The Springboks made a phenomenal start against France at Newlands on Saturday, when they opened the try scoring card in just the second minute of action.

Bryan Habana made the best of a French fumble, brushing off the French defence and offloading to Jaque Fourie, who in turn set it up for Pierre Spies, himself having a lot of work to do, before crossing the chalk for the try.

Less than 6 minutes later, the Springboks set up a maul in French territory, moving the ball towards the touchline, and creating space on the inside. Ricky Januarie drifted inside, popping the ball to Aplon who bounced Maxime Mermoz, stepped Morgan Parra and crossed the line for his first international try, in front of his home crown, and in the process showing why, despite his deminutive size, he deserves to be there.

The Springboks could have scored their 3rd try in the 11th minute, when Ricky Januarie chipped superbly for Kirchner to snatch out of the air, stepping the French defence and making his way towards the French line. Then in true Kirchner style, white line fever ensued and he ignored the the host of Springbok support runners, reaching for the line in the tackle and losing the ball in the process. Luckily for the Springboks, the advantage was being played and the Boks took the 3 points.

11 Minutes gone, and the Springboks were leading 17 – 0. From that point on, it was always going to be difficult for France to come back, and to be honest, the Springboks were too good on the day, whilst the French were nothing better than average, and it never looked as if the French would make any kind of decent comeback. The Highlights will tell you the rest.

My two cents worth:

• John Smit, although suffering from a hamstring injury, is in poor shape at the moment. If he is to lead the Springboks to RWC 2011, which they definitely need him to do, he will have to sort something out soon.
• The home based players were amazing in front of the Newlands faithful. Aplon was full of running and scored some flash tries, but the hero of the night had to be Francois “Flouw” Louw, who did the hard graft, forced 5 turnovers, won a number of penalties and scored a well worked try of his own.
• I’m beginning to sound like a stuck record when I complain about Wynand Olivier’s form in the green and gold. I don’t know what happens to his game, but his defence goes right out the window, and he just isn’t anywhere near the same player he is in Super 14.
• Zane Kirchner once again proved that he isn’t the solution for #15. He screwed up a try with his customary white line fever, and almost gave away another with a deja vu fumble reminiscent of last weeks performance against the Welsh. Ricky Januarie cops a lot of flack in this country. Most of the time it’s warranted, but he was good over the last 2 weekends. One criticism I can make, is that he needs to stop looking around whilst at the base of the breakdown, where he often gets knocked off the ball.

Highlights – Springboks VS France 2010: [WRNrugbynews]

Scorecard:

South Africa: 42

• Tries: Spies, Aplon 2, Steenkamp, Louw
• Conversions: Steyn 3, Pienaar
• Penalties: Steyn 3

France: 17

• Tries: Rougerie, Andreu
• Conversions: Parra, Skrela
• Penalties: Parra