Hero of the week: Cobus Reinach

Instead it was a match for talking points - of four scrumhalves in a match day 23, of retreaded flankers becoming hookers and just how big the scoreline would be.

And in that context it would be easy to select a number of candidates for the Hero of the week, particularly because Romania offered the least resistance and any Springbok player on the park would have looked superhuman just because of the sheer difference between the two sides.

But while the television pundits selected Makazole Mapimpi, whose vintage hat-trick was a reminder that the impressive winger is not done yet, despite the younger talent that has come through in the past few months, we decided to go a different route.

A key to winning the battle against Romania was to start with gusto. To be accurate and to avoid the white line fever that often comes with these sorts of contests. It is easy to get loose, it is easy to be over-eager.

But to be focused, to start with intent and to turn that into tangible points on the field is an art that the bigger and better teams know how to do.

And for this reason Cobus Reinach gets the nod. Not because he started the rout and got his second Rugby World Cup hat-trick, but because his focus, his intent was spot on from the beginning and he marshalled a team into a strong lead and a bonus point in the opening 11 minutes of the game.

Reinach revelled with the ball and was a nightmare for the Romanian defence, showing precisely how much depth there is in the Springbok line up and almost beat his own World Cup record of the fastest hat-trick in the process.

But he started the Boks on the right track, focused their intensity and got them on the board early.

He did so much more than that and had an exceptional game, and for that reason and many more he is our hero of the week.