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International Men's Rugby
2025
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RSA vs POR
International Men's Rugby
Toyota Stadium, Bloemfontein
South Africa
vs
Portugal
64
FT
21
Action
Lineups
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Full-Time: 64 - 21
It may be a big win for the Springboks, but Portugal can be immensely proud of the performance they put in tonight in Bloemfontein. They managed to make a couple of epic breaks, going from deep within their 22 for the opening try of the match and making some more linebreaks that had the Boks scrambling on defence. The Boks come away with a result that does leave room for improvement, but with a group of youngsters on the pitch this was a great first performance for the debutants. South Africa have a three week break now ahead of the kick off of the Rugby Championship, and they'll be kicking that off against the Wallabies in Brisbane.
Portugal struggled to get their own game going most of the time due to the Boks' defence. They tried to spread the ball wide, but for the most part the home side were able to get themselves over the breakdown to force turnovers or made crunching tackles that were able to push the visitors backwards to prevent them from getting good quality ball out wide to the back three. Nonetheless, the likes of Pinto, Bento, and Paiva Dos Santos still made some huge carries up the wide channels when they did get ball in hand, and it was often just the last pass or a desperate last line of defence tackle that managed to prevent Os Lobos from crossing the line.
The Boks' scrum was huge, as usual, putting Portugal under enormous pressure and winning a couple of penalties in the process. Their rolling mauls also had Os Lobos scrambling backwards on defence a couple of times, although the visitors did manage on a few occasions to drive the Boks effectively to touch to force them to spread the ball infield instead.
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu was absolutely flawless off the tee when he came on in the second half, converting all five tries. He was also epic to watch in-game, making a couple of breaks, putting kicks into space to put his back three onto the front foot, and offloading well to his outside to keep the ball alive. South Africa had some big performances all over the park really, with four of their debutants crossing the chalk tonight just the tip of the iceberg for South Africa.
South Africa scored 5 tries before the break to take a decent lead into halftime, and added another 5 in the second 40 while Portugal were able to add another two to their own tally after the break. The Boks would have taken a bigger win had it not been for some poor kicking from Manie Libbok in the first half, with three of his five attempts off the tee going awry. Portugal's kickers were right on target, with Moura adding the first conversion and Cabral the second and third.
The Portuguese side also had a far better showing than the Springboks in terms of their discipline, managing to keep all their players on the pitch while the home side were reduced to 14 from early on and then to 13 twice during the remainder of the match. Despite the cards, South Africa were not going to be constrained. Their first card -- given to Esterhuizen with less than 3 minutes on the clock -- was upgraded to red, and it was Portugal who struck first on the scoreboard shortly after. But after both their second and third cards the home side quickly crossed the chalk, finding gaps in the Portuguese defence that really shouldn't have been there for the team down to 13.
A huge result for the Springboks in Bloemfontein! 10 tries from the home side, but it was a great showing from Portugal as well as they crossed the chalk three times themselves, opening the scoring early on in the match with a try that shocked the Boks as Os Lobos ran it in from deep in their own 22. It took them until deep into the second half to cross the line again, and by that point the Boks already had an unassailable lead, but it didn't stop the visitors from fighting right to the end, adding another try in the final couple of minutes after the home side were shown their third card of the game.
80+1'
Feinberg-Mngomezulu adds the icing to the cake with yet another stunning kick from the left wing to add the extras!
64-21 S. Feinberg-Mngomezulu
Conversion
80+1'