Brighter than Brighton
In their opening match of World Rugby's Under-20 Championship it seemed that Brighton was being reborn in Manchester.
South Africans for years and years remembered Murrayfield for the day the Springboks beat the Scots 44-0.
At the other end of the scale they remember with gloom the opening match of the 2015 World Cup - when Japan beat them in Brighton.
It burrowed into the mind on Tuesday in Manchester, when Japan were leading South Africa 19-7 after 30 minutes. It was bewilderment all over again.
But then came the second half which South Africa won 45-0, taking the game 59-19.
The Baby Boks started off looking like a team to that was going to run over the Japanese.
They were bigger than their opponents and yet the Japanese held firm in the scrums, won their line-outs and repelled South Africa's mauls.
More than that they dominated the breakdowns taking nine (sic) turnovers off South Africa at breakdowns. South Africa got just one and that after 78 minutes in the match. The men from Japan piled into tackles with a will.
But South Africa scored the first try when small but strong Zain Davids beat four defenders with hand-off and strong determination to score under the posts. Curwin Bosch converted, as he did all of South Africa's tries. 7-0 after 9 minutes. That Davids ran so well with the ball is unsurprising as he regularly played centre when at Rondebosch Boys' High.
South Africa had the ball but their passing and catching gave it away. Twice at this early stage of the game they passed into touch.
Then came the first of Japan's three tries, all scored by the same player, a Julian Savea wing called Ataata Moeakiola. Japan won a line-out on their right on about the half-way line and scrumhalf Daiki Nakajima passed straight to Moeakiola, the right wing, on his left and the big man simply raced straight ahead past Davids, through empty acres, to score at the posts. Taisetsu Kanai converted. 7-7 after 20 minutes.
South Africa's ascendancy crumbled as the Japanese confidence grew. They attacked down the right and Tongan Tevita Tatafu was over in the corner but when passing inside to the big No.8 hooker Yoshiaki Takeuchi put a right foot on the touchline.
Japan won two tackle turnovers and attacked down the left. On advantage Kanai lofted a high diagonal to the right into the South African in-goal where tall Moeakiola won the ball and scored. 14-7 to Japan after 25 minutes.
That was not all, South Africa's right wing Sibusiso Nkosi was sent to the sin bin for a dangerous tackle on Tatafu.
From the kick-off Moeakiola ran into South Africa's half where flyhalf Manie Libbok tackled him. In fact most tackles on the big man from now on were by the halfbacks, the smallest of the South Africans.
Japan pushed South Africa back in a scrum and after two turnovers Japan were attacking down the left. They bashed and then went wide where Moeakiola stepped inside Dash Mafuma and scored. The conversion hit the upright. 19-7 after 30 minutes.
In the 50 minutes after this Japan did not score a point.
It was South Africa's turn to attack and Japan';s to get a yellow card - for Faulua Makisi. In his absence South Africa scored 21 points.
They were attacking, Nkosi was back, and Libbok lofted a high chip to Japan's posts where JT Jackson leapt high and scored. 19-14 to Japan after 37 minutes, the half-time score.
The second half was very different. The South Africans bent their backs into tackles that yielded not a centimetre, they dominated the scrums with Jan-Henning Campher on at tighthead and they took their chances.
First Davids broke in his determined way and South Africa were bashing at the line. They went wide and captain Jeremy Ward scored far out. 21-19 to South Africa after 43 minutes.
Japan kicked off directly into touch and from the scrum at the middle of the half-way line South Africa scored when Davids skated 25 metres around the defenders to score near the posts. 28-19 after 45 minutes.
Japan stole South Africa's ball at a line-out and paid dearly for it. Libbok intercepted a pass on his own 22 and raced downfield. With lots of Japan closing in on him he popped a pass to Ward who scored 35-19 after 49 minutes.
There were not many penalties in the game - 15 in all - but from one on the half-way line Curwin Bosch goaled, the ball soaring high over the crossbar. 38-19 after 55 minutes.
From a line-out South Africa went left and Libbok sped right through for a neat try. 45-19 after 64 minutes.
The South Africans attacked, bashed and went right where left wing Mafuma accelerated through for the try. 52-19 with 7 minutes to play.
In the last burst of the match Bosch ran on a ling swerving ruin down the left. The South Africans went wide right where they were stopped at the line but burly prop Carlü Sadie plonked the ball down on the line. 59-19.
It was an interesting and entertaining match.
Brighton was not reborn in Manchester.
Scorers:
For South Africa:
Tries: Davids 2, Jackson, Ward 2, Libbok, Mafuma, Sadie
Cons: Bosch 8
Pen: Bosch
For Japan:
Tries: Moeakiola 3
Cons: Kanai 2
Teams
Japan: 15 Takuhei Yasuda, 14 Ataata Moeakiola, 13 Shintaro Nagatomi, 12 Doga Maeda, 11 TomoyaYamamura, 10 Taisetsu Kanai, 9 Daiki Nakajima, 8 Tevita Tatafu, 7 Masato Furukawa (captain), 6 Faulua Makisi, 5 Daichi Akiyama, 4 Tatsunari Fujita, 3 Shosuke Tashiro, 2 Yoshiaki Takeuchi, 1 Ryosuke Iwaihara
Replacements: 16 Naoto Saito, 17 Keiichi Kaneko, 18 Taku Toma, 19 Ryo Inoue, 20 Taichi Mano, 21 Ken Saito, 22 Soki Watanabe, 23 Ren Takano
South Africa: 15 Curwin Bosch, 14 Sibusiso Nkosi, 13 Jeremy Ward (captain), 12 JT Jackson, 11 Mosolwa Mafuma, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 James Hall, 8 Junior Pokomela, 7 Ernst van Rhyn, 6 Zain Davids, 5 Eli Snyman, 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Jaco Holtzhausen, 2 Tango Balekile, 1 Kwenzo Blose.
Replacements: 16 Franco van den Berg, 17 Jan-Henning Campher, 18 Carlü Sadie, 19 Ruben de Villiers, 20 Denzel Hill, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Franco Naude, 23 Keanu Vers.
Referee: Elia Rizzo (Italy)
Assistant referees: Craig Evans (Wales), John Meredith (England)
TMO: John Mason (Wales)