Worldwide praise for the Springboks after memorable night at Twickenham

Fans and pundits have praised the Springboks on social media after they produced a memorable display at Twickenham on Friday night.

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South Africa claimed their largest-ever victory over the All Blacks as tries from Siya Kolisi, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Malcolm Marx, Bongi Mbonambi and Kwagga Smith secured a 35-7 triumph.

The platform was set by the forwards, who continually pressurised New Zealand up front, leading to both Scott Barrett and Sam Cane being sin-binned.

Barrett then received a second yellow card just before half-time, resulting in Ian Foster’s men being reduced to 14 men for the rest of the game.

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Thoughts from observers immediately turned to the Rugby World Cup with Daily Mail journalist Chris Foy hugely impressed by the Springboks’ performance.

Ireland and Scotland are in South Africa’s World Cup pool (along with Romania and Tonga) and Foy believes that they will be difficult to stop on that evidence.

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“Thoughts and prayers with Ireland and Scotland, having to take on this Boks team in their RWC pool. Absolutely awesome SA win here,” he wrote.

“Typical muscle up front and stunning flair out wide. Canan Moodie is going to illuminate the tournament in France. Stunning talent.”

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Others were short and sweet, replying to the Springboks’ official Twitter account by putting “legendary performance” and “that was a statement of intent.”

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Meanwhile, Rugby Inside Line believes that South Africa can still improve heading into the global tournament.

“The scary thing is, the Boks can still go up another gear. The man of the match today probably isn’t in their starting XV. Le Roux will come back in,” they wrote.

“Makes it very hard to analyse that match. Their attacking structure will continue to evolve. Kolbe another likely to come in.”

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Finally, South African journalist Brenden Nel called it “one of the best performances ever by a Springbok team,” before adding: “Forwards relentless. Defence superb. In this mood they will take some stopping at the World Cup.”

In contrast, it was a concerning evening for New Zealand with Nel stating: “This win will reverberate with shock in NZ. All Blacks were tournament favourites. Picked their best side. So what does that say about their World Cup chances?”

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It’s fair to say New Zealanders were appalled by their team’s performance.

Kiwi writer Jamie Wall said: “All joking aside, this is disgraceful,” while presenter on The Platform, Martin Devlin, wrote: “Glad that’s over then! Well played @Springboks. That was a beat down. No excuses. We got bumshellacked.”

The heavy defeat isn’t New Zealand’s only problem with Barrett seeing red and tighthead prop Tyrel Lomax going off with an injury early on.

As Tight Five Rugby succinctly put it, “That is New Zealand’s biggest defeat ever. Scott Barrett red carded, and most likely suspended, with Lomax also injured. Nightmare personified.”

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