South Africa sweat on Makazole Mapimpi’s injury after Rugby World Cup win over Tonga
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South Africa's Makazole Mapimpi (centre) fights for the ball during the World Cup match against Tonga on Oct 1.
PHOTO: AFP
MARSEILLE – South Africa will send winger Makazole Mapimpi for scans on a fracture to his cheekbone, in the wake of Sunday’s 49-18 victory over Tonga that took the defending champions to the brink of a Rugby World Cup quarter-final place.
The Springboks will not know if they have a last-eight spot until Scotland meet Ireland in Paris on Saturday, but it looks likely they will progress from Pool B.
Should they advance, it may be without the 2019 World Cup winner after he clashed heads with tackler Augustine Pulu in an incident that was reviewed by the television match official, but not sanctioned with a yellow card.
“Makazole has a fracture of his cheekbone, so he will go for specialist scans to determine the severity of it,” Springboks coach Jacques Nienaber said after the seven-try win.
Better news for Nienaber was the return of fly-half Handre Pollard, who played 50 minutes in his first Test for 13 months. He had featured for only 30 minutes for his club Leicester Tigers since May after recovering from a calf problem.
Pollard, who kicked 22 points to guide the Springboks to victory over England in the 2019 final in Japan, booted four conversions from four attempts and slipped right back into the groove after his long absence.
South Africa’s other points came via the boot of replacement fly-half Manie Libbok, who slotted home three conversions. Their tries came via Cobus Reinach, Canan Moodie, Deon Fourie, Jesse Kriel, Willie le Roux, Marco van Staden and Kwagga Smith.
Pollard was initially ruled out of the tournament owing to injury, but then received a late call-up as a replacement for injured hooker Malcolm Marx. Springboks’ director of rugby Rassie Erasmus spurned the idea of summoning a specialist hooker as back up to Bongi Mbonambi, instead relying on squad members Fourie and Marco van Staden, principally back-row forwards.
Pollard did not feature in the 13-8 defeat by Ireland on Sept 23 but the failure of South Africa’s two goal-kickers Libbok and scrum-half Faf de Klerk in that match had increased the calls for the fly-half’s return.
“I enjoyed it very much, it was so much fun. Just on a personal note, it was nice to play again and I enjoyed myself out there,” he said.
Returning to the squad, Pollard added, “has been a crazy roller coaster”. He said: “There have been extreme lows, of course, early on and extreme highs to get recalled, so really just great to be back in the environment with the boys.
“Hopefully I’ll contribute as much as I can in whatever role that may be, I am just here to help the team succeed and I am excited.”
Nienaber said it had been important that Pollard got 50 minutes against a “proper” Tonga side that has improved as the tournament progressed.
He said: “I think he will just get better. I think he was solid. You look at his ball carries – that was decisive and good. His defence, I thought his level changed well and he put some proper shoulder hits in.
“I thought his off-the-ball work was good and his kicking game in general was good. The fundamentals (for which) we wanted him to tick the boxes, I think he ticked.”
Handre Pollard booted four conversions from four attempts and slipped right back into the groove after a 13-month absence.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Tonga, meanwhile, crossed the line three times in Marseille through Ben Tameifuna, Fine Inisi and Patrick Pellegrini, with William Havili adding a penalty.
The Boks conceded three tries in a World Cup match for the first time since their stunning loss to Japan in 2015, a run of 17 games, but Nienaber was not concerned.
He said: “From a defensive point of view, I am very proud. If you look at the attitude of the defence against a Tonga side that have got better as the tournament has progressed, it was there and the boys put in a big shift. Sometimes you just have to applaud the opposition.”
His opposite number Toutai Kefu insisted more time together and extra matches for the small island nation will further increase their competitiveness, as their feisty and physical showing was undone by errors.
Said the former Wallaby: “We’ve got the talent now. The eligibility rules opened that door for us. Now we need time to really blend.
“A third of my squad play in France, a third play in the UK, the other third are in New Zealand and then a couple in Japan. It’s going to take longer for us to get on the same page.
“If you look at today, there were three or four turnovers that led straight to tries for South Africa. Spending more time together and getting regular competition, we’ll fix that.” REUTERS, AFP
