A heavily experimental Springbok side blew the cobwebs off their 2026 season with 12 tries in an 80-31 demolition of the Barbarians in Gqeberha, yet Rassie Erasmus walked away from Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium talking about the parts that went wrong rather than the avalanche of points.
In front of a crowd of 26,398, South Africa raced 35-7 clear inside 25 minutes before the invitational side, captained by former All Black scrum-half TJ Perenara, hit back through a 10-minute purple patch while Grant Williams sat in the sin bin. Three tries from Franco Molina, Andrew Kellaway and Perenara cut the gap to 35-26, only for the Boks to score 40 unanswered points after the break.
Left wing Edwill van der Merwe helped himself to a hat-trick, while Jasper Wiese, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Junior Bok captain Riley Norton, replacement hooker JJ Kotze, Jesse Kriel, Andre Esterhuizen and Faf de Klerk also crossed. Siya Kolisi, captaining the side, drew the last defender to set up Van der Merwe's opener.
The standout was Cheslin Kolbe. Deputising at scrum-half after Williams was yellow-carded, he scampered over from the base of an attacking scrum and finished with 23 points, landing nine conversions from 11 attempts as the recognised goal-kicker in an inexperienced backline.
Erasmus had used the fixture to audition combinations, handing five uncapped players a run and asking Quan Horn to start at fly-half, a position he has never filled for the Lions. The coach was pleased with how the youngster recovered from being run over by Alex Nankivell for the Barbarians' first try.
"One of Quan's strengths is his defence and the first try came from a guy who ran over him. But the nice thing is it didn't take him off focus," Erasmus said. "He certainly had some nice passes and made tries for guys, kicked really well to touch. That is what this game was all about — sorting out some problems and getting some answers. So overall I think he did really well."
The bigger worry was up front. Veteran lock Franco Mostert limped off in the second half, and Erasmus confirmed the injury looked serious.
"I'm worried about his ankle," the coach said. "He's going for scans tomorrow and hopefully it's not too bad. 'Sous' doesn't normally come off the field if it's not serious."
For all the attacking fluency, Erasmus refused to be carried away, pointing to the spell that let the Barbarians back into the contest and a midfield that bit in too hard. He framed it as a cohesion problem ahead of the Springboks' Nations Championship opener against England.
"I think we have to remind ourselves that it's been six, seven months since we've played together and we were kind of puzzling guys in together not knowing when the Stormers or the Bulls would be available, so we had to keep it in the back of our minds," he said. "Cohesion wasn't 100%. Overall, boxes ticked and I won't moan too much about attack when you get 80 points. But the thing we have to moan about is the defence."
The discipline cut both ways. Perenara and Miracle Fai'ilagi were sin-binned for the visitors, while Williams and Aphelele Fassi spent time off the field for South Africa. Perenara's combativeness — he was desperate to win on his first outing against the Boks since 2024 — drew a pointed reaction from referee Morné Ferreira, who tried to calm the scrum-half by reminding him he was a "legend of the game."
Among the analysts, the verdict on the night was that the experiments had mixed success. Horn's inexperience showed in his positioning and decision-making, while Norton, the 20s captain who has yet to play a senior game for the Stormers, was singled out as a lock who "looks destined to have a long Springboks career." Erasmus now has the bulk of his answers, but the defensive homework is clear before England arrive.
