SA wrap up bonus point in first half

HT: South Africa 31 Namibia 0

Bryan Habana became South Africa’s record try scorer as the Springboks wrapped up a bonus-point despite a scrappy first-half display against Namibia at North Harbour Stadium.

The winger registered the second of South Africa’s four tries, being put clear by Danie Rossouw for a simple run-in to move beyond the mark of 38 he shared with 1995 World Cup winner Joost van der Westhuizen.

The other five-pointers came from Gio Aplon, Jaque Fourie and a penalty try, with fly-half Morne Steyn converting all four tries and a penalty.

Pool D minnows Namibia enjoyed an early period of possession but Steyn’s penalty booted the Springboks into a fourth-minute lead.

The first try came just three minutes later as Namibia were robbed in contact and Francis Hougaard sent Aplon clear.

Hougaard had a try called back but there then followed a scrappy passage of play with the Boks making a plethora of handling errors and allowing Namibia, whose flankers Jacques Burger and Tinus du Plessis were getting through a mountain of work, to stay in the game.

But South Africa’s second try arrived after 21 minutes with Rossouw’s cut-out pass giving Habana a straightforward score to go to the head of the Boks tryscoring list.

While South Africa’s all-round game had lacked accuracy, their scrum was, as expected, proving far too strong for their opponents and that power yielded a penalty try on the half-hour mark after Namibia’s front-row were pulverised once again.

And Fourie rounded off the first-half scoring as Francois Steyn’s half-break and smart offload saw him canter in by the posts.