South African rugby has a huge reservoir of talent available to it but you wouldn’t have thought so if you watched the national second stringers slip to a 26-18 defeat at the hands of the Bristol Bears at Ashton Gate on Thursday night.
The South Africa A side needed desperately to stand up from last week’s humbling defeat at the hands of Munster, but they came up against a supremely motivated and passionate Gallagher Premiership side that was determined to make a point in front of a 26 000 crowd, which apparently was the biggest crowd to attend a sports event at the venue.
Thomas du Toit’s team started better than they did in Ireland the week before. They were the first on the board through a Sacha Mngomezulu penalty after three minutes and then after Callum Sheedy levelled the scores at 3-all, the 20-year-old flyhalf kicked another penalty to make it 6-3 to the visitors.
That though was the last time in the game that the South Africa A side had the lead. Once Gabriel Ibitoye went over for a try out wide that put the Bears into a 13-6 lead after Sheedy had kicked an earlier equaliser, it appeared that the South Africans lost composure and became a bit panicked.
Some perspective is needed, and it is true that when you bring a team like a South African A side together, with the point being that they play so few games so are hardly a cohesive unit, you will expect some discordant moments. The Bears certainly played more like a team under the Ashton Gates lights.
At the same time though the lack of training time was less of an excuse for SA A this time, as they have had a week together since the Munster game.
It is when playing together in matches over a period of time that combinations start to develop and gel, and perhaps the incident that summed up the problem for the visitors came on the hour mark.
The SA A side were looking to put together a flashy attack down the left flank and it looked promising as replacement fullback Johan Goosen tried a switch with wing Leolin Zas.
BRIEF FLICKER OF HOPE
It was the sort of opportunity that Zas would probably have gobbled up and made the most of when playing in Stormers colours with players he plays with every week, but this time he appeared taken by surprise by the switch and knocked the ball on.
There were several instances of that kind of thing, so perhaps the critics shouldn’t be too harsh. Still though, you would have expected the A side to be less discordant than it looked on the night, and while the objective of these games is for players to put their hands up for selection to the Springboks, it is very hard to show ability when playing in a team that doesn’t function.
The South Africa side trailed 13-6 at halftime and there was a brief flicker of hope when prop Nthuthuko Mchunu scored an impressive try off a wrap around from an attacking lineout in the 49th minute.
The scores would have been level had 20-year-old flyhalf Mngomezulu, who had an error-ridden night, kicked the conversion.
It looked like the Bok second stringers might be back in the game but the hosts quickly extinguished that hope as first Sheedy, who had an immaculate night from the kicking tee, kicked a penalty to stretch the lead back to five, and then Bristol loosehead prop Yann Thomas drove over the line after a series of strong forward drives and the gap was 12 points after 58 minutes.
Another Sheedy penalty made it 26-11 and the chances of SA A fighting back when they looked so disorganised were slim to say the least.
Sikhumbuzo Notshe did score a good try shortly before the end but all it did was make the scoreline look less one-sided than it might otherwise have been.
It was another harrowing night for the SA A side against a team that has won only once in five starts this season.
Not that it is anything new for the second stringers, and those with memories will recall that the midweek team got hammered in two games against club sides in 2010 and it was effectively a SA A side that lost to the Vodacom Bulls in Cape Town last year.
Scores
Bristol Bears 26 - Tries:Gabriel Ibitoye and Nthuthuko Mchunu; Conversions: Callum Sheedy 2; Penalties:Callum Sheedy 4.
South Africa A 18 - Tries:Nthuthuko Mchunu and Sikhumbuzo Notshe; Conversion:Johan Goosen; Penalties:Sacha Mngomezulu 2.