Staff Reporter.
South Africa have beaten Georgia in a warm-up for the Lions Tour, but they didn’t have it all their own way.
The Springboks trailed for half an hour and looked every bit like a team who haven’t played since the World Cup final almost two years ago.
Aphelele Fassi scored an early try for South Africa but three penalties saw the Georgians ahead as they took advantage of the hosts’ indiscipline. Georgia forced the hosts to concede penalty after penalty and punished them, taking a 9-5 lead. In whole, the Boks conceded a concerning seven penalties in the first half.
The game changed around the 31st minute as the Boks built the pressure with their driving mauls. It eventually told as Bongi Mbonambi went over for their second try.
Off the following kick-off, the Boks attacked and Fassi did well to hold onto a tricky pass out wide and boot the ball back into midfield. Cobus Reinach followed up and latched onto the loose ball, sprinting through to score under the posts.
The Springboks brought their new front row on early in the second half and it paid off as they started dominate, eventually earning a try as Kwagga Smith broke from behind and scored.
In an interesting move, Damian Willemse was brought on at 12, replacing Frans Steyn. He almost scored with his first touch when gathering a Handre Pollard grubber but did well to recycle, allowing Herschel Jantjies to snipe and go over for the Boks’ fifth try.
Georgia simply had no answer for the Springboks’ “Bomb squad” as another powerful driving maul saw Malcolm Marx grab the sixth and final try of the match.
The two sides now have a week off before facing each other again next friday.
Here are the full time thoughts of Springbok skipper Siya Kolisi:
“[It’s] such a great feeling to be back.
“This whole week there has been a lot of setbacks and things, but our excitement to be back out on the field has really been what’s been driving us.
“We started slow in the game, we knew we would be rusty, as soon as we found our mojo everything started coming together.
“It was far from perfect, but we’ll definitely get better.”
South Africa: Le Roux; Specman, Kriel, Steyn, Fassi; Pollard, Reinach; Nche, Mbonambi, Nyakane, Etzebeth, Mostert, Kolisi, Du Toit, Smith.
Replacements: Marx, Kitshoff, Malherbe, Orie, Wiese, H Jantjies, E Jantjies, Willemse.
Georgia: Niniashvili; Tabutsadze, Kveseladze, Sharikadze, Tapladze; Abzhandadze, Lobzhanidze; Jalaghonia, Saghinadze, Spanderashvili, Mikautadze, Gigauri, Melikidze, Bregvadze, Gogichashvili.
Replacements: Chkoidze, Khatiashvili, Japaridze, Tcheishvili, Javakhia, Aprasidze, Babunashvil, Tskhadadze.
Meanwhile players who receive a red card or are cited for head contact during the July Tests could reduce their ban by a week if they complete coaching on safe-tackle techniques.
The global governing body is working to reduce concussions in the sport.
A statement said it hoped to encourage players and coaches “to practise tackle technique” with a “lower injury risk”.
It added that the coaching option was only available on a “one-off basis” to players to reduce their sanction by a week or a match.