Jóhann Thormählen
Cool heads by the Springbok half-back pairing and calm officiating under pressure by Ben O’Keeffe helped South Africa secure a convincing victory to square the series against the British and Irish Lions.
Faf de Klerk and Handré Pollard showed their class and respectively created both Bok tries with clever kicks to round off a dominant performance in the second test at the Cape Town Stadium.
The Boks beat the British Lions 27-9 and made the series 1-1, with the final test to be played next week.
A lot of questions were asked during the week and South Africa answered. They were up for the physical battle, scrummed like trojans and the Bok bench made the so-called “bomb squad” count.
So much so that the British Lions couldn’t score in the second half, were forced into mistakes and didn’t handle the pressure well.
Talking about handling pressure – that was something O’Keeffe and his officials got right. After a bizarre week leading up to test and the controversial video from Rassie Erasmus, the South African Director of Rugby, about referee decisions in the first test, the spotlight was on the officials.
They also got both yellow cards, Duhan van der Merwe of the visitors and Cheslin Kolbe of South Africa, spot on in the first half.
After the break, when the British Lions were still leading 9-6, it was only the Boks.
Pollard gave a perfect cross kick for Makazole Mapimpi to score, while De Klerk kicked the ball over the British Lions line for Lukhanyo Am to get the second try in the 61th minute.
Bok replacements Lood de Jager, Trevor Nyakane, Malcolm Marx and Vincent Koch provided firepower in the second half, while captain Siya Kolisi led from the front.
Point scorers:
Springboks 27 (6): Tries: Makazole Mapimpi, Lukhanyo Am. Conversion: Handré Pollard. Penalties: Pollard (5).
British Lions 9 (9): Penalties: Dan Biggar (3).
Image source: @Springboks
