SPRINGBOKS' SEASON GETS UNDERWAY 

Eight months since becoming the first team in rugby history to win their fourth World Cup title, South Africa got their international season underway with a one-off test against Wales at the home of English rugby, Twickenham. With the match falling outside of World Rugby's international window, several players were not considered. There were also other reasons for omissions such as players from the Vodacom Bulls that were not considered due to their participation in the final of the United Rugby Championship against the Glasgow Warriors. 

The match started off quite "normally" with the Springboks kicking off onto Welsh inside Centre Mason Grady after which Wales put up one more phase before debutant Ellis Bevan sent the ball high into the London sky onto Aphelele Fassi. The Boks carried up the ball just past the Welsh 10m line before Welsh Number eight Aaron Wainwright was penalized for not rolling away in the tackle. Immediately captain on the day, Pieter-Steph du Toit called for debutant Jordan Hendrikse to have a shot at goal. Unfortunately, the nerves got to him and the shot went wide. 

With Wales having to restart with a 22m drop-out, the Boks seized this opportunity, with some exciting plays between backs and forwards resulting in a try for Jesse Kriel after some excellent passing between him and Makazole Mapimpi just 3 minutes in with the try being converted effortlessly by Hendrikse. After 3 minutes of play, South Africa conceded the same penalty that was conceded by Wales a few minutes earlier with Sam Costelow converting the penalty goal which put the score at 7 - 3 for the Boks. After nine minutes of play, the Boks were given a scrum after Kwagga Smith tried to put his kicking skills to the test, only to kick the ball out on the full, and got the penalty after overpowering the Welsh in that scrum to set up the lineout just inside the opposition's 22m. 

A brilliant run from Evan Roos off a pass by Faf de Klerk saw him go straight through only to be stopped 2 metres from the Welsh tryline. With the support there Franco Mostert charged over only to be held up and Welsh number 11 Rio Dyer being sin-binned for being offside. South Africa opted for the scrum. After the second reset, Welsh hooker Dewi Lake got penalized for standing up with which Faf de Klerk decided to take the quick tap. Ill-discipline cost them a penalty try and another yellow card this time to Number eight Aaron Wainwright with Wales now being down to 13 men. 

In the 29th minute, referee Chris Busby calls time off after it looked like Aphelele Fassie struck a Welsh player with the foot whilst attempting to catch the ball in the air. After careful consideration, Fassi is shown a Yellow Card with the possibility of it to be upgraded to a red card. With that penalty, Wales got the lineout and scored straight after it through hooker Dewi Lake with Costelow adding the extras. 

With six minutes left on the clock until halftime, Costelow added the extras after a penalty for a side entry by Franco Mostert which took the score to 14 - 13 approaching halftime.  

Only a minute and 25 seconds into the second half, Jesse Kriel and Mapimpi combine once again for a brilliant try scored by Mapimpi with Hendrikse adding the extras. The score quickly changed to 24 - 13 after a penalty to the Boks for illegal scrummaging by the Welsh. 

Another silly penalty given away by Wales and another debutant, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, got the chance to add his name to the scorecard after slottong a penalty from just inside his own half to take the score to 27 - 13 with 15 minutes to go. South Africa dotted down for their fourth try of the match through replacement hooker Bongi Mbunambi with Feinberg-Mngomezulu adding the extras.  Edwill van der Merwe, another debutant, also got his name on the scorecard with some fantastic running to burst through the Welsh defence to score underneath the posts to rightfully earn the Man of the Match award on debut. Final score: South Africa 41 - 13 wales.

Even though it wasn't a very polished performance by the Springboks, they still managed to dominate Wales for most of the game. Wales, on the other side were fielding a very young and inexperienced team with many of their big names missing, most notably Dan Biggar and Leigh Halfpenny. I do believe that the Boks' coaching staff would be pleased to start off their international season with a win. 

They will now set their sights on the two-match test series against the only team who managed to beat them in last year's Rugby World Cup, Ireland. Rassie will have some homework to do come selection time as most of the players who were not considered, will be eligible for selection along woth the players from the Bulls.  

After watching this game, although it wasn't as exciting as we have known Bokrugby to be, I can't wait to see how they will go up against Ireland with the first test takng place at Loftus Versveld on the 6th of July. Kickoff is at 5pm CAT.