A new Bok team is born

A new Springbok rugby team was forged in the crucible of Newlands on Saturday.

With three Springboks making their debut, five playing in only their second Test match and two in their third, coach Rudolf Straeuli believes he has a "core of enthusiastic players" to take him into the new season.

The debutantes were Bellville Tech lock Quinton Davids and his Stormers partner Hottie Louw - who replaced him in the second half - and substitute scrumhalf Craig Davidson, who came on for local hero Bolla Conradie.

Those in their second Test were fullback Brent Russell, playing from the start after coming on as a substitute last week in Bloemfontein, flyhalf Andre Pretorius, front-rankers Faan Rautenbach and Daan Human and, of course, Conradie.

Stormers centre Marius Joubert, probably the most outstanding player in Saturday's match, was playing his third Test as was lock forward Jannes Labuschagne, judged by some critics to have been man of the match.

These young players will take the Springboks into the future but Straeuli knows he also has some experienced old hands to fall back on.

He said there were still players coming back from injury who would challenge for their old places in the team but he was happy with the hard fought 19-8 win against Wales at a wet and windy Newlands.

The Welsh made the Boks fight for every centimetre of territory and every scrap of possession.

It took them 66 minutes before they finally sealed the game in their favour with two successive penalties by flyhalf Andre Pretorius and a late try by substitute scrumhalf Davidson.

It was a clearly relieved Straeuli who came off the field. Asked how he felt about taking on the All Blacks in this year's Tri-Nations, he replied: "I'm not too confident about playing Ireland, but I'm very confident about taking on New Zealand."

This remark was a clear dig at the All Blacks, who struggled to beat Ireland 15-6 on Saturday.

Of all Straeuli's selections for this test, two stood out as inspirational: fullback Russell, and lock Labuschagne. The former, at 75kg and 1,73m, was one of the smallest while Labuschagne was one of the biggest.

Straeuli implied that Russell was someone he did not dare leave out of the team.

"He is someone who scores tries and I could play him anywhere," the coach said of the former University of Cape Town flyhalf who played his first full Test in the unfamiliar position of full back.

The Test started on two inauspicious notes: the weather and the players' tempers.

The cold front that swept across the Peninsula deprived the 40 000 spectators of the running spectacle they had come to see.

A mass brawl, started by hookers James Dalton and Robin McBryde, but involving over half the players on the field, set the tone after just two minutes of play.

Straeuli said he had always known the Welsh, playing their last game of the season, would come out against the Springboks with everything they had.

By the end of the match the players had apparently calmed down. The Boks clapped the Welsh off the field and two of the earlier perpetrators, Welsh centre Andy Marinos and Springbok wing Stefan Terblanche, swopped jerseys after swopping punches earlier in the game.