Aphelele Fassi used his sublime skills to cross the line for the first Springbok try against Australia in their Rugby Championship clash in Perth.
Makazole Mapimpi put the ball to boot before Fassi’s pace and great hands made the difference.
Watch: Aphelele Fassi scores stunning try
Match facts
Springbok team to face Australia in Perth:
15 – Aphelele Fassi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 5 caps, 10 points (2t)
14 – Cheslin Kolbe (Suntory Sungoliath) – 34 caps, 96 points (15t, 3c, 5p)
13 – Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles) – 72 caps, 80 points (16t)
12 – Lukhanyo Am (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 36 caps, 35 pts (7t)
11 – Makazole Mapimpi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 43 caps, 150 points (30t)
10 – Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (DHL Stormers) – 5 caps, 25 points (11c, 1p)
9 – Morne van den Berg (Emirates Lions) – 1 cap, O points
8 – Elrigh Louw (Vodacom Bulls) – 5 caps, 0 points
7 – Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz) – 80 caps, 45 points (9t)
6 – Marco van Staden (Vodacom Bulls) – 21 caps, 5 pts (1t)
5 – Ruan Nortje (Vodacom Bulls) – 1 cap, 0 points
4 – Salmaan Moerat (captain, DHL Stormers) – 8 caps, 0 points
3 – Thomas du Toit (Bath) – 19 caps, 0 pts
2 – Johan Grobbelaar (Vodacom Bulls) – 1 cap, 0 points
1 – Jan-Hendrik Wessels (Vodacom Bulls) – 1 cap, 5 points (1t)
Replacements:
16 – Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 68 caps, 85 points (17t)
17 – Ox Nche (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 32 caps, 0 pts
18 – Vincent Koch (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 53 caps, 0 points
19 – Eben Etzebeth (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 123 caps, 30 points (6t)
20 – Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs) – 44 caps, 40 pts (8t)
21 – Grant Williams (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 12 caps, 10 points (2t)
22 – Manie Libbok (DHL Stormers) – 15 caps, 91 pts (1t, 28c, 10p)
23 – Handré Pollard (Leicester Tigers) – 72 caps, 732 points (7t, 98c, 162p, 5dg)
Stats and facts:
Springbok record against Australia:
Played 94; Won 51; Lost 40; Drawn 3; Points for: 1 893, Points against: 1 660; Tries scored 223, Tries conceded 171; Highest score 61-22 (Pretoria, 1997); Biggest win 45 points (53-8, Johannesburg 2008). Win % 54.2%.
Miscellaneous:
- Should Eben Etzebeth take the field it will mark his 124th Test, which will see him equal with Bryan Habana in second place and three caps short from equalling Victor Matfield’s Springbok Test record (127).
- Should Kwagga Smith take the field, he will need only five more Test caps to join the club of Springboks with 50 Test caps.
- Morne van den Berg, Ruan Nortje, Jan-Hendrik Wessels and Johan Grobbelaar will earn only their second Test caps in the match.
- Should the Springboks win, it will be the first time they have won four successive tests against the Wallabies in more than half a century (they won seven matches in a row against Australia between 1969 and 1971).
- A win for the Springboks would be their third in succession against the Wallabies in Australia – the first time that feat would have been achieved since winning four in a row between 1971 (3) and the return from isolation in 1993 (1).
- The total Test caps for the Springbok starting line-up is 332.
- There are 196 caps in the backline, with 136 caps among the forwards. On the bench there are a further 419 caps.
- The average caps per player in the backline is 28, the forwards 17, while the players on the bench average 52.
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