago

There were times when this clash did not carry the majesty or grandeur of matches in time honoured Barbarians tradition. The rain that fell on the Grand Parade played a spoiling hand here too but the Springboks kept their powder dry and mustered their champion qualities to thoroughly vanquish the rag-tag visitors.
Sure, the rain and accompanying greasy conditions put paid to this match living up to its true festival billing in the first half but through the mist and the drizzle the Springboks, at times viscerally, left no one in doubt they are a team endowed with champion qualities after the break.
The first half left the impression that another government sponsored sports wash perhaps got what it deserved from the weeping gods, but the Boks rose above that through their heaven-sent bench in the second half.
When the Boks deployed their bench in the 45th minute it did not send tremors around the rugby globe as it did the last time they contested the Qatar Cup.
When they humbled the All Blacks in London last year seven hulking forwards were pressed into battle en masse. Nonetheless the impact of the bench was immediately felt on Saturday when replacement prop Jan-Hendrik Wessels dotted down barely two minutes after removing his puffer jacket.
That score helped break the dam wall.
In the end though it wasn't the Boks' razzmatazz that won the day but their ability to fastidiously stick to script. Their cohesion, particularly up front, ground down the visitors leaving Peter O'Mahony, Sam Cane and others perhaps showing their crusty vintage.
The Baabaas at times looked like a team that conceived some of their line-out routines in the bar or conference rooms of Camps Bay's Bay Hotel.
As is their staple, the Barbarians were forced to live off scraps. They made little headway as the Boks thud them back in the tackle. With their momentum stunted the odds on them winning this game was as long as the beer queues on this precinct.
There were several Boks with a point to prove and almost all did so with aplomb. Lock Lood de Jager cut an influential figure throughout in his first game in the Green and Gold since 2023. De Jager's full restoration to the Bok fold will come as a major boost. His line-out prowess is supreme, while his leg drives in the maul carries weight.
It was from his line-out take in the sixth minute that the Boks drove the Barbarians back over their own tryline. Hooker Malcolm Marx was again the grateful beneficiary.
That try came on the back of the Barbarians failing to gather the wet ball. Soon after visiting flyhalf Josh Jacomb again dropped the ball to present the Boks a platform from which to launch.
The hosts duly did and though they appeared hemmed in by the defence Aphelele Fassi's deft toe prod gave Cheslin Kolbe something of the chase. He scored en route to a man of the match performance.
No.8 Jean-Luc du Preez, another long-time absentee from the Boks ranks, was full of honest endeavour. Perhaps predictably given the conditions, flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu delivered a mixed bag.
Scrumhalf Morne van den Berg's intelligent use of the boot caged the Barbarians inside their own territory, while replacement Cobus Reinach injected energy and purpose after the break.
Kurt-Lee Arendse was typically hawkish in eyeing opportunity, Kolbe played as if fit with all-weather tyres, while Fassi was full of the lustre that has characterised his season.
Kolbe was electrifying in the second half.
The visitors' scrum infractions started to mount in the first half as the trimmed down tight head prop Asenathi Ntlabakanye made his presence felt in Bok colours. The Boks however did not maintain their grip in that facet and the tourists grew stronger as the first half wore on.
Melvyn Jaminet opened the visitors' score in the 65th minute but by then the tourists' baabaalas was well in the making.