Kolbe stars as brilliant Boks bounce back

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Cheslin Kolbe scored two tries as the Springboks hammered the All Blacks in Wellington on Saturday. SIMON BORCHARDT reports.

The Boks trailed 10-7 at the break after failing to convert their territorial dominance into points, but crossed the line five times in a superb second-half performance to claim a 43-10 bonus-point win (their biggest-ever against the All Blacks), retain the Freedom Cup and return to the top of the World Rugby rankings.

The world champions have 10 log points after four rounds of the competition, the same as the All Blacks, with two matches against Argentina to come. The Wallabies top the log with 11 points, while Los Pumas have nine.

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A much-changed Springbok team made a fast start to the match, regaining possession straight from the kick-off and winning a penalty that was kicked to the corner. But the lineout was lost, with Malcolm Marx unable to find Ruan Nortje. Minutes later, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu failed to find touch from a penalty.

Cheslin Kolbe did well to chase down Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s grubber but had the ball ripped out of his grasp over the tryline by Jordie Barrett. RG Snyman, who’d replaced an injured Lood de Jager early on, then went over from close range only for the TMO to spot a knock-on from Cobus Reinach.

In stark contrast, the All Blacks scored from their first entry into the opposition 22 through debutant winger Leroy Carter, with Feinberg-Mngomezulu leaving the field for a failed HIA. But the Boks hit back when Kolbe scored an interception try after reading Billy Proctor’s pass to perfection.

McKenzie regained the lead for the All Blacks with a penalty, before the Boks lost Aphelele Fassi to a leg injury late in the half, with Andre Esterhuizen coming into the midfield and Damian Willemse moving to fullback.

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Props Jan-Hendrik Wessels and Wilco Louw made an immediate impact after coming on early in second half, with a dominant scrum leading to Kolbe’s second try. Manie Libbok kicked the conversion and added a penalty after a no-arms tackle from Tupou Vaa’i on Kolbe that forced the winger to leave the field.

With 20 minutes to go, a brilliant lineout steal from Nortje resulted in a try to Willemse.

Kwagga Smith then dotted down after a storming run from Ethan Hooker, before Snyman and Esterhuizen completed the rout.

Photo: Joe Allison/Getty Images

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