South Africa delivered a dominant performance at Twickenham, thrashing a 14-man New Zealand 35-7 in a Rugby World Cup warm-up match. The Springboks ran in five tries, with their forwards overpowering the All Blacks in the scrum, line-out, and maul.
New Zealand were reduced to 14 men early in the second half, but had already been struggling to contain the Boks' physicality. Captain Siya Kolisi praised his team's effort, saying: 'We worked hard. We knew what happened the last time we played them. We said we were going to give it everything.'
Fly-half Manie Libbok silenced critics with a flawless kicking display, converting all five tries and adding a penalty. The win is South Africa's largest ever against New Zealand, sending a warning to rivals ahead of the World Cup in France.
All Blacks captain Sam Cane admitted his side were outplayed: 'Credit to the Boks. They were dominant in all facets. Their ability to dominate scrum, maul, line-out made it hard for us to get anything going.' New Zealand's only try came from scrum-half Cam Roigard, who ran 70 metres in the 74th minute.
The match was played in front of a vocal crowd, with many South African fans in attendance. Kolisi added: 'To see so many beautiful South Africans here, I can't tell you how proud I am. We do it for you.'
