The performance by the Springboks last night only touched the realm of rout but, to be fair, it was really about the route the defending champions pursued to this year’s Rugby Championship.
There was much tinkering in selection, with 46 players chosen across four matches and, as a result, continuity and cohesion was sacrificed at the altar of squad depth.
The mixing and matching will be reduced in the two home Tests against Australia, as head coach Rassie Erasmus fine-tunes his selections before their most pressing engagement of the year against the All Blacks in Auckland.
In Georgia, they had opponents full of fight and fervour but the Springboks gradually sapped the energy from the fired-up tourists.
With the game gradually loosening, there were times the Springboks were overzealous in the way they expressed themselves in attack but, by then, they had earned the right through the toil of their forwards.
There were times they dazzled but, first, they had to meet the challenge of the Georgians head-on. The visitors were on a crusade to leave their mark as decreed by their tough-as-teak coach Richard Cockerill.
There was much bellicose talk from Cockerill in the build-up to the clash, with the combative former England hooker suggesting physicality was in the Georgian DNA.
Indeed, the tourists were full of effort and endeavour in the opening 30 minutes. When flyhalf Luka Matkava slotted a penalty in the 29th minute, the Lelos — ranked 11th in the world — were just five points adrift from the back-to-back Rugby World Cup holders.
Eventually, though, the star quality of the hosts shone through as the Lelos struggled to keep up with the lung-busting pace of the game.
Centre Canan Moodie and wing Edwill van der Merwe revelled in the space and time afforded them while, in tighter confines, lock Ruan Nortje was a Trojan as he splendidly rose to the challenge.
In the second half, substitute lock RG Snyman freed his arms as the Boks transitioned seamlessly from defence to attack. Debutant frontrankers Boan Venter, Marnus van der Merwe and Neethling Fouche were tasked with quelling a Georgian scrumming vanguard, and they did so effortlessly.
No 8 Cobus Wiese stepped into the breach for his banned brother Jasper, and there were times he lacked finesse. His job, however, was to bring punch to the Bok carries, and dead weight to their first line of defence.
Georgia drew first blood when they made the most of a penalty they hoofed into touch. From the ensuing lineout, their maul reaped the rewards — much in the way Italy did in the recent series against the Boks.
The Boks felt the need for an urgent and telling riposte. They climbed into the rucks and mauls with fervour but were initially met with robust defence.
The hosts’ surfeit possession, however, meant the dam wall could only take so much. Eventually, the Boks burrowed their way over after a concerted build-up with debutant loosehead Venter applying the finishing touches near the uprights.
Inexplicably, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s conversion attempt hit the upright from close range.
It wasn’t just Mngomezulu’s kicking that was loose, and he made way for Handre Pollard in the 55th minute. It helped raise the flags. After Venter’s first try, the Boks kept cranking up the heat upfront, with Nortje and Pieter-Steph du Toit becoming more influential in the Boks’ carries.
Hooker Van der Merwe joined his fellow debutant on the scoresheet when he barged over after an attacking lineout, and he scored again soon after.
The game became looser, with Georgia richly contributing to the unfolding spectacle.
The Boks showed the sharp end of their attacking prowess when Aphelele Fassi, Grant Williams, and Van der Merwe all carried with gusto, before Nortje’s delightful vignette found a momentum-fuelled Moodie, who rounded off the game’s most thrilling passage in the 18th minute.
As thrilling as that was — with the Boks winning 55-10 — it is unlikely to compare with what awaits in the Rugby Championship.
