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Exhibition rugby was celebrated at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha on Saturday as the Springboks and Barbarians played with a smile, not a care in the world and without the pressure and expectation of a Test match environment.This was festival stuff, devoid of intensity and there won’t be anything for England to take from the Springboks’ performance against the Barbarians.The Boks won 80-31, having led 40-26 at halftime.This was a match the Boks were never going to lose, and it was a contact hit-out session in which several players returned from injury or inactivity due to early departures from the United Rugby Championship.The Barbarians, together for a few days and asked to play on natural instinct with the freedom of amateur-day rugby spirit, were true to tradition by scoring three tries in a handful of minutes.They had played their part and the Boks, having scored five converted tries in the opening 30 minutes, had done their bit to market the start of the international season.The value of the past two weeks for Bok coach Rassie Erasmus was that he could work with 50-odd players and give 46 of them game time for South Africa A against Zimbabwe and for the Boks against the Barbarians. It allowed him to include many players from the SA under-20 side in both teams, including captain Riley Norton, who has yet to play for the Stormers.Norton and SA U20 flyhalf Vusi Moyo were part of the Springbok match 23, and there were 11 players younger than 21 in the SA A team that beat Zimbabwe 45-nil in the earlier match.Norton scored a popular try for the Boks in the first 30 minutes and was a strong presence throughout the 82 minutes.Any attempt to analyse the match would be dipping into fantasy because it was exhibition, played with little structure and even less shape.Erasmus’s biggest gain from the match was veteran flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit starting and playing 72 minutes. He missed the entire Japanese club season due to injury, but typical of his pedigree and engine, he showed the determination and athleticism that has won him the World Player of the Year award on two occasions.Bok winger Cheslin Kolbe’s goalkicking was another positive in the opening half hour. He kicked his first five conversions, played 10 minutes at scrumhalf and scored a try from the base of an attacking scrum.Erasmus cleared the bench before the 50th minute, having gotten 46 minutes from his loose-trio of captain Siya Kolisi, Du Toit and No 8 Jasper Wiese.Du Toit was back on 10 minutes later due to an ankle injury to lock Franco Mostert.Grant Williams started at No 9, did a spell in the sin bin but got through the match without further injury complications, with double World Cup winner Faf de Klerk coming off the bench in the final 30 minutes.Quan Horn started at No 10 and finished at fullback, with Moyo making his international debut at flyhalf. Left winger Edwill van der Merwe scored three tries and had one disallowed. He was named Player of the Match.There was time for one maul try and a few scrum penalties, but the Springboks, whose Test season starts in the Nations Championship against England at Ellis Park on July 4, will look vastly different as a match 23.Of those who played against the Barbarians, it would be a surprise if more than eight play against England. They will also play very differently.
