Sacha has magic feel for the game, says coach Rassie

SPRINGBOK coach Rassie Erasmus is delighted with his team’s 61-7 defeat of Japan at the weekend, but says the match was always a warm-up for this week’s monumental encounter with France in Paris.

- MIKE GREENAWAY

The Boks scored eight tries and were awarded a penalty try in shutting out Eddie Jones’ side. While the game had the potential to be tricky, South Africa closed the Japanese down from the first whistle to the last.

“We have to give credit to the whole team,” said Erasmus. “Some of the players had not played for us in a while, such as Gerhard (Steenekamp), Franco (Mostert), Johan (Grobbelaar), Andre (Esterhuizen) at No 7, and Zachary (Porthen), who made his debut.

“And then if you look at a player like Sacha (Feinberg-Mngomezulu) ~ who scored two tries in the match - he played for us for the SA ‘A’ team three years ago, and he worked with the coaches on that tour.