RSA 76-0 ROU: South Africa dominate Romania in Bordeaux

South Africa continued their winning ways at Rugby World Cup 2023 with a 76-0 win over Pool B opponents Romania at Stade de Bordeaux on Sunday.

It took just over 10 minutes for South Africa to race to a 26-0 lead with tries from Cobus Reinach (2), Makazole Mapimpi and Damian Willemse, before Reinach made it a hat-trick to enter the break 33-0 ahead.

In the second half, player-of-the-match Mapimpi scored a brace to pick up his hat-trick, while Deon Fourie, Grant Williams (2) and Willie Le Roux also crossed the line in a dominant display by the Springboks.

Cobus Reinach, scrum-half

On his hat-trick:

"We came in with the goal to be dominant in all aspects and I think that's what the forwards did, they give you good platforms to play off and I was lucky enough to score off it."

On looking ahead to Ireland game and beyond:

"We don't change how we prepare for games, if it's Romania or Ireland or New Zealand, we have to go and look at what we did wrong and where we can improve. We'll hit the training ground running, focus on how we can get better and then put it on the pitch on game day."

On celebrating the win tonight:

"We always have to have a bit of music, it's part of our culture, but we'll keep the celebrations to a minimum as it's a six-day turnaround before the next match."

On his personal growth since Rugby World Cup 2019:

"I don't think I've changed much except I've got a bit more experience. I feel 21 in the legs and 21 in the head, so I just want to keep on going and keep on playing as best as I can."

Faf de Klerk, scrum-half

On the intensity of South Africa:

"We focused on that this weekend, we didn't want to make it an exhibition game or a Barbarians-style game, we just wanted to focus on our sequences and really work on that and make sure our forwards are focused on that. We're naturally a physical team so I'm very proud of the boys to do that, the forwards are very focused and I'm happy with the way the boys played."

On the hat-trick of Cobus Reinach and almost beating his record for fastest Rugby World Cup hat-trick from 2019:

"I teed up Cobus all week to say he has to break his record, but I think he missed it by a couple of minutes. But most of it came off some great set-piece pressure from the big boys. The boys did their job up front and some good skills from the backs to get it to him, and some great

Jacques Nienaber, head coach

On Cobus Reinach's hat-trick:

"He did it in 2019, I think he's got the quickest hat-trick in World Cup history, and today I think he was a couple of minutes out of his own record."

On the injury to Vincent Koch and being taken out of the starting line-up:

"Vincent hobbled in the warm-up, I think its his knee. I don't have an idea how bad it is, but the doctor will go through it and we'll have a better understanding maybe tonight."

On the match against Ireland and potential quarter-final opponents:

"It will be a good game to see who finishes one and two in the pool, but there's still games to play, so I don't want to get too far ahead. If it's Italy, if it's France, New Zealand, it's going to be a tough quarter-final, it doesn't matter who we play.

"From a selection point of view, we're open and honest with the players, they know what we're thinking and we'll share that with them even tonight. We have an idea in our minds what we want to do for the next game. It's nice that there's such good internal competition within this group and positive competition. There's not a big gap between the players.