Cape Town - The Springboks, thanks largely to a Cobus Reinach hat-trick, booked their place in the quarter-finals of the 2019 Rugby World Cup when they hammered Canada 66-7 in Kobe on Tuesday.
The Bok scrumhalf had bagged three tries within the first 20 minutes of the contest, securing the fastest ever hat-trick in Rugby World Cup history in the process.
The Boks, in the first half in particular, were simply on a different level to their north American opponents as they ran in a total of 10 tries on the day.
Canada, meeting the South Africa in a World Cup match for the first time since the famous 'battle of Boet Erasmus' in 1995, were not helped by the fact that replacement forward Josh Larsen was shown a straight red card towards the end of the opening period for an illegal cleanout on Bok prop Thomas du Toit.
Larsen came charging into the ruck, driving his shoulder into Du Toit's neck and after sending the decision upstairs, referee Luke Pearce opted for red.
By half-time, the Boks had opened up a 47-0 lead in an opening 40 minutes that saw them move the ball with energy, skill and speed.
Things did improve for the Canadians after the break, and they were first to strike after the restart through flank Matt Heaton.
That was where their joy ended, though, as the Boks continued dominating both the territory and possession statistics.
The result means that the Boks will almost certainly finish second in Pool B and book a quarter-final on Sunday, October 20 against either Japan or Ireland.
Scorers:
South Africa 66 (47)
Tries: Damian de Allende, S'bu Nkosi, Cobus Reinach (3), Warrick Gelant, Frans Steyn, Schalk Brits, Damian Willemse, Frans Malherbe
Conversions: Elton Jantjies (8)
Canada 7 (0)
Try: Matt Heaton
Conversion: Peter Nelson
Teams:
South Africa
15 Damian Willemse, 14 Warrick Gelant, 13 Damian de Allende, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Sbu Nkosi, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Francois Louw, 7 Kwagga Smith, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Thomas du Toit
Substitutes: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Eben Etzebeth, 20 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 21 Herschel Jantjies, 22 Handre Pollard, 23 Willie le Roux
Canada
15 Andrew Coe, 14 Jeff Hassler, 13 Conor Trainor, 12 Ciaran Hearn, 11 DTH van der Merwe, 10 Peter Nelson, 9 Phil Mack, 8 Tyler Ardron (captain), 7 Matt Heaton, 6 Lucas Rumball, 5 Kyle Baillie, 4 Evan Olmstead, 3 Jake Ilnicki, 2 Andrew Quattrin, 1 Hubert Buydens
Substitutes: 16 Benoit Piffero, 17 Djustice Sears-Duru, 18 Matt Tierney, 19 Josh Larsen, 20 Michael Sheppard, 21 Jamie Mackenzie, 22 Shane O'Leary, 23 Guiseppe du Toit