Springboks plunder nine tries in 61-7 rout of Japan

LONDON :Flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and winger Kurt-Lee Arendse scored two tries each as South Africa cruised to a 61-7 victory over Japan at a sodden Wembley Stadium in London on Saturday.

The Springboks scored nine tries as there was no repeat of the "Miracle of Brighton" when Japan stunned South Africa with a 34-32 victory at the 2015 Rugby World Cup, considered one of the great upsets in rugby history.

Flankers Siya Kolisi and Andre Esterhuizen, the latter moved from his usual centre position, prop Wilco Louw and centre Jesse Kriel also crossed the line as Springbok forward dominance laid the platform for a comfortable win.

Japan’s lone try came via fullback Yoshitaka Yazaki in a rare entry into the Springbok 22, but they could not cope with the physicality of their opponents in difficult conditions.

"I thought we did what we wanted to do, we made a couple of mistakes but credit to Japan, they played with pace and moved the ball quickly," Springboks captain Kolisi said.

"We tried to slow it down at the breakdown and make our hits. We had to work for everything we got today."

South Africa will face a step up in opposition against France in Paris next week, with further games in the Autumn International series against Italy, Ireland and Wales.

South Africa will, however, be sweating on the fitness of prop Ox Nche, who limped off after 19 minutes with an ankle injury.

The Springboks led 26-0 at halftime and were never under any concerted pressure, with both sides struggling in the wet conditions that made the ball difficult to handle.

Japan were not helped by yellow cards for prop Shuhei Takeuchi and flanker Ben Gunter that meant 20 minutes with 14 players.