Boks romp over Romania in Bordeaux, but Koch injury a dampener

The Springboks romped home with a 76-0 win against Romania in their Rugby World Cup pool B match here on Sunday but it was developments before kickoff that had the potential of determining their mood by bed time.

They arrived at Matmut Atlantique, or Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux as World Rugby calls it, amid overcast conditions but the general mood soon grew gloomier after tighthead prop Vincent Koch did himself a mischief in the prematch warm-up.

Medical staff attended to a leg before he was removed from the field. His injury follows that of lock Eben Etzebeth and hooker Malcolm Marx earlier in the week.

With only a few minutes before kickoff, Trevor Nyakane was pressed into a starting role, while Frans Malherbe provided cover on the bench.

More orthopaedic misadventure was something the Boks were hoping to avoid in this match and that they suffered one before kickoff suggests the gods are conspiring against the defending champions.

The last minute rearranging, however, did not deter them from making a flying start in a near carnival atmosphere in this bright and intimate stadium on the northern outskirts of Bordeaux.

Indeed, early on it looked as if the Boks would challenge their biggest win in a Rugby World Cup match. The downpour in the second quarter, though, stunted their progress and that mark remains the 87-0 hammering Peter de Villiers' team handed Namibia in 2011.

Just as the first water break arrived, so too did the rain.

Both water features served to break the Boks' momentum. While efficiency and excellence were within South Africa's grasp in the first 20-odd minutes, the wet ball was hard to master thereafter.

It lashed down properly by the time referee Matthie Raynal blew the halftime whistle with the Boks 33-0 up.

Despite losing their grip on proceedings it was a first half wholly characterised by what unfolded in the first 20 minutes.

The Boks were incisive and in sync. They displayed a ruthless streak. They effortlessly shifted through the gears playing into spaces around the ruck. The Boks' set piece dominance also meant the Romanian forwards were a metre or two off the pace.

The man who profited most in the first half was scrumhalf Reinach, while man of the match Makazole Mapimpi joined the feast in the second. Mapimpi was a man of confident stride.

Few Test scrumhalves, though, are as proficient exploiting space as Reinach.

He ran in three tries in 22 minutes in Kobe's Misaki Stadium in 2019 but it took him two minutes longer this time. He may as well go by the name Try-nach.

The dynamic halfback tormented and teased the Romania defence but his job was made easier by a pack that was firmly in the ascendancy.

Flanks Kwagga Smith and Marco van Staden hustled and bustled, lock Jean Kleyn delivered a shift of honest endeavour and he became even more influential when joined by Munster teammate RG Snyman in the second half.

Snyman's introduction along with that of Deon Fourie as the second half started helped restore shape and direction to the Bok pack. With the ball difficult to handle, they opted to take a more direct route. Shorter passes to a seemingly endless supply of support runners meant Romania's defence crumbled like the Iron Curtain.

They also started the first half on the back foot.

Reinach broke blind from the back of a dominant scrum and sold a dummy before gliding in for the game's opening score.

Willie le Roux's ability to make a defining pass was again in evidence when he drifted diagonally across Romania's 22 and just when it looked as though he was running out of space he offloaded an inside pass to Mapimpi who was left with a simple task.

If that try exposed Romania out wide, Reinach took a more up-the-middle route when he was given far too much space and time.

Damian Willemse's fleet-footedness saw him extricate himself from a tight space before running in the Boks' fourth try inside the first 12 minutes.

Romania, it has to be said, were poor. They were found wanting in the game's basics and for that they were punished. Every incursion they made into the Bok 22 was met with an approving roar.

No 8 Christian Chirica ran with energy and intent into the Bok defence but no further.

It was a stunning performance by the Springboks but Koch's injury will now give them more to ponder.

Scorers

South Africa 76 — Tries: Cobus Reinach (3), Makazole Mapimpi (3), Damian Willemse, Deon Fourie, Grant Williams (2), Willie le Roux, a penalty try. Conversions: Damian Willemse (6), Faf de Klerk.

Romania 0