Greg Stutchbury
South Africa ran in six tries as they ripped Fiji apart 49-3 in their Pool D match at the Wellington Regional Stadium. The fly-half Morne Steyn scored 21 points through a try, five conversions and two penalties as the Springboks grabbed a bonus point and went top of the Pool of Death that also includes Wales, Samoa and Namibia.
The inside centre Frans Steyn opened the scoring for South Africa with a mammoth penalty from eight metres inside his own half. Fiji inside centre Seremaia Bai equalised 10 minutes later after the Springboks were caught offside at the ruck following a sustained period of attack.
The South Africans, however, turned the momentum of the match in an eight-minute period when they dominated the breakdown, recycled the ball quickly and scored 15 points with two tries to loosehead prop Gurthro Steenkamp and centre Jaque Fourie.
Morne Steyn converted Steenkamp's try and added a penalty as the Springboks raced in to a comfortable 18-3 lead, which Steyn extended to a 21-3 advantage on the stroke of halftime.
Fiji tried to play an up-tempo style in the second half but once Frans Steyn gathered a chip kick from openside flanker Heinrich Brussow to score in the corner nine minutes into the second half, the game effectively ended as a contest.
Morne Steyn scored his fifth international try when he finished off another clinical attack inside the Fijian 22-metres area, while replacement prop Tendai Mtawarira scored his first test try, and man of the match Danie Rossouw completed the scoring by crossing the line late on.
The Fijian winger Naipolioni Nalaga had two tries ruled out, the first for a forward pass and the second when he dropped the ball while diving over the line.
