Young Boks praised after scrappy win
South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer made a point of praising his young players as he looked for positives after a scrappy 13-6 home win over Argentina in their opening Rugby Championship match yesterday.
‘‘We had a 20-year-old [Handre Pollard] running play at first fiveeighth and a 21-year-old [Lood de Jager] calling the lineouts and they did very well,’’ the Springboks coach said.
His side got off to a far from impressive start in the annual four-nation southern hemisphere competition as lashing rain made any chance of an exciting contest at Loftus Versfeld impossible.
‘‘The new combinations worked well for us. The new guys showed the character I expected from them. A lot of the guys are 23 years and younger.’’
Meyer said he wanted his side to play a more flowing game, but Argentina and the inclement weather made it difficult.
‘‘They are not a continuity team, they are a contesting team, so it’s not always easy to get a flow to your match,’’ added Meyer of their feisty South American opponents.
‘‘We played well for 30 minutes, but we did not get the points to justify that and it affected us, as we had our mind set on attacking play.
‘‘Their kicking game was better than ours tonight, but luckily Willie [le Roux] was excellent.’’
South Africa’s fullback caught some crucial high balls and launched several attempted counter attacks, living up to his reputation as one of the more exciting players in world rugby.
‘‘The result in Sydney [All Blacks-Wallabies draw] had no impact on our frame of mind or style of play,’’ Meyer said. ‘‘We want to win all our matches, because then we will be good for winning the championship. Don’t read too much into this [Sydney] match.’’
Springbok captain Jean de Villiers blamed the conditions – rain, hail and a heavy ground – for an unimpressive showing.
‘‘Our execution was poor. We did not expect these conditions, so adapted as best we could. We were looking for five points, but the fact that we got four is still very pleasing.’’
‘‘We could not play the brand [of rugby] we wanted to. We have five matches left to do it. Now we must regroup and do it in Salta [against Argentina again on Sunday].
An injury to first-choice loose forward Willem Alberts before the game has also ruled him out of the return with Golden Lions captain Warren Whiteley called up as replacement, the South Africa Rugby Union said.
Flanker Alberts pulled a hamstring in the captain’s run on Friday and failed a fitness test on Saturday.
He was replaced in the starting XV by Marcell Coetzee whose place on the bench was taken by Teboho Mohoje.
Whiteley, 26, was a member of South Africa’s Commonwealth Games gold medal-winning sevens squad in Glasgow earlier this month.
Argentina have yet to win in 13 championship outings since a 2012 debut, but hooker and new skipper Agustin Creevy believes history could be created in Salta on Sunday.
‘‘Our people will be backing us and I am hopeful after a good showing in Pretoria. I am pleased with the performance, but sad that we lost.
‘‘The media often praise our forwards, but the backs also did a superb job against the Springboks.
‘‘When South Africa scored an early try I called the team together and we vowed there would not be a repeat of last year when we conceded nine tries.’’
Coach Daniel Hourcade, who replaced Santiago Phelan after the six-loss 2013 Championship campaign, said he was both proud and sad.
‘‘After a week of sun, the last thing we expected on match day was torrential rain. The team made me so proud, but we desperately wanted to win.’’