Springbok fullback Percy Montgomery claimed yet another points-scoring record as the Boks romped to a comprehensive 105-13 win over Namibia in a Rugby World Cup friendly at Newlands on Wednesday evening.
Montgomery finished with a new individual haul of 35 points, slotting 12 conversions, two penalties and one try, adding to his standing as South Africa’s overall leading points-scorer in Test-match rugby.
The 33-year-old is also on the verge of becoming his country’s most-capped Test player, having won his 86th cap against the country of his birth — three short of Joost van der Westhuizen’s 89 appearances.
The Boks, who formed a special pre-game guard of honour for Montgomery and Os du Randt, recovered from an early Namibia intercept try to run in 15 tries to one in front of a lively enough Cape Town crowd.
The visitors took a shock one-point lead after just 10 minutes of play, with right wing Bradley Langenhoven racing almost the full length of the field after snapping up a flat Butch James pass right on his own line. Namibian flyhalf Emile Wessels converted and the underdogs edged past Montgomery’s two penalties at 7-6 up.
Their lead, however, did not last long, with Jean de Villiers, who had just recovered from his pursuit of Langenhoven, slicing through the Namibian defence for his team’s opening try in the 11th minute.
Montgomery missed the conversion (one of just three goal-kicking blemishes on the night), but he was successful with his very next opportunity a few minutes later when the outstanding Juan Smith crashed over for the first of his three tries. Smith benefited from some good interplay between James and number eight Jacques Cronje, before fending off would-be defenders with a strong hand-off.
At 20-7 up, the initial glimmer of a possible upset was well and truly a thing of the past and the Boks began to look a tad more relaxed, no doubt because the cobwebs had been shaken off their cotton-wooled bodies. It must be remembered that most of these players had not played since South Africa’s second Tri-Nations Test against New Zealand on June 23.
Three more tries took the score up to 37-7, before a full length of the field effort, started by De Villiers and JP Pietersen and finished off by Jaque Fourie, took the Boks into the half-time break at 44-7 up.
Namibia were first on the board via Wessels in the third minute of the second half, before the first-half pattern was repeated with regular Springbok tries — although the home team’s finishing and running lines did leave a bit to be desired at times.
Stalwarts Du Randt and Montgomery celebrated their final matches on South African soil with tries, Burger scored another and Smith crashed over for his hat-trick with 10 minutes remaining, putting the Boks out of sight at 77-13.
Four more tries followed in a frantic final 10 minutes — with Burger also claiming a hat-trick — and the Boks finally brought up the magical 100-point mark through tighthead prop CJ van der Linde’s last-gasp try just to right of the posts.
Montgomery, aptly, added the final points of the night with his 12th successful conversion, breaking Jannie de Beer’s 34-point record set against England at the 1999 World Cup. — Sapa