South Africa Dominates Scotland in Rugby World Cup Opener to Defend Their Title

Defending champions South Africa kicked off their Rugby World Cup 2023 campaign with a victorious start, defeating Scotland 18-3 at Stade de Marseille on Sunday.

At halftime, the Springboks held a narrow 6-3 lead, with Manie Libbok scoring two penalties for South Africa and Scotland’s Finn Russell contributing one.

However, in the second half, South Africa’s pace and power took over. Pieter-Steph du Toit powered his way over from close range, followed by Kurt-Lee Arendse, who capitalized on Libbok’s pinpoint cross-field kick to score in the corner.

Manie Libbok, named the Mastercard Player of the Match, expressed his satisfaction with the game’s outcome and the execution of his strategies. He stated, “I saw the space out wide and knew what I wanted to do, and managed to get it there. I practice that stuff a lot so it was good that it came off. I am just stoked the first game went like it did.”

Head coach Jacques Nienaber acknowledged that the match was closer than the final score indicated and praised Scotland as a tough opponent. He said, “We were only leading 6-3 at half-time after having some dominance. Scotland is a nuggety team, and hats off to them. We had to grind the win out.”

South Africa currently stands second in Pool B, behind Ireland, who defeated Romania on Saturday. Scotland, on the other hand, heads into their bye week with the recognition that improvements are needed.

Head coach Gregor Townsend stated their intention to regroup, saying, “We’re going to give everybody three days off, a good chance not to think about rugby. Then we’ll have a 10-day preparation for Tonga, which will be tough. We know we’ve got to be much better than we were today.”

Captain Jamie Ritchie echoed the sentiment, emphasizing the need for better execution under pressure and expressing determination to bounce back.

He stated, “We just couldn’t execute under pressure. We pride ourselves on taking opportunities, so we’ve got to be better. We’ve just got to dust ourselves off. I said to the guys: All the hard work we’ve put in hasn’t gone away, we’ve still got loads to play for.”

Source: AFP