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Cape Town - The performances of four Springboks were particularly pleasing for coach Rassie Erasmus after the 66-7 win over Canada in Kobe on Tuesday.
While addressing reporters after the game which sealed South Africa's spot in the quarter-finals, Erasmus said he was pleased with efforts of scrumhalf Cobus Reinach, lock RG Snyman, centre Frans Steyn and captain and flank Siya Kolisi.
Reinach was the star of the show after scoring the fastest hat-trick in World Cup history. It came inside 20 minutes and beat Australia fullback Chris Latham's feat after 25 minutes in a 142-0 thrashing of Namibia during the 2003 World Cup.
"Everybody knows he has the X-factor - I knew his dad (the late former Springbok wing Jaco Reinach) well," Erasmus said as quoted by Netwerk24.
"He's got exceptional speed, he hasn't had a lot of game time with us since I've been coach, but he's got good speed and anticipation."
Snyman was the official man-of-the-match after a barnstorming performance.
"He was phenomenal. He was always looking for an opportunity to offload in contact. At times, he also just ran hard. He had very good balance in his game. He was fantastic. That's the reason why he's always in our 23-man squad," said Erasmus.
Steyn played a full 80 minutes in midfield, the last 20 of those at outside centre after Handre Pollard went to inside centre having replaced Damian de Allende.
"I'm very pleased how he handled the intensity and tempo of Test rugby tonight. We always knew Frans had the talent, competitiveness and desire to play.”
As was the case against Italy last Friday, Kolisi also played a full 80 minutes and looks to have fully recovered from the knee injury that threatened to keep him out of the World Cup earlier this year.
"Another positive was to see Siya play the quality of rugby that I know he can," Erasmus added.
The Boks now have an extended break before the quarter-finals weekend of October 19 and 20.
They will face either Japan, Ireland or Scotland in the last eight.
- Compiled by Herman Mostert
