Jake White wasn’t very pleased with his team despite a comfortable 38-24 win over the Pacific Islanders
Jake White wasn’t very pleased with his team despite a comfortable 38-24 win over the Pacific Islanders.
His discomfort was caused by the Boks’ second half performance. His team stepped off the gas having accumulated 23 unanswered points in the first half.
The Springboks had demonstrated the power of their pack against Ireland and here was further proof. They starved the Islanders of the ball they needed to play their running game. The Boks’ first try notably came off a 5m scrum when Jacques Cronje broke to go over under the posts. Montgomery kept the scoreboard ticking over with accurate kicking, on a day when he eclipsed Naas Botha’s South African scoring record, before Breyton Paulse capitalised on a Bolla Conradie chip to send the teams in at 23-0 to the Boks.
In the second half the Boks played fast and loose and this allowed the Islanders to demonstrate their running ability. After Paulse grabed his second and Montgomery stretched the lead still further, the errors and looseness allowed Sivivatu to score two tries.
de Villiers then scored off a Montgomery chip before a further two tries from Luaki and Bobo for the Islanders completed the scoring at 38-24.
Still, South Africa enter this Tri-Nations as a team resurgent following their wins over Ireland and this one over the Islanders. Their power up front and an impressive start by Jake White will have many South Africans thinking they can be a power in this Tri-Nations.
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