South Africa 57-3 Namibia: Rugby World Cup match report, highlights and scorers

South Africa 57-3 Namibia

South Africa tries: Mbonambi 2, Mapimpi 2, Louw, Am, Gelant, Kolisi, Brits
South Africa conversions: Jantjies 6

Namibia pens: Loubser

Match highlights

Match report

South Africa claimed their first win of the 2019 World Cup with a 57-3 thrashing of Namibia.

The Springboks had lost their opening Pool B fixture to New Zealand, but Rassie Erasmus' side predictably eased to victory in Toyota City by running in nine tries against their African neighbours.

Namibia, at 23 the lowest-ranked team at the World Cup, included university students, a brewery engineer and a qualified dentist in their part-time ranks and were placed under fierce pressure from the start.

South Africa dominated every facet of play and only some careless handling prevented a bigger margin of victory that might have had World Cup statisticians scrambling for the record books.

Namibia's try line survived until the 10th minute when hooker Mbongeni Mbonambi drove over, but Bath flanker Francois Louw immediately added another score and the writing was on the wall for the underdogs.

Mbonambi's second try from more explosive forward play and another conversion from Elton Jantjies made it 17 points in as many minutes.

Despite number eight Adriaan Booysen being sent to the sin bin for a deliberate knock on, there was some respite for Namibia as fly-half Cliven Loubser kicked a penalty.

But wing Makazole Mapimpi and centre Lukhanyo Am exploited further holes in the Namibia defence as the Springboks secured a bonus-point and a 31-3 half-time lead.

Loubsen struck an upright with a penalty attempt after the restart as Namibia enjoyed territory in the opening stage of the second half.

But South Africa showed their cutting edge as full-back Warrick Gelant combined with Am and sliced through.

Mapimpi exhibited his blistering pace again to round a couple of defenders and make it 10 tries in his first 10 Tests - matching the record of Springboks great Bryan Habana.

Replacement Siya Kolisi got in on the try-scoring act before Johan Coetzee became the second Namibian to be yellow carded for a shoulder charge on Schalk Brits.

The former Saracens hooker, who was playing at number eight, was soon back on his feet to power over from a maul and claim the Springboks' ninth try.

Jantjies added the extras for a 12-point haul and complete a comfortable victory for the two-time world champions.

But at least Namibia could take satisfaction from improving on their two previous meetings with South Africa, which they had lost 105-13 and 87-0.

Match reaction

South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus believes the Springboks have built a World Cup foundation with a first win of the tournament against Namibia.

The Springboks bounced back from an opening Pool B defeat to New Zealand by comfortably beating their African neighbours 57-3 in Toyota City.

"When you lose a game like the previous game, you want to get some winning momentum back," Erasmus said after his team's nine-try display.

"We have some certain things we like to get back to and I thought we did do that.

"So we'll build from this. Now we've got this big Italy game, which probably will determine if we go to the quarter-finals or not.

"I think this will give us a nice springboard to get into that game.

"I know Namibia is probably targeting the Canada game so they rested a few players. So we won't read too much into the score."

South Africa were skippered by Schalk Brits, who played in an unfamiliar number eight position as Erasmus made 13 changes from the All Blacks defeat.

The 38-year-old former Saracens hooker swapped the front row for the back row and marked the occasion with only his second Test try to complete the scoring in the final 10 minutes.

"Whatever the coach wants, I'll play," Brits said.

"Just to be on the pitch with such a great bunch of boys - it's phenomenal. They (Italy) will bring different challenges.

"We've all watched both of their games and it's a great side, with Conor (O'Shea) in charge.

"We'll analyse them and hopefully we can outsmart them."

Namibia play reigning champions New Zealand next with their hopes of a first World Cup victory resting on their October 13 clash with Canada.

"We came in with a lot of courage, a little bit of flair at times," said Namibia head coach Phil Davies, the former Wales international.

"I'm very proud of the players, playing against South Africa for 20 minutes with 14 men (because of two yellow cards) as well.

"It's a good sort of boost for the players to go into the next game. To keep them to under 60 points is pleasing in some ways.

"We've got a lot to build on and lots to fix. It's just a case of trying to keep the ball and build pressure."

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• Rugby World Cup 2019 Hub Page
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