Sport

Unimpressive SA A mauled by Bristol Bears

Ashfak Mohamed|Published

Ntuthuko Mchunu was one of the few SA A players to enhance their reputation with a busy display against Bristol. Photo: Ashley Western/Colorsport/Shutterstock/BackpagePix

Cape Town – If the Springboks hope to retain their Rugby World Cup title, they will have to do it with their current squad after a number of Test hopefuls failed to impress for South Africa A in their 26-18 defeat to the Bristol Bears on Thursday night.

It was a night to forget for the visitors as a number of unforced errors with ball-in-hand contributed to a lacklustre performance at Ashton Gate stadium.

Initially, SA A appeared to be caught between game-plans as they showed promise by holding onto possession, with some classy touches from flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and hard running from veteran centre Cornal Hendricks.

But there were a number of up-and-unders as well, which wasted several counter-attacking opportunities.

It was almost as if SA A were employing the traditional Bok Test tactics instead of playing in the spirit of a tour game by having a go at their opponents.

Those tactics meant that the likes of Grant Williams, Leolin Zas, Suleiman Hartzenberg, Henco van Wyk and Gianni Lombard hardly had a chance to show what they could do to put the Bristol defence under pressure.

And the few times that they actually got inside the Bristol half, it was either a knock-on, poor line-out throw or a turnover at the breakdown that halted their momentum.

Their only real positive was their line-out mauls as they made good progress upfield, while loosehead prop Ntuthuko Mchunu was one of the few SA A players to enhance his reputation with a busy display.

Mchunu carried the ball strongly, scrummed well and did his bit in defence too, and he finished off a solid evening with a well-taken try.

SA A weren’t helped by lock Jason Jenkins’ yellow card in the 15th minute for a dangerous tackle on Bristol No 8 Fitz Harding – which took nearly 10 minutes to happen due to a delay with the TV visuals.

The visitors were able to take a 6-3 lead via two Feinberg-Mngomezulu penalties, but after the half-hour mark, the Bears took control as wing Gabriel Ibitoye grabbed the opening try following a superb inside pass from Australian fullback Luke Morahan.

SA A had a chance to level matters just before the break as they got within a few metres of the tryline, but flank Marco van Staden lost the ball forward.

The errors continued piling up in the second half, with Feinberg-Mngomezulu missing touch twice from penalties and sliding a conversion wide, while also having another kick charged-down, and fullback Lombard and wing Hartzenberg endured some nervy moments too.

SA A stayed in the game when they finally got a few phases together, with Mchunu charging around the corner of a ruck to score and reduce the deficit to 13-11.

But Bristol flyhalf Callum Sheedy maintained his consistency at goal in slotting four penalties and two conversions, with prop Yann Thomas’ five-pointer near the hour-mark securing the victory.

A late Sikhumbuzo Notshe was nothing more than a consolation effort, and SA A coach Mzwandile Stick would have been disappointed with the performance, considering that they had more time to find better cohesion following last week’s 28-14 loss to Munster in Cork.

Points-Scorers

Bristol Bears 26 – Tries: Gabriel Ibitoye, Yann Thomas. Conversions: Callum Sheedy (2). Penalties: Sheedy (4).

South Africa A 18 – Tries: Ntuthuko Mchunu, Sikhumbuzo Notshe. Conversion: Johan Goosen (1). Penalties: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (2).

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