2019 Rugby World Cup

South Africa 66 – 7 Canada

South Africa produced a dazzling first-half display as they confirmed their place in the World Cup quarter-finals with a big win over 14-man Canada.

The Springboks ran in seven tries in the first half, with scrum-half Cobus Reinach notching the fastest hat-trick in World Cup history after 20 minutes.

Canada had Josh Larsen sent off for a charging into a ruck before half-time.

The minnows scored first in the second half through Matt Heaton but South Africa ran in three more tries.

Schalk Brits, Damian Willemse and Frans Malherbe all went over following tries from Reinach, Damian de Allende, S’busiso Nkosi, Warrick Gelant and Frans Steyn in the opening 40 minutes.

Rassie Erasmus’s side go top of Pool B but defending champions New Zealand – who beat the Springboks earlier in the tournament – are expected to defeat Italy on Saturday to win the group.

Canada, ranked 22nd in the world, will seek to end their World Cup with victory over Namibia on Sunday.

Reinach hat-trick as Springboks blitz Canada
South Africa, fielding 13 changes from the side that beat Italy on Friday, got off to the perfect start with tries in the first six minutes from centre De Allende and wing Nkosi.

But it was Reinach who made the biggest impression with three tries in 10 minutes.

His first try was arguably the best of the match. The Northampton Saints scrum-half sliced through the defence, chipped the full-back and caught the ball on the bounce before accelerating away to score.

He secured his team’s bonus point after just 17 minutes, diving over the line after his forwards had smashed their way through.

Reinach’s third arrived three minutes later, the scrum-half running through after the Springboks once again cut the Canadian defence wide open.

Warrick Gelant scored in the corner as the one-way traffic continued and things got worse for Canada when replacement forward Larsen was sent off for for flying into a ruck with his shoulder, hitting Thomas du Toit neck high and leaving referee Luke Pearce with no option but to produce the red card.

Phil Mack’s sloppy pass was then intercepted by Steyn, who touched down for the seventh first-half try.

Elton Jantjies kicked his sixth conversion to make it 47 unanswered points in a thoroughly miserable 40 minutes for Canada.

LINE-UPS
South Africa: Willemse; Gelant, De Allende, Steyn, Nkosi; Jantjies, Reinach; T Du Toit, Brits, Koch, Snyman, Mostert, Kolisi (capt), Smith, Louw.

Replacements: Marx, Kitshoff, Malherbe, Ebtzebeth, P Du Toit, Jantjies, Pollard, Le Roux.

Canada: Coe; Hassler, Trainor, Hearn, Van der Merwe; Nelson, Mack; Buydens, Quattrin, Ilnicki, Olmstead, Baillie, Rumball, Heaton, Ardron (capt).

Replacements: Piffero, Sears-Duru, Tierney, Larsen, Sheppard, Mackenzie, O’Leary, Du Toit

In other news – Sizwe Dhlomo dragged for defending the Fergusons – They took all the risks

Sizwe Dhlomo found himself in the midst of a Twitter storm on Monday evening when he was accused of defending Connie and Shona Ferguson, owners of Ferguson Films, against allegations of mistreating actors.

Sizwe Dhlomo
Sizwe Dhlomo

Sizwe weighed in on claims contained in an open letter by iGazi actress Vatiswa Ndara to arts and culture minister Nathi Mthethwa on Monday. continue reading

Source: BBC