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The Citizen
19-07-2025
- Sport
- The Citizen
Springbok player ratings from 55-10 win against Georgia
A number of players in the Bok team stood tall, among them Edwill van der Merwe, Ruan Nortje and the debutants Marnus van der Merwe and Boan Venter. The Springboks beat Georgia 55-10 in a one-off Test in Mbombela on Saturday. The reigning world champions scored nine tries to the one by the visitors. The Boks are next in action in the Rugby Championship, which starts next month. Here are The Citizen's player ratings from the match in Mbombela, out of 10. Aphelele Fassi 7: The attacking fullback got few chances with ball in hand, but he played his part in Canan Moodie's try. He contested well in the air, but also made a few basic errors. Off in the 55th minute. Edwill van der Merwe 9: He scored two tries, both well-taken, and had a hand in Canan Moodie's try. Tackled well, contested strongly in the air, and chased kicks. Another excellent Bok performance. Canan Moodie 8: He had a few good runs, kicked and chased well on two occasions, tackled strongly and showed strength and power to score one of the Boks' tries. Definitely a 13 option going forward. Damian de Allende 8: Another all-action performance from the inside centre; he carried strongly, he cleaned rucks, he tackled hard and he kicked for position. He also charged down a clearance kick. Kurt-Lee Arendse 7: By no fault of his own, he had a fairly quiet game, but the action never really went his way. He chased kicks and tackled well, and also scored a try after some good play by RG Snyman and Grant Williams. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu 6: He looked dangerous with ball in hand, kicked and collected well on one occasion, but a little all over the place. He missed several kicks at goal and also didn't kick well out of hand. Off in the 55th. Grant Williams 8: His first clearance kick was poor and resulted in Georgia's only try. But he broke the line brilliantly, which led to Moodie's try, and also made the long over-the-top pass for Edwill van der Merwe's one try, and played part in Arendse's try. Grant Williams enjoyed a very satisfying outing in Mbombela. Picture: Dirk Kotze/Gallo Images Cobus Wiese 6: The regular lock was asked to play out of position at eighthman and he did an okay job. He carried strongly on occasion and made a few tackles and cleans, but he knocked on badly on one occasion. Off in 44th. Pieter-Steph du Toit 8: He was back to his unbelievable best, working tirelessly throughout the match, making tackles and carrying hard, and cleaning rucks. He was literally everywhere on the field. Siya Kolisi 6: Took a blow to the head in the second minute and left the action, which might have influenced his game. Returned by making tackles and carrying on occasion, and got better and busier as the game went on. Ruan Nortje 9: He is yet to play poorly in a Bok jersey. He was, like Du Toit, involved in everything and was everywhere. He was the lineout banker, he assisted in Moodie's try, he tackled and cleaned and took kick offs. Brilliant in all respects. Eben Etzebeth 6: He was busy in the tight-loose play, he tackled well and carried and cleaned, and charged down a kick, but he wasn't the imposing figure he normally is. Left the action shortly after half-time. Neethling Fouche 7: He scrummed well on debut, forcing a number of penalties, he tackled on occasion and cleaned rucks. Left the action in the 44th minute; he would have hoped for a bit more game time. Marnus van der Merwe 9: The debutant hooker had a dream match and could be the next big thing at No 2. What a performance. His lineout throwing was spot on, he scored two tries and was busy all over the field. Marnus van der Merwe scores a try on debut. Picture: Johan Orton/Gallo Images Boan Venter 8: He was all-powerful at scrum time, winning a few penalties and getting his team on the front foot. He was busy in the tight-loose and also scored a good try. He will be a happy and satisfied man. Bench 8: The front row of Bongi Mbonambi, Thomas du Toit and Vincent Koch did their bit to keep the Bok scrum dominant, while RG Snyman's power runs and off-loading game came to the fore as the game opened up. Kwagga Smith was as busy as ever, he was excellent receiving kicks and carried and cleaned rucks regularly. Faf de Klerk added energy to the performance late on and chipped the ball into space for Edwill van der Merwe's second try, while Handre Pollard played a part in Damian Willemse's try, he kicked and collected a kick, and he scored himself in a calming, strong cameo late on. Willemse made a few errors, but he tackled nicely and will be pleased with his try.
Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Memorable Moodie try highlights big win by Springboks
Centre 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. 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 August 16. dl/ea
The Herald
14-07-2025
- Sport
- The Herald
Springboks borrow playbook from under-14 B schools team
Twice they created a maul in general play from which they gained penalty advantage and scored tries on both occasions. Lock Ruan Nortje was lifted to receive a pass, and as he came down to the ground, it created a driving maul from which the Springboks could use their powerful forwards. They received penalty advantage on both occasions as the Italians immediately infringed, but did not need it as centre Canan Moodie and hooker Malcolm Marx crossed for tries. When the powers that be drew up the laws of the game at the line-out, they certainly did not envisage them being used in general play, but Erasmus, who said he was 'fairly happy' with his team's performance, has found a way to legally exploit them.
IOL News
14-07-2025
- Sport
- IOL News
Rassie Erasmus continues to lead Springbok tactical evolution
The Springbok innovation to create a rolling maul in open-play led to this try for Canan Moodie against Italy. Image: BackpagePix COMMENT Love it or hate it, head coach Rassie Erasmus will continue to innovate as the Springboks look to find the smallest edge on the rugby field to take their game to the next level against opponents. On Saturday, Erasmus made the rugby world notice his ingenuity again, as the Boks conjured up two different tactical plays in the clash against Italy in Gqeberha that caught many off guard. The first was a short kick-off to generate a scrum shortly after the game started and this is the little bit of innovation that blew up on X (formerly Twitter) with pundits and couch critics tearing into the Boks for finding another way to bend rugby's laws. The Springboks are having fun out there! #RSAvITA — Jared Wright (@jaredwright17) July 12, 2025 Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading While they've found a new reason to moan about the world champions, South African supporters have been lapping this up. It's special to witness the out-of-the-box thinking of coaches in an ever-evolving sport. Traditionalists will cling to things staying the same in rugby, but to keep the game relevant and draw engagement, these innovations are needed. And there was absolutely nothing that brought the game into disrepute when it came to this little bit of tactical deviation. Erasmus explained they wanted an early scrum to put Italy under pressure. Last weekend Italy got the ball out of the scrum quicker than normal, and the Boks wanted to counter that. The tactic flopped as the Boks conceded a free kick off it. Italy didn't score, so they could not do the short kick-off again. 🇿🇦 Dull, and not in the spirit of the game. It might be ingenuitive, but that doesn't make it fun in the long — RugbyInsideLine (@RugbyInsideLine) July 12, 2025 Those two generated mauls, copied from a school's team in Stellenbosch, were special and not expected at all. It brought two tries and because the Italians were caught off guard by it, they could not defend it properly. It's a different scenario when a maul is started from a lineout and the opposition is set to defend. Both times, the manufactured maul from open play was illegally sacked and for the first try, the Boks could play the advantage to have Canan Moodie go over for the try. With the second one, hooker Malcolm Marx scored directly from it. The debate over the kick-off and open-play rolling mauls will continue to lead the conversation over the next couple of weeks. There will certainly be calls to change the laws that will ban both, especially from Erasmus' detractors in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere. They've always looked to find something wrong in how the Boks do things on the field. It has been quiet on that front for a while, but now the attacks on South African rugby will start again. However, for as long as the Springbok coaches can innovate within the laws of the game, they will do it. And the importance of former international referee Jaco Peyper in their midst as laws advisor can't be underestimated. The world champions have an expert that can show them where the grey areas are and how to navigate those. The open-play maul could be a thing of the past for matches over the next couple of months as teams will plan to counter it. But the Boks should be encouraged to use it in the Rugby Championship later this year. As for the short kick-off, Springbok supporters would probably like to see it again soon. This time, though, the scrum must work to build that early platform.
CNA
13-07-2025
- Sport
- CNA
Springboks borrow playbook from Under-14 B schools team
South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus has always been an innovator in the game, seeking an extra edge for his side with the unexpected, and found a new ploy he successfully unleashed on Italy from an Under-14 B schools team. The Springboks thumped the Italians 45-0 in Gqeberha on Saturday despite an early permanent red card for number eight Jasper Wiese, and from the kick-off they were full of innovation. They had demolished Italy in the scrums in the previous week's 42-24 win in Pretoria, and wanted to keep that psychological edge. The Springboks therefore intentionally conceded a scrum from the kick-off of the game. It did not work out as they were penalised with a free-kick for an early shove, but the writing was on the wall for a game that would be far from ordinary. Twice they created a maul in general play from which they gained penalty advantage and scored tries on both occasions. Lock Ruan Nortje was lifted to receive a pass, and as he came down to the ground, it created a driving maul from which the Springboks could use their powerful forwards. They received penalty advantage on both occasions as the Italians immediately infringed, but did not need it as centre Canan Moodie and hooker Malcolm Marx crossed for tries. When the powers that be drew up the laws of the game at the line-out, they certainly did not envisage them being used in general play, but Erasmus, who said he was "fairly happy" with his team's performance, has found a way to legally exploit them. "Many teams do different tactical moves and we did a maul in general play with a guy that we lift (to receive the pass)," he told reporters. "We actually saw an Under-14 B schools team doing it, Paul Roos Gymnasium (in Paarl, South Africa). "You get all the benefits from a line-out if you lift a guy in general play and it worked for us. But obviously now people will be alert for that. "We tried a few things and sometimes those things work and sometimes they don't, and you have to take it on the chin if they don't work." The Springboks next host Georgia in Nelspruit on Saturday.
