Joost's hat-trick sparks the Springboks

Goal-kicking a major Bok concern

The Springboks, sparked by a two-try blitz from captain Joost van der Westhuizen inside the first five minutes, scored 12 tries, some thoroughly entertaining, as they overpowered minnows Uruguay by 72-6 at the Subiaco Oval in Perth on Day Two of the 2003 Rugby World Cup.

Van der Westhuizen, who stood in as captain for the injured Corné Krige, completed his hat-trick in the second half.

In a game, which in fairness had many positives, the biggest headache for Bok coach Rudolf Straeuli would have been the team's woeful goal-kicking, especially with England up next, where they will not have as many scoring opportunities as they did against Los Teros on Saturday.

And we all know that in Johnny Wilkinson England have a world class goal-kicker, which means that the 50 percent strike rate of fly-halves Louis Koen (five out of nine) and Derick Hougaard (one out of three) will not be acceptable.

A fifty percent success-rate at this level of the game is shocking!

But let's focus on the positives first.

Under the astute guidance of Van der Westhuizen, the Boks flexed their muscles from the opening kick-off, smashing the Uruguayans out of the way to score inside the first minute when the captain strolled over.

The official clock had not yet reached five minutes when Van der Westhuizen scored his second try, as the Boks enjoyed a monopoly of possession and territory.

The Boks continued to dominate both these facets of play as the Uruguayans hardly saw the ball. In the first 15 minutes the Boks had 77 percent possession and spent 80 percent of the time in the South American's half.

The third try came in the 19th minute when impressive flanker Joe van Niekerk burst over, with the bonus point secured in the 29th minute when lock Bakkies Botha added his name to the scoresheet.

Koen kicked just two of his four conversions in this period.

Los Teros had six points (two penalties) as reward for some very brave defence, but with the game long over as a contest, it was simply a case of how long South Africa keep kept their structure.

Another two tries and a Koen conversion saw the Boks lead 36-6 at the break.

The avalanche of tries continued after the break, and included Van der Westhuizen's third - which pushed his try-scoring record for South Africa to 38.

But the Boks steadily lost their concentration, as they started to tire, and mistakes started to creep into their game.

On the whole they can be happy that they beat a bunch of amateur minnows convincingly, but there were still far too many handling errors and lapses in concentration which will cost them dearly against a team like England.

The Bok defence stood firm and the fact that they didn't concede a try certainly counts in their favour.

As for Uruguay, they simply never saw enough of the ball to have been a threat - with the Boks enjoying an advantage of 58 percent in the possession stakes at the end of the game.

Los Teros certainly did not lack bravery, but they were also no match for the faster, bigger, stronger Boks.

Man of the match: Three tries and a good all-round game; stand-in captain Joost van der Westhuizen had one of those days players dream about. Not his greatest ever match in the Green and Gold, but Van der Westhuizen still did enough to earn our award.

Moment of the match: In the 35th minute the Boks ran the ball out from their own 22 and De Wet Barry put Jaque Fourie into space, with Fourie sprinting 70 metres downfield to score a brilliant try as he weaved his way past defenders.

Villain(s) of the match: This goes to the two goal-kickers, Louis Koen and Derick Hougaard, who managed a poor 50 percent strike rate - with Koen even resorting to drop-goals to convert tries.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Tries: Van der Westhuizen 3, Van Niekerk, Botha 2, Delport, Fourie, Bands, Rossouw, Scholtz, Greeff
Cons: Koen 5, Hougaard

For Uruguay:
Pens: D Aguirre 2

The teams:

South Africa: 15 Werner Greeff, 14 Ashwin Willemse, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 De Wet Barry, 11 Thinus Delport (Ricardo Loubscher, 67), 10 Louis Koen (Derick Hougaard, 60), 9 Joost van der Westhuizen (captain, Neil de Kock, 60), 8 Juan Smith, 7 Danie Rossouw (Hendro Scholtz, 71), 6 Joe van Niekerk, 5 Victor Matfield (Selborne Boome, 68), 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Richard Bands (Faan Rautenbach, 56), 2 Danie Coetzee (John Smit, 56), 1 Lawrence Sephaka.

Uruguay: 15 Joaqui Pastore, 14 Alfonso Cardoso (Juan Ramon Menchaca, 58), 13 Diego Aguirre (captain), 12 Martin Mendaro, 11 Emiliano Ibarra, 10 Sebastian Aguirre (Bernardo Amarillo, 60), 9 Emiliano Caffera, 8 Rodrigo Capo, 7 Mercelo Guttierrez (Nicolas Grille, 68), 6 Nicolas Brignoni (Hernan Ponte, 58), 5 Juan Carlos Bado, 4 Juan Alzueta, 3 Pablo Lemoine (Guillermo Storace, 70), 2 Diego Lamelas (Juan Andres Perez, 68), 1 Rodrigo Sanchez (Eduardo Berruti, 36-38, 60).

By Jan de Koning