It is a rare moment indeed where you can say a Springbok win is in this country upstaged by something else, but you could just about get there after this weekend where a regulation win over Georgia for the senior team was matched by a global triumph for the magnificent Under-20 team.
There have been occasions where we have described the Junior Springboks as the “Baby Boks” but there was nothing babyish about the team that Riley Norton led to a comprehensive 23-15 victory over the Junior All Blacks in Rovigo, Italy on Saturday night.
The eight point margin was flattering to the Kiwis, and was in fact the closest any team came to toppling the South Africans in the World Rugby Under-20 Championship.
It was humid in Rovigo for the decider and that did introduce some handling errors plus both defences were magnificent. So that did mitigate against the attacking rugby being as clinical as it has been.
But what was most noticeable over the tournament as a whole from the Junior Boks was the blend of brutal physicality and forward power mixed with pace at the back and willingness to counter-attack with devastating effect that is becoming the hallmark of the senior team.
What the junior team showed was that the future of of the Boks is in good hands, with more young players sure to come through in the next few years to supplement the many who are already in the senior system and who showed off their skills and ability in an initial four game start to the Bok international season that showcased the depth Rassie Erasmus has at his disposal.
It wasn’t always perfect from the Boks, and there was again a high error rate for much of the game against Georgia.
The aforementioned blend of brutality and skill was again to the fore, in the sense that the Boks scored their early tries through driving mauls, and then later in the game, when the Georgians were tiring, they produced a wonderful array of running, passing and offloads that showcased the advances that have been made in recent times to their ability to inject flair into their attack.
THE MISTAKES WERE UNDERSTANDABLE
That there were mistakes is understandable if you look at the facts around the selections across the four games. The teams for the opening game against Barbarians, which wasn’t an official international, and the three test matches that followed all varied hugely from each other.
That lack of continuity in selection, though completely understandable and with an objective in mind, will have had an impact and you just have to look at the game played in Hamilton this past weekend to understand that.
The All Blacks had been excellent in their second test of the season together the previous week against an admittedly under-strength French outfit. But then their coach went the Rassie route of making a raft of changes for the final, dead rubber game and they looked distinctly ordinary and error ridden and were outplayed by France in the first half. They were lucky to win.
Perhaps Erasmus noted that because you’d be a tad confused if you look at what he said after the Nelspruit game and compare it with what he said in the buildup to the Georgia clash. Before the game, he was talking of giving the young players a rest in the forthcoming home Castle Lager Rugby Championship clashes with the Wallabies.
How the message is that he will dial back on experimentation, which is the right thing to to if you consider that the two games build up to two might away clashes with the All Blacks.
It is not so much Australia that should be worried about. Although the Wallabies did give their supporters what is sure to prove to be false hope with a late fightback in the first test against the British and Irish Lions, there was in reality a huge chasm in class between the two teams.
If the Aussies have improved that is not seen by these eyes and it would be a massive surprise if the series didn’t turn out like it was predicted it would - with a 3-0 win to the Lions.
WHITTLING SQUAD DOWN TO 36 FOR AUSSIE GAMES
The Boks should beat Australia on their home ground even if they do experiment further, and Erasmus said he would in one or two positions, but Erasmus also hinted that he feels it is time to start settling the team ahead of the trip to New Zealand.
“We’re fairly happy if you look over the four games,” said the Bok coach.
“We scored close to 50 points in each match and apart from the one game against Italy we defended pretty well. Georgia were physical and disruptive but that’s not an excuse for making so many errors, but I guess we must understand that if you chop and change teams as we have for the purpose of building squad depth, then you will lose rhythm.
“We found that (rhythm) again in the last 20 minutes and we can be fairly happy with the scoreline although we can always do better,” he added.
The Boks will name a squad of 36 for the home games against Australia on Tuesday.
“Within that squad there will be one of two guys we experiment with but the bulk of the squad will be experienced players who are suited to how we want to play,” said Erasmus.
“The nice thing is that we have a group of 48 players or so that we have used this year and there’s also quite a couple that we’d also like to give opportunities to like Jaden and Jordan Hendrikse, Quan Horn and Renzo du Plessis.”
Erasmus didn’t say it in as many words, but couple the number of players he has used and the names he mentioned there with what is coming through the junior ranks and was showcased in Italy and South Africa has enviable depth. Erasmus’ immediate big decision is to decide who to leave out, which is no easy task.
For the record the Boks scored 22 tries across the three Castle Lager Incoming Tours test matches and conceded four. They won the last two games by a margin of 45 points.
The main weekend international results
South Africa 52 Georgia 45
New Zealand 29 France 19
Australia 19 British and Irish Lions 27