The Springboks outplayed the Barbarians by 54-7 to win the Qatar Airways Cup for a third time in as many seasons, at a wet DHL Stadium in Cape Town on Saturday.
The Boks were up 19-0 at half-time in front of a 45 000 strong crowd, courtesy of three tries, and they added five more in the second half to romp away to a very convincing win.
There was a touch of class from the visitors just before kick-off when they handed a No 14 Baabaas jersey the family of the late Cornal Hendricks, who were out of the field as South African flag bearers.
A fly-over by Qatar Airways completed the festivities and soon after, it was over to the Springboks to provide the entertainment, and they didn’t disappoint.
“We won’t get carried away with this performance,” said Springboks coach, Rassie Erasmus.
“Certainly, some of the newer guys showed us that they can do it at this level, but we’ll layer them in.
“We know who is going to play in Italy one and two, and certainly by the end of the Georgia game, which will be a grind, we’ll have a group of 45, 50 that have had some game time.”
Scorers:
Springboks 54 (19) – Tries: Malcolm Marx, Cheslin Kolbe, Vincent Tshituka (2), Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Lood de Jager, Damian De Allende. Conversions: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (2), Manie Libbok (5).
Barbarians 7 (0) – Try: Melvyn Jaminet. Conversion: Jaminet.
