Sports Reporter
The Springboks opened their 2026 international season with an 80-31 win over the Barbarians at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday, but coach Rassie Erasmus said the world champions still had discipline and defensive lapses to fix before facing England.
The Boks ran in 12 tries in a dominant attacking performance, but Erasmus said the scoreline did not tell the full story after the Barbarians exposed defensive lapses and capitalised on periods of poor discipline.
“Our discipline wasn’t great, and they (the Barbarians) scored tries in quick succession, so yellow cards were not ideal,” said Erasmus after the match.
Yellow cards were handed to Grant Williams and Aphelele Fassi, even though the Boks also benefited from Barbarians cards in the first half.
South Africa led 40-26 at halftime after a loose and entertaining first half in which the Barbarians found space and kept the Boks under pressure despite the hosts’ early dominance.
“[W]e have to remind ourselves that it’s been six or seven months since we’ve played together, and some guys were new in the mix, while we also didn’t know when the DHL Stormers or Vodacom Bulls players would be available at some stage, which are all aspects we have to keep in mind,” Erasmus said.
The Barbarians arrived with a strong invitational side drawn from 11 countries and including 19 Test-capped players.
The team was captained by former All Blacks scrumhalf TJ Perenara and included South African-born Scotland and British & Irish Lions wing Duhan van der Merwe, former Springbok fullback Warrick Gelant, Wallabies back Andrew Kellaway, France centre Virimi Vakatawa and Argentina flyhalf Tomás Albornoz.
Edwill van der Merwe led the Bok scoring with a hat-trick, while Pieter-Steph du Toit, Jasper Wiese, Riley Norton, Cheslin Kolbe, JJ Kotze, Faf de Klerk, Jesse Kriel, Andre Esterhuizen and Zachary Porthen also crossed for South Africa.
Kolbe was influential with the boot and ball in hand, converting nine tries and scoring one himself before Vusi Moyo added the final conversion after Porthen’s late try.
Despite the size of the victory, Erasmus said the Boks could not ignore the way the Barbarians broke through before halftime.
“To score 80 points is nice, but the Barbarians were thrown together quite late, and had only three training sessions, which makes them difficult to analyse. They scored four or five great tries, so we need to eliminate those defensive lapses and be better as a unit when we play against England.”
The Boks will play England at Ellis Park, Johannesburg, on 4 July, in their opening Test of the Nations Championship.
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