The Springbok Women fell 52-20 to New Zealand in the curtain-raiser at FNB Stadium, a result that flattered neither side's set-piece nor the Boks' inability to convert territorial pressure into points.
Only the third meeting between these sides and the first outside a World Cup, the match followed the pattern of previous encounters — New Zealand winning 55-3 in 2010 and 46-17 in last year's World Cup quarterfinal — though South Africa were far more competitive than those margins suggest.
The 10th-ranked Springbok Women consistently dominated the second-ranked Black Ferns at scrum time, with hooker Sanelisiwe Charlie and captain Babalwa Latsha imposing themselves throughout. Their maul was equally effective, yet the platform they created was repeatedly squandered through missed tackles, poor lineout feeds and handling errors at critical moments.
New Zealand crossed inside two minutes through flanker Elinor-Plum King, but the Boks drew level on terms before halftime. Scrumhalf Unam Tose's initiative created two of the first-half scores — a maul try finished by hooker Lindelwa Gwala and a quick-tap move that sent inside centre Aphiwe Ngwevu crashing over to close the deficit to two points. Tose, Ngwevu and right-wing Alichia Arries were the standouts in the backline.
Fullback Braxton Sorensen-McGee proved the difference in open play, scoring twice and adding five conversions. Her dummy before the try-line capped a Black Ferns counterattack that shifted momentum before halftime, with New Zealand leading 24-10 at the break.
The Black Ferns received four yellow cards in the second half, two of them simultaneously, but South Africa failed to capitalise — a two-player overlap that came to nothing late in the match summing up their finishing struggles. Vainah Ubisi scored twice for the Boks in the second period.
New Zealand's try scorers were Elinor-Plum King (2), Sorensen-McGee (2), Chryss Viliko, Maia Joseph, Amarante Sititi and Mamma Mo'onia Vaipulu.