South Africa 49-3 Fiji

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Here we go. Second game of the day. Teams:

South Africa: 15 Pat Lambie, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Odwa Ndungane, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Danie Rossouw, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 John Smit (c), 1 Gurthrö Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Tendai Mtawarira, 18 Francois Louw, 19 Willem Alberts, 20 François Hougaard, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Juan de Jongh.

Fiji: 15 Kini Murimurivalu, 14 Vereniki Goneva, 13 Gabirieli Lovobalavu, 12 Seremaia Bai, 11 Naipolioni Nalaga, 10 Waisea Luveniyali, 9 Nemia Kenatale, 1 Campese Ma'afu,2 Sunia Koto, 3 Deacon Manu (capt), 4 Leone Nakarawa, 5 Wame Lewaravu, 6 Dominiko Waqaniburotu, 7 Akapusi Qera, 8 Sakiusa Matadigo.
Replacements: 16 Talemaitoga Tuapati, 17 Waisea Nailago, 18 Netani Talei, 19 Sisa Koyamaibole, 20 Vitori Buatava, 21 Nicky Little, 22 Ravai Fatiaki.


Predictions? The Fijians probably don't have the quality of the Samoans, nor the tactical nous, but they can play, and they will look to play against what looked like a pretty pedestrian Bok side. Cannot even fathom a SA side putting in two substandard performances in a row; that they played so much worse than Wales, and still won, has to give them belief. Need to kick on now if they want to be serious contenders for winning the thing, because, let's remind ourselves, they are still world champions.

maestegmafia wrote:

miaow wrote:

flyhalffactory wrote:miaow

In all respect to your play last week, this a totally different Boks performance

I'd agree with that, but is it the fact that SA were allowed to play themselves into this game, whereas against Wales, the performance and discipline from Wales meant that SA looked poor because of this? It's difficult to say. Were SA just poor, or were they poor best Wales were good. Regardless, this is still a very good team, and one, prior to the WC, I made favourties to win it, and I stand by that, even if certain logic dictates they shouldn't win it.

With all due respect SA are playing completely different opposition. Wales Gav SA a hell of a game. Fiji have struggled.

Fair call Maesteg

But I think SA were rusty (compared to this performance) last week not taking anything away from the Welsh boys........... Steyn should have started in midfield last week, its been a superb pairing today

TJ had flag up for foot in touch ref ignored him now they have gone to the TMO try or not.

some borderline pretty nasty tackles going in here from Fiji, got to be said.

Credit to SA looking for another try

Class above today. Still looking forward to see what Samoa do against them.

Well done South Africa a solid performance.

WOAH!!.... SA really upped the ante, much improved performance.

Clear message to NZ, England, and the Aussies

Game on

miaow wrote:Class above today. Still looking forward to see what Samoa do against them.

That will depend on what Samoa do against Wales, A Samoan win tomorrow may make them think they can relax against SA but a loss tomorrow will make them far more determined.

flyhalffactory South Africa played well but Fiji were really poor today weak scrum and loads of missed tackles.

Very impressive indeed.
Fiji are not a poor team but SA were another class.
Says a lot about wales last week as well and they may be too good for samoa.

Cymroglan
Fiji scrum was fairly solid for the first 30 mins. SA pressure was alot to do with the Fiji mistakes IMO.

Wales should win by 20pts on Fiji at least though

Difficult to predict margins of victory at this point; by the end, SA were walking the tries over, because they had earnt the position they were in by playing a high tempo and aggressive game of rugby that took it out of Fiji. The fact they didn't give Fiji an inch in and around their 22 would also be highly demoralising. This is what Wales have to do; they did it against SA, they will need to do the same against Samoa and Fiji, and then comfortable wins may come, but only then.

If we do not do this, expect sqeaky bum time come 60 minutes for Welsh fans, and a great game for the neutrals. Especially against Samoa; if we do not put them away early in terms of point, they will only get stronger. Genuinely worrying if, come half time, we're not clearly on top on both score board and performance.

Outstanding defence by the Springboks and very impressive from the big men in completely dominating physically.

It's hard to judge the standard against a side like Fiji, NZ were very unhappy with a larger victory in the warm ups, but certainly an improvement in the SA's from last week.

I'm always surprised at how hysterical the commentators get. As soon as a side score a few tries they're hailing them as world cup champs already.

TGG, you have to remember these are English commentators, by and large, who are used to commentating on the English Prem on either Sky or the highlights on itv. Therefore, it's a pretty rare occurence to see tries.

Also, what the hell is the Champions League man doing there? What does he know about rugby? Crazy...

It was a good performance and a number of players put their hand up for selection.
I thought Frans Steyn had a very good came at 12... offers all that JDV offers in attack & defence but also offers the boks a secondary first receiver and kicking game which puts pressure off Morne.
Lambie held his own against a decent attacking side so I think its a genuine decision against playing Lambie or JDV (Frans Steyn is certain to play somewhere if fit).

Steenkamp showed he can be as mobile as Beast in the loose and certain is more solid in the set piece..... He has to start.

Spies also showed a lot of strength in the tight... shame he always does this against non tier 1 sides but is always absent in the big matches.

I think Bismaarck could do a Zinzan and drop a goal from his 10metre line and still be on the subs bench the next week.... I still believe Smit has something over PDV... perhaps some comprimising photos or something