Aplon brace as Boks cruise
Superb tries either side of half time from winger Gio Aplon inspired South Africa to a comfortable victory over France at Newlands.
Last Updated: 12/06/10 3:32pm
Superb tries either side of half time from winger Gio Aplon inspired South Africa to a comfortable 42-17 victory over France at Newlands.
The youngster, who only made his debut against Wales last week, scored his first points after just eight minutes on his home ground and doubled his tally with fine solo effort nine minutes after the interval.
Pierre Spies had earlier set the crowd alight with a superb score as early as the second minute, while there were further tries from prop Gurthro Steenkamp and Francois Louw.
Another fine kicking performance from Morne Steyn saw the fly-half finish with a personal tally of 15 points, while France saw Aurelien Rougerie go over in the first-half and replacement Marc Andreu score a late consolation.
But the French were never really in the game after the hosts raced into a 17-0 lead after the first quarter, Steyn adding a penalty and two conversions to the early tries.
The opener came thanks to a fine piece of opportunism from Bryan Habana, who picked up a loose ball before pulling clear of the tacklers in his own half, off-loading to Jaque Fourie who in turn found Spies on the overlap for a fabulous score under the posts.
The France line-out had already faltered and moments later Aplon pounced on another loose ball, bouncing off Maxime Mermoz before deftly side-stepping Vincent Clerc for an eye-catching touchdown.
Held up
The Springbox could taste French blood and came inches away from adding a third shortly afterwards, Zane Kirchner held up a metre short by Rougerie but with the defence coming over the top, Steyn opted to take the three.
Desperate defence from the tourists unfortunately led to South Africa extending the lead still further via Steyn's boot after full-back Poitrenaud failed to release.
France, obviously keen to run the ball being so far behind, got their first points on the board on the half-hour mark when Rougerie finished off a great move that went through Mermoz and Julien Bonnaire.
Morgan Parra added the extras but it was not long before the Springboks scored their third try, Steyn missing out three team-mates with a looping pass that found Steenkamp in space on the left to power over.
Steyn missed his only kick of the day but the hosts went into the break with a 15-point cushion, France spending the remainder of the half on the offensive before finally opting for goal after another Bok penalty - Parra nudging it over from close range.
France did not exactly emerge a different team after the turnaround, Steyn adding another three points to the advantage after France collapsed a scrum, and within five minutes of the restart the game was beyond them.
The visitors were closing on the South Africa try-line but Mermoz dropped the ball allowing Aplon to collect, the youngster embarking on a spectacular diagonal run that took him all the way to the other end.
This time Steyn did add the conversion to make the score 35-10, and the teams merely played out the final half hour - debutant Flip van der Merwe and French replacement Dimitri Yachvili spending time in the sin-bin before Louw barged over for his team's fifth try with five minutes remaining, Ruan Pienaar kicking the extras.
In a messy finale, winger Andreu touched down next to the posts for France's consolation score with David Skrela completing the scoring.
