More than effective. When the Boks are in the mood and get on the front foot early, they are more than a handful. It's big men putting themselves about and there are so many of them that it felt never ending for Samoa.
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In the final quarter, when the Samoa defence was tiring, the Boks switched things and kept the ball in hand more. That was when they looked seriously good - direct, powerful, aware and at times, skilful.
Schalk Burger was happy to run himself into the ground and batter the Samoans into submission. Fourie du Preez took his time with the decisions and Handrie Pollard pulled the strings as he saw fit.
All in all, they were in the region of about 10,000 times better than they were in their first game.
They play perfect World Cup rugby and far from being on the ropes, South Africa remain every bit the serious contender everyone thought they were before the tournament started.
By early in the second half, Samoa were toast. They had creaked a bit in the first half; their lineout letting them down and some poor basic plays where they failed to kick penalties out and hold on to the ball.
Without that attention to detail, they weren't able to build enough pressure or score enough points and South Africa got stronger and stronger.
Memories of Brighton almost visibly faded and the Boks, rocked to their core last week, had finally remembered that they are a quality side.
The rugby was more than direct and brutal, it was also fast and Samoa couldn't line the runners up for their deadly hits. The green jerseys were always there on hand as support runners or cleanout men and the pressure they exerted with and without the ball left Samoa with no space to play.
There was no time or room for Samoa to cut loose - to get the ball to their runners in space. Tim Nanai-Williams did what he could do get his team going forward, his footwork and vision breathtaking at times but the Bok defence didn't give up much.
They even had to deal with some idiot Bok supporter who found his way onto the field during the ame, his intentions not clear.
But he was dealt with, much like every linebreak was mopped up or the next phased slowed down and maybe the highlight of the game was the return of Duane Vermeulen. He became more prominent as the contest developed and should be firing by the knockout rounds.
And yes, South Africa are going to make the knock out rounds. Unlike this time last week, that can be said with some certainty now.
South Africa 46 (J. Pietersen (3), S. Burger, S. Brits, B. Habana tries; H. Pollard 4 pens, con; P. Lambie 2 cons)
Samoa 6 (M. Stanley 2 pens)
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