South Africa tune up for Rugby Championship defence with nine-try win over Georgia

The 42

19-07-2025

CANAN MOODIE SCORED a memorable try as world champions South African beat Georgia 55-10 in Mbombela on Saturday to complete their Rugby Championship build-up.
When Moodie struck after 19 minutes before a 36,842 crowd in the northeast city it demonstrated the changing DNA of Springbok rugby.
Gone is the obsession with a kick-and-chase approach, and in its place has come more ball-in-hand rugby, which helped deliver nine tries against the brave but ultimately outclassed Georgians.
The result was never in doubt, given the one-off Test pitted the top-ranked South Africans against opponents 10 places lower, and it was far from a perfect performance from the winners.
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But some of the moves from the record four-time Rugby World Cup winners thrilled the vibrant crowd, and nothing pleased them more than Moodie scoring his seventh try for the Springboks.
Dynamic scrum-half Grant Williams broke to start a passing movement than involved backs and forwards before Moodie held off two Georgians to dot down in the corner to wild cheering from the crowd.
It was also a Test to remember for two of the three uncapped front-rowers with hooker Marnus van der Merwe twice and loosehead prop Boan Venter once using their strength to power over for tries.
The other South African try scorers were winger Edwill van der Merwe (two), replacement full-back Damian Willemse, winger Kurt-Lee Arendse and another substitute, fly-half Handre Pollard.
When Arendse scored the penultimate try on 79 minutes it brought his Test tally to 20 in 26 appearances for South Africa.
While fly-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu was a lively runner, he was let down by his goal-kicking, succeeding with only one of five conversion attempts.
When double World Cup winner Pollard came on he placed all four conversion kicks between the posts and finished with a 13-point personal tally.
As the match wore on, the South African dominance increased, but it was perennial European second-tier champions Georgia who struck first.
Springboks captain Siya Kolisi had left the field for a successful head injury assessment test when the Lelos took a surprise third-minute lead through a try from hooker Vano Karkadze.
Fly-half Luka Matkava converted and later slotted a penalty while the Springboks scored four tries in the opening half to build a 22-10 half-time lead.
South Africa begin their defence of the Rugby Championship against Australia in Johannesburg on 16 August.
– © AFP 2025