Fullback Warrick Gelant scored a hat trick as the South African 'A' side clinched their two-match series against the French Barbarians with a 48-18 win in the final match at Orlando Stadium in Soweto on Friday night.
The home side, who won the first match at Durban Moses Mabhida Stadium, led 24-14 at the break, and managed to score 24 more points in the second half despite losing lock Ruan Botha to a red card in the 38th minute.
The SA 'A' side took the lead in the second minute when Gelant scored the first of his three tries with a wonderful individual effort. He showed great pace and stepping ability to dot down after 50-metre run.
The performance would have been a wonderful boost for the Bulls fullback, after a rather average Super Rugby season so far, following a long injury layoff in 2016.
The Barbarians, though, hit back almost immediately with a bit of magic from veteran flyhalf Frederic Michalak. The former Sharks flyhalf poked a lovely grubber through, which midfielder Fabrice Estebanez collected to score.
South Africa 'A' took a 14-7 lead in the 20th minute when loose forward Chris Cloete muscled his way over to score in his first start in the series. However, the French responded eight minutes later when Left wing Louis Dupont gathered the ball at the back of a Barbarians maul -- which featured 13 of their players -- before diving over.
The hosts scored their final try of the half on the half-hour mark when loosehead prop Ox Nche showed a neat turn of pace before crashing over for the SA 'A' side's third try.
However, the locals would find themselves a man down in the 38th minute when referee Jaco van Heerden -- with the assistance of TMO Johann Greeff -- decided that to give Botha a straight red card for dangerous and reckless play at a ruck.
The South Africans, though, did have the final say of the first half when flyhalf Fred Zelinga slotted a penalty after the hooter.
The SA 'A' side came out of the blocks quickly in the second half, and the warmed up the sparse crowd with a two top tries in the first 11 minutes after halftime.
Cloete showed a clean pair of heels for his second try of the match two minutes after the restart, before outside centre Lionel Mapoe finished off a wonderful team try that included some great passing and running off the ball by the home side.
The French Barbarians scored two tries of their own in the second half, when their big No. 8 Marco Tauleigne crashed shortly before the hour mark, before Louis Dupichot also went over in the corner close to the end of the match.
However, it was the brilliant Gelant who had the final say when he again left the Barbarian defenders for dead with his blistering pace to put the cherry on a top performance by the South Africans.