LONDON (AP) — Two brilliant solo tries by Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu highlighted South Africa’s 61-7 win against Japan at a wet Wembley on Saturday.
The Springboks scored nine tries to one, the power and speed of the recent back-to-back Rugby Championship winners too hot for Japan in their first matchup since the 2019 World Cup quarterfinals.
The Springboks’ lineout drive and Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s silky skills led them to a commanding 26-0 lead by halftime.
The game served as a lead-in for South Africa’s showdown with Six Nations champion France in Paris next Saturday.
A first-minute high tackle on Feinberg-Mngomezulu immediately put South Africa on attack and captain Siya Kolisi scored the first try in a maul.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu then scored from his own chip and converted, and minutes later the flyhalf sold a dummy and scored again but couldn’t convert as the Springboks were 19-0 up after 18 minutes.
Prop Ox Nche left injured but just before the break the Sprinngboks’ lineout maul was pulled down, earning a penalty try and a yellow card for Japan tighthead Shuhei Takeuchi.
In the second half, Japan went down to 13 briefly after flanker Ben Gunter was yellow-carded.
The Springboks took advantage as good handling by Cheslin Kolbe, Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Kwagga Smith set up a first test try for replacement prop Wilco Louw in his 25th cap.
Japan, down a man, managed to get a converted try thanks to a quick tapped penalty by fullback Yoshitaka Yazaki.
But at 33-7, the Boks ran riot in the last half-hour. Kurt-Lee Arendse scored the first of his two tries from a stolen lineout, and more tries by Andre Esterhuizen and Jesse Kriel took them past 60 for a team-record score against Japan.
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AP rugby:
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