Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu lights up South Africa’s nine-try rout of Japan | Rugby union

A dark, damp evening in Brent is a far cry from the sun and sea of ​​Brighton. And, boy, there wasn’t much echo here of the biggest upheaval in rugby – probably sport – except for the team names and the inimitable figure sitting in the Japan coaches’ box, Eddie Jones. South Africa were favorites with 43 points in 2015 and just 37 this time, but the reality of unbalanced rugby was all too fearsomely stated.

Instead, it was Wembley who echoed, with the lower tier around two-thirds full. South Africa, nine of whose players play rugby in Japan, wanted to organize this meeting to bring together its squad from around the world before the big meeting next Saturday against France. The exercise worked rather well, the Springboks completely dominated from start to finish, scoring nine tries in the process.

“It’s interesting,” Jones said, “that in the 10 years since that game, South Africa have won two World Cups. That result had the effect of refocusing South African rugby on its DNA. Japan, however, hasn’t really developed its system to meet the demands of international rugby. That’s a real challenge for us. There are quality players in Japan. We just have to find a way to accelerate them.”

These days, South Africa are arguably the best team in the world, and Japan are well below where they were 10 years ago. Michael Leitch, at one end of the spectrum, the talisman of 2015, is still there, in the back, at 37 years old. A Japanese full-back, he fielded student Yoshitaka Yazaki, an amateur, who showed that he was really intelligent by scoring Japan’s solitary try, around ten minutes after the break, with a tap and a dart from the penalty spot during a rare phase of Japanese pressure. Unfortunately, they were down 33-0 at that point.

But that was it for romance in suburban London. South Africa started with a standard lineout and scored their first try after three minutes, finished off by their captain and back row talisman, Siya Kolisi. Then came the latest star of South African rugby.

Let’s not be hyperbolic yet. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu has been mentioned several times in the same breath as Dan Carter, but we’ll suffice here to say that he’s really, really good. He broke the record for points in a Test match this year, with his 37 against such a formidable opponent as Argentina, so he still looked comfortable against Japan.

That’s what he did. He scored two tries, both individualistic and brilliant, much like You Know Who, who was the same age, 23, when he produced the performance of the age against the Lions in 2005. Granted, it had nothing to do with that masterclass, but, after converting Kolisi’s try, he followed up with his own high-and-under to score South Africa’s second goal ten minutes later, before showing off his running skills for another five minutes.

Running in an arc, he faked Dylan Riley and beat the long-levered Jack Cornelsen to gallop towards the posts in imperious style. Okay, it was a friendly against high-powered opposition, but he’ll be around for a while. It’s not like they don’t already have Handré Pollard, sitting in the stands for this. The depth of the Springboks is the envy of the world.

The new term is now “hybrid player” and both coaches are the type to peddle its usage. Japan had Tiennan Costley on their bench, a third-line forward who covered the wing – and actually came into play in that position. But South Africa has the prototype of Kwagga Smith.

Now they add Andre Esterhuizen, until recently Quins’ beloved giant at center, to their arsenal. He came to play in the back row – it seems entirely natural – and thought he had scored a try on a lineout, which was marked with chalk, before rounding the sidelines to score one which held.

It was the seventh for South Africa. On either side, Kurt-Lee Arendse, one of those who knows how many electric runners the Springboks have, scored twice. It resumed when Yazaki knocked a house up and down and freewheeling, before a Cheslin Kolbe – there’s another – put him through for his second.

Both teams enjoyed a tour of the famous ground, but the match itself won’t survive like its most famous iteration from 10 years ago.

Graham and Van der Merwe lead the battle in Scotland

Darcy Graham and Duhan van der Merwe continued their battle at the top of Scotland’s try scoring charts by filling their boots in a 13-try victory over the United States at Murrayfield.

Van der Merwe marked his 50th cap with a brace to take his international tally to 34, but fellow Edinburgh player Graham moved into a tie with him as Scotland’s all-time leading try scorer with a hat-trick in a record 85-0 rout.

Dylan Richardson opened the scoring with a point-blank push and two minutes later 21-year-old debutant back-rower Liam McConnell produced a brilliant run and basketball pass to set up Edinburgh team-mate Van der Merwe.

The Scots had a third try in the 10th minute when Adam Hastings played a fine pass to Graham and Jamie Dobie got his name on the scoresheet 10 minutes later. Van der Merwe’s second of the night came when he danced past two defenders to score on the left and Dobie grabbed his second after good play from Stafford McDowall.

Graham got his second by completing a scintillating move down the right and completed his hat-trick four minutes after the restart. Rowe came on in the 57th minute after being played through by Dobie and Scotland scored four tries in the final 10 minutes, with Stafford McDowall, George Horne, Dobie and Ollie Smith all capitalizing on American fatigue to cross the whitewash.

Gregor Townsend, Scotland’s head coach, said: “Obviously we had more of the ball than we probably would normally have against a top 10 team. I thought the effort was outstanding. “Of course, next week it will be different opposition, one of the best teams in the world, but what we worked on in training we showed on the pitch, so it’s a good start to the campaign.

“Everyone is aware of the intensification next week. We obviously know that New Zealand is going to test us in a different way than the United States hasn’t been able to.” PA Media