The Springbok Women started their Rugby Africa Women's Cup campaign in the best way possible, with Asiphe Mayaba grabbing four tries on debut in a big 87-0 victory (half-time 41-0) over Cameroon in a sunny Antananarivo in Madagascar on Saturday afternoon.
With WXV 2 qualification on the line at the tournament, the more experienced South Africans stepped up a gear as they simply had too much class for their West African opponents and finished the match with 15 tries, which included a penalty try and a hat-trick by Rights Mkhari, who was a second-half replacement.
The Springbok Women laid down the marker during a strong first half, with their pack setting the tone with a dominant performance, and the backs also coming to the party with great handling and attacking the space.
The Boks played with great continuity and their support play was top-notch, while the Cameroonians struggled with their discipline and also failed to contain the SA forwards, which led to three first-half maul tries, two by Roseline Botes, and a penalty try from an illegally sacked drive.
They also scored a few superb counter-attacking tries with the backs enjoying the space and putting each other away through some deft offloads and good handling in general.
The only real negative from the first half was when Nompumelelo Mathe, who scored a superb try just before the break, was yellow carded for a dangerous tackle after 25 minutes.
With only 14 players on the field, Aspihe Mayaba celebrated her Test debut with her first try for South Africa, rounding off a sublime move that started in the Boks' half.
The start of the second half belonged to Mayaba, who scored twice in quick succession for her hat-trick on debut, with the South Africans again exploiting space out wide. She scored her fourth try two minutes before the end.
Mkhari scored all three of her tries after the break, while Lindelwa Gwala also crashed over from a maul in the second half during which the team in green and gold stepped up another gear and ran riot late in the match.
Scorers:
Springbok Women: Tries: Asithandile Ntoyanto, Roseline Botes (2), Asiphe Mayaba (4), Jakkie Cilliers, Nompumelelo Mathe, Penalty try, Rights Mkhari (3), Lindelwa Gwala, Simamkele Namba. Conversions: Jakkie Cilliers (2), Libbie Janse van Rensburg (3).