South Africa beat New Zealand 35-7 in the World Cup warm-up match at Twickenham after the All Blacks’ Scott Barrett was sent off
At last some full-throttle rugby to raise the pulse in south-west London. It may have been a frustrating August for English supporters but here was the thunderous real deal, disguised as a so-called friendly. If this was a warm-up, those about to encounter a rampant South Africa at next month’s World Cup should brace themselves for something massively impactful.By the end it was about as grisly a dress rehearsal as New Zealand could possibly have experienced.
On this evidence the Boks will make mincemeat of one or two packs at the World Cup, though they will be relieved that Pieter-Steph du Toit was shown only a yellow card for a stiff arm challenge on New Zealand’s captain, Sam Cane. Cam Roigard did put the All Blacks on the scoreboard with eight minutes left but, by then, a stark message had been delivered. The sheer amount of pre-matchsmoke in the Twickenham air had already given the occasion a distinctive flavour. Short of the Rugby Football Union’s chief executive changing his name to Biltong Sweeney for the evening it could hardly have felt more like a South African home game.
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