BLOW BY BLOW | Reinach, Mapimpi hat-tricks help Boks to big win

**** 4.49pm - 80min - Full Time - SA 76 Rom 0 - ****

Boks get a victory by almost 80 points in Bordeaux ... win No 2 of RWC 2023. They will be pleased with the day out, and two hat-tricks - to Mapimpi and Reinach. Good day at the office by a mixed-strength team. Romania gave their best but convincingly overwhelmed.

4.42pm - 75min

De Klerk misses conversion attempt

4.41pm - 74min - Try! - SA 75 Rom 0

Line-out to Boks on the left at the halfway line, moved across field, again Romania cannot keep up as Willie le Roux ghosts through on the right.

4.37pm - 69min - Conversion - SA 71 Rom 0

De Klerk gets conversion from difficult angle

4.35pm - 68min - Try! - SA 69 Rom 0

Ruck on the right, swung across field - Mapimpi on the left glides to No 3! De Klerk beautiful floated pass again

4.32pm - 65min 

De Klerk misses conversion attempt from difficult angle

4.31pm - 64min - Try! - SA 64 Rom 0

From the kickoff Boks swing from their own 22 to the left, Mapimpi streaks free, beats opposite number, runs almost length of the field for his first dot of the game! Poor Romania 

4.30pm - 63min - Conversion - SA 59 Rom 0

De Klerk (so involved already) slots easy one

4.29pm - 62min - Try! - SA 57 Rom 0

Boks have a scrum deep in their half in their left. De Klerk little inside ball puts Williams through for his second Test try!

4.23pm - 59min

Faf De Klerk has come on for the Boks, taking his place at flyhalf in place of Willemse

4.20pm - 56min - Conversion - SA 52 Rom 0

Willemse easy slot

The rain has stopped - drier ball making it easier for Bok passing movements again

4.19pm - 55min - Try! SA 50 Rom 0

Grant Williams beautiful jinking run rounds off great move - dots under poles

4.17pm - 53min - Penalty Try! - SA 45 Rom 0

Huge scrum again = penalty try to Boks 

4.14pm - 52min

Willemse gets over for the dot but Moodie was obstructing - TMO overrules try

Boks still have penalty advantage - take the scrum

4.11pm - 47min

SUBS UPDATE:

The halftime subs were RG Snyman and Deon Fourie on for Mbonambi and Orie

Then a third replacement for the Boks as Hendrikse comes on for Reinach at scrumhalf

... Romania get rare pressure of Bok tryline - penalty allows SA to clear ...

4.07pm - 44min

Willemse misses the conversion

4.06pm - 43min - Try! SA 38 Rom 0

Deon Fourie, off the bench, gets over the line on the left in RWC debut at 36!

4.05pm - 43min

After perhaps taking some pedal off the metal after a huge start in the first half, Boks make the big, physical, running contacts working their way back to a metre from Romania's line

4.02pm - 41min

Romania flyhalf Hinckley Vaovasa kicks off second half

3.55pm - HT

It's tough on these rugby streets again for your football writer Live Blog scribe, trying to keep up with the pace of the scores there in France. How will the second half be?

**** - 3.48pm - 40min - Half Time - SA 33 Rom 0 - ****

Rain teeming down in Bordeaux. It's the break

3.44pm - 38min

Penalty middle of the field to Romania - 45min out - they kick themselves to the 10m line, but they're penalised for holding on

Crowd in Stade de Bordeaux baying for the Europeans to get on the board

3.41pm - 35min

Bok kickahead - Grant Williams chases and is beaten by the dead ball line 

But Romania are harder to break now, and they make the odd foray into the Bok half

3.40pm - 34min

Some consolidation again by Romania. But ... Nick Mallet said before the game he thought the Boks should get 60pts on the board ... they are well on their way

3.36pm - 30min

Here are the tries, below:

3.32pm - 25min - Conversion - SA 33 Rom 0

Willemse slots from tight angle - getting a good kicking rhythm 

3.31pm - 24min - Try! - SA 31 Rom 0

Boks big scrum, ball pops out, Reinach dots hat-trick.

3.30pm - 23min

Boks line-out 10m line ... they maul to a metre - scrum Romania

3.28pm - 21min

Romania kick for ground with the penalty - rare territory up the left, Boks recover it, clear

3.24pm - 20min

Romania have toughened up from the early onslaught they weathered. Tougher defence, they get a penalty, make some ground, line-out, maul into the Boks' half. They make some runs

No score to the Boks for the last 8min as Romania regroup to some extent

Another penalty Romania, just inside Bok half on the right

And a water break

3.20pm - 16min

Line-out Boks, 15m out on the left, maul over the line - Marco van Staden gets the dot

... TMO has a look - NO TRY ... for obstruction

3.17pm - 14min

Some respite for Romania. They get a penalty on the left. Right wing Tevita Manumua misses way right. But they get a breather from the scoring

They could have (should have?) kicked for ground - tried for points on the board instead

3.13pm - 12min - Conversion - SA 26 Rom 0

Willemse slots

3.12pm 11mon - Try! SA 24 Rom 0

Again, super easy, Willemse scythes through, dots just to the left of the poles

3.11pm - 10min - Conversion - SA 19 Rom 0

Willemse slots

3.10pm - 9min - Try! - SA 17 Rom 0

Yep, far too easy at the start ... Reinach picks up at a ruck and sees the gap in front of him again, runs through to dot between poles

3.09pm - 8min - Conversion - SA 12 Rom 0

Willemse through the middle

3.08pm - 7min Try! - SA 10 Rom 0

Line-out on the right, swung to the left, Romanian backline easily outpaced, Mapimpi cuts in and goes over

3.06pm - 4min

Willemse misses the conversion attempt from quite far on the right. 

3.05pm - 3min - Try! - SA 5 Rom 0

Big scrum ... Reinach picks up from the scrum and has a bus width to run through and dot on the right.

From the KO there was a line-out, a penalty, scrum, try, Boks on the board

3.04pm - 2min

Penalty advantage to Boks, knock-on, scrum called 15m from the line on the right

3.02pm - 1min

Damian Willemse kicks us off!

2.57pm

Injury update, position switch:

As the teams line up for the anthems, news that Vincent Koch (prop, No 3) pulled up injured in the warm-up and has been replaced in the starting XV by Trevor Nyakane.

2.51pm

Below, Schalk Burger, Jean de Villiers, and Justin Marshall discuss the hooker position in the Springbok team after Malcolm Marx's injury on SuperSport TV.

2.43pm

Again the teams and how the line up below ...

2.30pm

Watch all the latest Springbok videos from the Oovuu.com agency below:

2.25pm

How the official website, RugbyWorldCup.com, profiles the game:

South Africa mixed physicality and pacy brilliance in equal measure when they beat Scotland 18-3 in Marseille seven days ago. We should expect more of the same, despite a much-changed team

Head coach Jacques Nienaberhas made 14 changes to his starting XV following their 18-3 victory against Scotland. Damian Willemse is the only player to keep his place, though the Stormers utility back starts at flyhalf instead of full-back.

A cornerstone of the Springboks’ campaign at RWC 2019 was the manner in which squad players stood up when called on, enabling the coaching staff to rest key personnel. Jacques Nienaber will want to see something similar this afternoon.

Eugen Apjok’s Romania, meanwhile, showed glimpses of genuine quality despite losing 82-8 to Ireland last weekend - they shocked Andy Farrell's side into action with an early try. Going up against the first and second-ranked sides in the world in a week is as tough as it gets, but Oaks will be out to impress against the Springboks this afternoon.

FIXTURE HISTORY

South Africa and Romania face each other in a test match for only the second time today. They last met in Cape Town during Rugby World Cup 1995.

MEMORABLE MATCH

It was 30 May, 1995. Adriaan Richter scored two tries to help South Africa to a 21-8 win against the Oaks in front of 45,000 fans at Newlands in both sides’ second match of that year’s Rugby World Cup.

The Springboks had already beaten Australia, and would later get the better of Canada, Western Samoa, France and New Zealand to lift the Webb Ellis Cup.

KEY TALKING POINT

The RWC-ending injury to South African hooker Malcolm Marx has dominated headlines out of their Toulon base camp. But we cannot ignore, either, coach Nienaber’s decision to select four scrumhalves for this match.

Cobus Reinach starts at scrumhalf, with Jaden Hendrikse providing cover off the replacements’ bench; Grant Williams shows his versatility by starting on the right wing, and Faf de Klerk will provide flyhalf cover from the bench. After the notorious 7-1 bench against New Zealand, Nienaber and Erasmus are maintaining the innovation…

PLAYER HEAD-TO-HEAD

Damian Willemse v Hinckley Vaovasa. Forget the impending scrumhalf chaos and look one position further out, as Willemse swaps in for Manie Libbok in the Springbok ranks to team up with Cobus Reinach at the hinge for the first time.

It's the second time in as many matches that Vaovasa has been highlighted here. But it's thoroughly deserved. He keeps his place at flyhalf for Romania after a fine afternoon's work against Ireland in what was only his second test start at 10. He beat nine defenders – only New Zealand’s Mark Telea managed more in the first block of matches. South Africa will have to watch him.

STATS-AMAZING

Dean Fourie, who normally plays in the back row, covers the hooker spot on the bench against Romania. Fourie, who wore the number 2 shirt at under-19 level for South Africa, became the oldest test debutant in Springbok history in a 13-12 defeat by Wales in July 2022, three months shy of his 36th birthday.

REF WATCH

Mathieu Raynal (France). The French referee took charge of England’s match against Argentina in Marseille last weekend - and showed the tournament’s first red card to Tom Curry, following a review process by the Foul Play Review Officer in the ‘bunker’.

2.21pm

Scenes from Bordeaux and elsewhere as kickoff approaches (39min to go) ... 

12.05pm

... and now we wait ...

12.04pm

Here is some of Liam Del Carme's build-up to this match to digest while we await kickoff ...

12.03pm

Some more factoids on the stadium and region:

Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux

The Matmut Atlantique[3], also known as the Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux, is a football stadium in Bordeaux, France. It is the home of Ligue 2 club FC Girondins de Bordeaux and seats 42,115 spectators. - Wikipedia

Bordeaux

Bordeaux (/bɔːrˈdoʊ/ bor-DOH, French: [bɔʁdo] i; Gascon Occitan: Bordèu [buɾˈðɛw]; Basque: Bordele) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture of the Gironde department. Its inhabitants are called “Bordelais” (masculine) or “Bordelaises” (feminine). The term “Bordelais” may also refer to the city and its surrounding region.

The city of Bordeaux proper had a population of 259,809 in 2020 within its small municipal territory of 49 km2 (19 sq mi),[8] but together with its suburbs and exurbs the Bordeaux metropolitan area had a population of 1,376,375 that same year (Jan. 2020 census),[7] the sixth-most populated in France after Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Lille, and Toulouse. - Wikipedia

12.02pm

Some match details are:

Kickoff: 3pm

Venue: Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux

Capacity: 42,115

Referee: Mathieu Raynal, France

Assistant referees: Angus Gardner, Australia; Pierre Brousset, France 

TMO: Brett Cronan, Australia

11.52am

The Springbok team named by coach Jacques Nienaber on Wednesday for this clash was: 

Springbok XV:

15 — Willie le Roux (Bulls) — 88 caps, 65 pts (13t)

14 — Grant Williams (Sharks) — 6 caps, 0 points

13 — Canan Moodie (Bulls) — 8 caps, 20 pts (4t)

12 — André Esterhuizen (Harlequins) — 14 caps, 0 pts

11 — Makazole Mapimpi (Sharks) — 39 caps, 115 pts (23t)

10 — Damian Willemse (Stormers) — 34 caps, 41 pts (3t, 4c, 4pg, 2dg)

9 — Cobus Reinach (Montpellier) — 27 caps, 45 pts (9t)

8 — Duane Vermeulen (SA Rugby) — 71 caps, 15 pts (3t)

7 — Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs) — 34 caps, 30 pts (6t)

6 — Marco van Staden (Bulls) — 15 caps, 0 points

5 — Marvin Orie (Stormers) — 14 caps, 0 pts

4 — Jean Kleyn (Munster) — 4 caps, 0 pts (Ireland 5 caps)

3 — Vincent Koch (Sharks) — 46 caps, 0 pts

2 — Bongi Mbonambi (captain, Sharks) — 63 caps, 65 points (13t)

1 — Ox Nche (Sharks) — 22 caps, 0 points

Replacements:

16 — Deon Fourie (Stormers) — 7 caps, 0 pts

17 — Steven Kitshoff (Ulster) — 77 caps, 10 points (2t)

18 — Trevor Nyakane (Racing 92) — 63 caps, 5 points (1t)

19 — RG Snyman (Munster) — 29 caps, 5 points (1t)

20 — Jasper Wiese (Leicester Tigers) — 24 caps, 5 points (1t)

21 — Jaden Hendrikse (Sharks) — 13 caps, 12 pts (2t, 1c)

22 — Faf de Klerk (Eagles) — 50 caps, 46 points (5t, 3c, 5pg)

23 — Jesse Kriel (Eagles) — 63 caps, 70 points (14t)

And this is the XV and the replacements named by Romania coach Eugen Apjok:

Romania XV:

15 — Marius Simionescu

14 — Tevita Manumua

13 — Jason Tomane

12 — Taylor Gontineac

11 — Nicholas Onutu

10 — Hinckley Vaovasa

9 — Gabriel Rupanu

8 — Cristian Chirica (captain)

7 — Vlad Neculau

6 — Andre Gorin

5 — Marius Iftimiciuc

4 — Adrian Motoc

3 — Alexandru Gordas

2 — Ovidiu Cojocaru

1 — Iulian Hartig.

Replacements: 

16 — Robert Irimescu

17 — Alexandru Savin

18 — Thomas Cretu

19 — Stefan Iancu

20 — Damian Stratila

21 — Cristi Bovoc

22 — Alin Conache

23 — Gabriel Pop

Sunday September 17, 11.18am

Marc Strydom, sports editor of TimesLIVE/Arena Holdings Digital, here again as your Live Blog host of the Springboks' second match of the 2023 Rugby World Cup, against Romania in Bordeaux.

These updates coming to you live from me, the football writer and once great rugby enthusiast, interest greatly rekindled by this excellent team Rassie and Jacques have built, from my living room in Melville, Johannesburg again.

Arena Holdings' senior rugby writer Liam Del Carme is in Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux for the game, and do enjoy his match report and further post-match analysis later.

Catch up some of Liam's build-up, and his and TimesLIVE, Sunday Times and TimesLIVE Premium's coverage of the tournament here.

All the 2023 Rugby World Cup pools, fixtures and results are here.

And also worth having a read of are the:

TIMESLIVE WORLD CUP PROFILES

Pools:

Pool A | Pool B | Pool C | Pool D

Star players:

Damian Penaud, France | Canan Moodie, South Africa | Selestino Ravutaumada, Fiji | Ardie Savea, New Zealand | Will Skelton, Australia | Johnny Sexton, Ireland | Antoine Dupont, France 

Some match details to follow ...